Savannah Golf Championship: The week ahead

While the PGA Tour's season heads into April and the biggest event of the golfing year, The Masters in Augusta, Savannah is getting ready for Year 2 of its only professional event, the Web.Com Tour's Savannah Golf Championship on March 28-31 at The Landings Club's Deer Creek Course.

With tournament week beginning Monday and the four-round event beginning with tee times starting at 7 a.m. Thursday, the SGC has a week's worth of golfing entertainment for area fans.

Sam Burns, who is now on the PGA Tour, was awarded the trophy last year after shooting a 21-under 267 to best Georgia Tech graduate Roberto Castro by one stroke on a memorable Easter Sunday in The Landings.

The Savannah Golf Championship was awarded the Savannah Sports Council's event of the year.

Practice rounds for the professionals competing will take place all day on Monday and Tuesday, and other events will be happening as well.

On Monday, this year's event begins with the Chatham Orthopaedic Associates Junior Clinic at the Deer Creek driving range beginning at 5 p.m.

The clinic is free, open to the public and available for kids ages 4-17.

The Pros vs. Pros Shootout also starts at 5 p.m. off the No. 10 tee at Deer Creek and will be a new addition to the event in 2019.  Six two-man teams with one Web.Com Tour professional and one local club pro team up for a shootout-style contest.

Tournament Director Cheyenne Overby said at the event's media day earlier this month that the contest is simple.

"The only rule is that there are no rules," Overby said in reference to the potential side bets made along the way.

Local pros from clubs such as the Ford Plantation, Savannah Harbor, Savannah Golf Club and The Landings will compete.

Tuesday's Executive Women's Day begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Plantation Clubhouse in The Landings and will focus on women in golf and women in business, Overby said.

"The day has several morning events, a short clinic as well as we do have a panel this year featuring Alex Baldwin, the newly named President of the Web.com Tour," Overby said. "We're a female-led tour now and so we are very excited."

Tuesday's Pro-Am pairings party will begin at 6 p.m. at the Telfair Museum.

Wednesday will be highlighted by the pro-am beginning at 7:30 a.m and a trick shot contest at Deer Creek No. 5 (Schooner's Cove) at 6 p.m.

The Tournament begins at 7 a.m. Thursday with an opening ceremony at the No. 10 tee.

Saturday is Military Appreciation Day. Spectators will have the chance to get up close and personal to military artillery throughout the golf course with over 10 military displays available to see onsite.

Fans are encouraged to stop by No. 18 green to see members of the military protecting the American flag that will serve as the pin flag on Saturday as well as hear from a military announcer. Following play, fans can stick around on the No. 18 green for the Military Appreciation Day Ceremony and flyover at 6 p.m.

Sunday is Seersucker Sunday, when fans are encouraged to rep their best seersucker outfits and post them to social media with a chance to have their picture taken with the tournament's winner following the trophy presentation at 5 p.m. Sunday on the 18th green.

The winner of this year's SGC will be awarded a custom-fitted seersucker jacket which will serve as the event's award (along with $99,000) annually for the champion.

KEY FIGURES

Total purse: $550,000

Winner's share: $99,000

Course: Deer Creek Course; Par 72; 7,094 yards

2018 winner: Sam Burns; 21-under (72-65-65-65--267)

Know before you go

PARKING

All general spectator parking is located at Bethesda Academy on the corner of Whitefield and Ferguson avenues. Parking is $5 and all parking proceeds are donated directly to Bethesda Academy.

Complimentary tournament shuttles will run every 15 minutes between the general spectator parking lot and the main Spectator entrance of the SGC.

From Truman Parkway: Exit at Whitefield Avenue toward Skidaway Island. Turn left on Ferguson Avenue. Parking is on left.

PROHIBITED ITEMS

The following are prohibited from coming through the gates for SGC spectators: pets, laptops/computers, radios, coolers, bags larger than purses, lawn chairs and knives/firearms/weapons of any nature. More prohibited items can be found on the tournament's official website at www.savannahgolfchampionship.com.

THE FIELD

(Alphabetical by last name)

Alexander, Tyson

Alker, Steven

Alvarado, Benjamín

Anderson, Mark (Beaufort, S.C.)

Arnaud, Michael

Arnold, Jamie

Atkins, Matt

Baek, Todd

Baker, Chris

Barber, Blayne

Barnes, Erik

Bass, Thomas

Beck, Jimmy

Bekker, Oliver

Bigley, Bryan

Binfield, Wade

Blair, Zac

Blakefield, Mark

Blick, Cody

Bramlett, Joseph

Brand, Christian

Brehm, Ryan

Browne, Jr., Olin

Buttacavoli, Michael

Campbell, Brian

Campos, Rafael

Cappelen, Sebastian

Choi, Albin

Coletta, Brett

Compton, Erik

Cone, Trevor

Covello, Vince

Creel, Joshua

Cunningham, George

Dou, Zecheng

Dougherty, Kevin

Drewitt, Brett

Driscoll, James

Echavarria, Nicolas

Ernst, Derek

Flores, Martin

Fraustro, Oscar

Fritsch, Brad

Gallegos, Andres

Gellerman, Michael

Ghim, Doug

Gibson, Rhein

Gligic, Michael

Greyserman, Max

Griffin, Lanto

Gutschewski, Scott

Haley II, Paul

Harmon, Matt

Harrington, Scott

Harrold, William

Hebert, Michael

Higgs, Harry

Hoag, Bo

Hodges, Lee

Hoey, Rico

Hopfinger, Brad

Hubbard, Mark

Ihm, Steven

Imondi, Paul

India, Vince

Johnson, Michael

Kaufman, Smylie

Kennerly, Billy

Kohles, Ben

Lamb, Rick

LeBrun, Steve

Ledesma, Nelson

Lickliter II, Frank

Loar, Edward

Love, Sam

Lower, Justin

Lucas, Kevin

Mackenzie, Brock

Madigan, Timothy

Maguire, Jack

Marino, Steve

Matthews, Brandon

McCarthy, Dan

McCoy, Lee

McCumber, Tyler

McGowan, Michael

McNealy, Maverick

Meth, Byron

Meyer, Dylan

Miller, Michael

NeSmith, Matthew

Niebrugge, Jordan

Norlander, Henrik

Novak, Andrew

Oda, John

Oppenheim, Rob

Patel, Bhavik

Percy, Cameron

Pereira, Corey

Pinckney, Scott

Polland, Ben

Quigley, Brett

Ramey, Chad

Randolph, Jonathan

Richey, Brian

Ridings, Tag

Rottluff, Max

Rozo, Marcelo

Saxon, Charlie

Scheffler, Scottie

Seiffert, Chase

Shelton, Robby

Shindler, Conrad

Silvers, Mark (Savannah)

Skinns, David

Smotherman, Austin

Stanger, Jimmy

Stegmaier, Brett

Sucher, Zack

Summerhays, Daniel

Svoboda, Andrew

Tarren, Callum

Taylor, Ben

Thompson, Nicholas

Tracy, Ethan

Vogel, T.J.

Voke, Nick

Walker, Danny

Weaver, Drew

Weekley, Boo

Weir, Mike

Whaley, Vincent

Wheatcroft, Steve

Wilcox, Willy

Wilkinson, Tim

Winslow, Joseph

Wittenberg, Casey

Wright, Zach

Xiong, Norman

Yates, Greg

Yip, Ryan

Yuan, Carl

Zhang, Andy

Zhang, Xinjun

ALTERNATES

(In order)

Lee, D.H.

Sullivan, Patrick

Kosaihira, Yuwa

Reifers, Kyle

Guthrie, Luke

Dornes, JD

Gunn, Jimmy

León, Horacio

Becker, Rafael