Here are the top names to follow at the 2023 Memorial Health Championship in Springfield

The Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS returns for its eighth appearance at Panther Creek Country Club with the first round on Thursday.

The field includes three previous champions: Brett Drewitt (2020), Xinjun Zhang (2019) and Martin Flores (2016).

Here are some other names to follow over the weekend, listed in no particular order. Admission is free to the public.

Ben Kohles

The 33-year-old Texan has been on the watchlist in the past. He previously tied for second place in the 2020 tournament and 11th place the following year. He returns as the Korn Ferry’s points leader. He has two wins this year and four all together. He won both the Chile Classic and HomeTown Lenders Championship via playoff in the month of April. He previously won his first two starts in 2012.

Rico Hoey

The 27-year-old University of Southern California alum netted his first Korn Ferry win in May and has five other top-10 finishes. That doesn’t include his 11th-place performance at last week’s tournament in Oklahoma. He is second in the Korn Ferry standings.

Adrien Dumont de Chassart

The soaring Belgium native recently won Big Ten Golfer of the Year for a third consecutive season at University of Illinois to round out his impressive collegiate résumé. He is the first athlete to achieve that feat since Northwestern’s Luke Donald in 2001. He has only followed that up with a blistering start to his professional career. He won his Korn Ferry debut in South Carolina on June 11 and lost a three-way playoff to Ricky Castillo in the Wichita Open the following week. He is eighth in the Korn Ferry standings. Fellow Illini grad Nick Hardy, who won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with partner Davis Riley in April, previously appeared in the Memorial Health tournament in 2020 before ascending the ranks of the PGA.

Ricky Castillo

The 22-year-old University of Florida golfer also won his professional debut but in a playoff at the Wichita Open. He rallied from four strokes behind in the final round to force a playoff with Dumont de Chassart and Kyle Jones before winning on the first playoff hole. He went undefeated in match play to catapult the Gators to the team national title at the end of May.

Rafael Campos

The 35-year-old Puerto Rican totals five top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including two in the 2020-21 season. He garnered second place at last week’s Korn Ferry tournament in Oklahoma one stroke behind winner Jimmy Stanger. He is 14th in the Korn Ferry standings and has two other top-10 finishes.

Jake Erickson

The 2009 Sacred Heart-Griffin graduate returns to the tournament with a sponsor exemption. The seven-time Men’s City champion missed the cut in 2018 at 1-over-par after two rounds.

Contact Bill Welt: 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Korn Ferry Tour: Top names at 2023 Memorial Health Championship