Florida Open Championship tees off this weekend in Fort Myers with record purse available

The 77^th Florida Open Championship tees off Friday at The Golf Club at Crown Colony and Cypress Lake Golf Club with 98 professionals competing for the $125,000 purse, the largest in the event’s history.

Defending champion Andy Pope is among six past champions in the field, along with University of Florida men’s golf coach J.C. Deacon, who’s won the event twice, and Cape Coral’s Connor Arendell.

Also included in the field are four players who competed in this year’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club, highlighted by Estero’s Jeremy Wells, who finished third at the 2021 Florida Open. Wells is the Director of Instruction at Cypress Lake, the event’s co-site.

From May: Cypress Lake Golf Club pro Jeremy Wells qualifies to play in 2023 PGA Championship

A total of 156 golfers will compete in the 54-hole tournament. Among the notable amateurs are Marc Dull, age 37 of Lakeland, who won last month’s 106^th Florida Amateur by finishing 17-under par, the lowest winning score in nearly 50 years and 16-year-old Tristan Wieland of Jupiter, the field’s youngest player who played in this year’s Florida Am and last year’s U.S. Junior Amateur. Also competing is Cape Coral’s Jake Sherwin, who earned an exemption by finishing in the top five on last year’s Player of the Year points list.

Following Saturday’s second round, the top 60 golfers will advance to Sunday’s final held at Crown Colony, which is hosting the Florida Open for the first time.

David Kent, the general manager at Crown Colony, said there were a record number of entries for this year’s tournament, making it one of the deepest and strongest fields in the event’s history.

“It seems to grow in strength every year,” he said. “You have so many great players, effectively just over one in 10 entries is going to get into the championship, which is quite difficult.

“Outside of the exempt players, to qualify for the Florida Open I would say is on par with getting through locals for the United States Open, the fields are that strong and the quality of play is that good.”

Admission is free for the Florida Open and spectators are able to walk the course and follow the golfers.

Friday’s tee times

The Club at Crown Colony

Hole 1

7:30 a.m.: Keith Knox (a), Nelson Ou, Christian De Greiff

7:40 a.m.: Daniel Core, Jorge Garcia, Jeremy Wells

7:50 a.m.: Gage Carnes (a), Payne McEntee (a), Richard Terga

8 a.m.: Marcus Herndon, Caleb Maraman, Nicholas Estrada (a)

8:10 a.m.: Jake Sherwin (a), Clint Avret, Paul Ferrier

8:20 a.m.: James Bradley (a), Jack Korzon (A/R), Evan Bowser

8:30 a.m.: Carson Klawonn, David Hronek, Jeff Selis (a)

8:40 a.m.: David Damesworth, Timothy Cantwell, Jack Burbee (a)

8:50 a.m.: Cameron Riley, Justin Ross (a), James Key (a)

9 a.m.: Tristan Wieland (a), Derek Bard, Ryan Fountain

9:10 a.m.: Greyson Porter, Zachary Potter, Jonah Leach (a)

9:20 a.m.: Brad Schneider, Joshua Perna (a), Bob Wallace

9:30 a.m.: Brenden Collins, Seth Strickland (a), Jack VanderSchuur (a)

Hole 10

7:30 a.m.: Leopoldo Herrera, Dalton Bartlett, Blake Biggs (a)

7:40 a.m.: Cameron Fady, Nick Joy, Henry Grillo (a)

7:50 a.m.: David Marshall (a), Justin Bertsch, Egor Eroshenko (a)

8 a.m.: Cameron Owens (a), Kevin Aylwin, Mark Mielke

8:10 a.m.: Justin McCarraher, Andrew Arft, Bill Davis (a)

8:20 a.m.: Tyler Collet, Connor Arendell, Joseph Latowski (a)

8:30 a.m.: Wyatt Plattner (a), Justin Hicks, Tomas Cavanagh (a)

8:40 a.m.: Andrew Pope, Shannon Sykora, Marc Dull (a)

8:50 a.m.: Gregory McClimans, Jarred Garcia, Jacob Hair (a)

9 a.m.: Alan Morin, Stone Cowie, Adam DeArmond (a)

9:10 a.m.: Cody Grey, Kyle Horvath, Lucas Sabie (a)

9:20 a.m.: Dylan Foster (a), Nathan Bertsch (a), John Nieporte

9:30 a.m.: Clark Brown (a), Fielding Brewbaker, Dillon Board

Cypress Lake Golf Club

Hole 1

7:30 a.m.: Sam Brown (a), Steven Cuzzort, Michael Berger

7:40 a.m.: Pete Kellermann, Jack Wehle (a), Ryan Jahn

7:50 a.m.: John Somers, Val Holmgren, Reid Bedell (a)

8 a.m.: Bryson Hughes (a), Benjamin Hall, Patrick Williams

8:10 a.m.: Noah Davis, James Preston (a), Gerard Onacki

8:20 a.m.: Gary Shea, Frankie Harris (a), Kenny Leech

8:30 a.m.: James Horton, Jimmy Paradise (a), Michael Sakane

8:40 a.m.: Landon Michelson, Alex Grote (a), Keith Kulzer

8:50 a.m.: Marcus Manley, Siyan Liu, Logan Batista (a)

9 a.m.: Cole Castro, Vijay Kumar (a), Kevin Geniza

9:10 a.m.: Jay Halverson (a), Daniel Robinson, Toby Bishop (a)

9:20 a.m.: Matthew Galloway (a), Chris Kennedy, Jon Pazdera

9:30 a.m.: Tyler Clippard (a), Nicholas Beddow, Christian Bartolacci

Hole 10

7:30 a.m.: Felipe Quiroga, Eric Berggren (a), Billy Hemstock

7:40 a.m.: Alejandro Restrepo, Aidan Holmes (a), Matthew Soucinek (a)

7:50 a.m.: Landon Durham (a), Matthew DePinto (a), Andrew Wilkinson

8 a.m.: Justin Grant (a), Christian Bosso, Paul Scaletta

8:10 a.m.: Sam Park, Jack Lyerly, Braden Miller (a)

8:20 a.m.: Rhett Pooley (a), Greg Koch, David Kent

8:30 a.m.: Michael Mays (a), J.C. Deacon, Rod Perry

8:40 a.m.: Phil Walters (a), Anthony Martire, John Lento

8:50 a.m.: Devin Hernandez (a), Austin Davenport, Matt Cahill

9 a.m.: John Houchin (a), Blake Dyer, Matt Borchert

9:10 a.m.: Tom Murray, Andrew Filbert, Joe Alfieri (a)

9:20 a.m.: Jonathan Mansfield, Tyler Todd, Mingbo Jiang (a)

9:30 a.m.: Juan Pablo Arrazola, Adam Alvarez (a), Brett Blackburn

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida Open Championship set for Fort Myers with record purse