History

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The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame serves as the host organization for the acclaimed Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Since the tournament’s inception in 1990, the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper has made a significant impact on the lives of children throughout the Ozarks. Entering 2024, the tournament had raised more than $20.5 million for local children’s charities in its history.

Your involvement in the activities and events planned this year will help a child receive much needed health care services, send a youngster to summer camp, assist medical facilities with expanding their services for children, help children with special needs, and enhance the lives of the children in the Ozarks. You will also be a participant in introducing thousands of children to the game of golf and to a gift of hope that will forever change their lives.

Each season, 50 Korn Ferry Tour players earn their PGA TOUR card for the following year. When you attend the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, you witness the PGA TOUR Stars of tomorrow.


Andrews-led PCCC keeps reaching new heights

Tournament Executive Director Jerald Andrews
Tournament Executive Director Jerald Andrews

The longtime tournament director of the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper has enjoyed telling this story in recent years:

It stems from a 2015 visit by David L. Brown, the CEO of Web.com, which at the time was the title sponsor of the PGA TOUR’s premier path to the big stage. (It’s now the Korn Ferry Tour.)

“At the end of the day, he basically said this visit, ‘Has served as a real impetus for me to re-affirm my sponsorship with the PGA Tour,’” Tournament Director Jerald Andrews said, noting it was Brown’s first last year to a tournament. “Keep in mind, that’s a sponsorship in the millions of dollars. And he said, ‘This is what we thought we were doing and now we see it’s being done.’”

Certainly, the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper continues to gain strength and does so thanks to a number of factors: growth of the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour; and continued support of Price Cutter Supermarkets and Ozarks-area sponsorships, volunteers, Highland Springs Country Club and tournament staff.

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More importantly, the tournament has forever benefitted local children’s charities.

What a run it’s been.

The tournament has raised more than $20.5 million for charities.

The continued support of Price Cutter Supermarkets, which has been a presenting or title sponsor for 25 years, has been significant. Additionally, a number of events have come aboard to make it all happen.

Overall, the tournament has stared down challenges, such as the economic downturn of the past decade, and still thrived.

“We cannot enjoy success in this tournament without help from across the Ozarks, or without the national support of the PGA and Korn Ferry,” Andrews said. “It’s truly a team and community effort that has kept it alive and successful for more than quarter century.”

PCCC check - Rob Marsh & Jacquie Dowdy

Price Cutter Supermarkets calls it “a blessing” to help make a difference in the community.

“We were approached and wanted to step up. We obviously wanted to continue the cause. We’ve just seen all of the good that has come of it,” said Rob Marsh, Vice President of Operations for Price Cutter Supermarkets. “We like that all the money stays with local children’s charities.”

The fact that the PGA offers the Korn Ferry Tour – and that the tour continues in popularity – cannot be underscored enough.

Consider that the tour was all the idea of then-PGA Tour Commissioner Deane R. Beman in the late 1980s. Beman sought a proving ground for up-and-coming golfers and a place for PGA Tour veterans to hone their skills ahead of the Champions Tour.

Highland Springs Country Club

Thus, the Ben Hogan Tour launched in February 1990 thanks to the sponsorship of the Ben Hogan Company. Over the years, the PGA has secured title sponsorships from Nike, Buy.com, Nationwide Insurance, Web.com and now Korn Ferry.

As a result of growth, 50 PGA Tour cards are decided annually on the Web.com Tour. That’s quite a spike from the 1990 season, when only the top-five money winners were awarded PGA Tour membership. That figure increased to 10 two years later, to 15 in 1997 and suddenly it was 20 beginning in 1993. It hit 25 in 2007.

Springfield’s place in the tournament is significant, given the PCCC is among four Korn Ferry Tour stops can say they’ve been on board all 27 years. The others are being Boise, Idaho; Knoxville, Tenn; and Wichita, Kan.

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Local support — led by Andrews maintaining sponsors and recruiting many more – has kept the tournament growing.

Andrews became official tournament director in 1997, and the tournament’s award to charity reached $155,000 – or more than double from the prior year. Price Cutter Supermarkets soon came on board as title sponsor along with presenting sponsor Dr Pepper.

The Silver Dollar City Pro-Am was the first of its kind – not only for the tournament but for the tour — and many more found their way on to the PCCC schedule.

In 2014, Andrews called on sponsors to reach deeper and for other businesses to hop on board. The end result was a record $1 million-plus.

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Volunteer numbers also have grown from 600 in that first year to 1,000.

It’s certainly come a long way.

In 1989, Hammons was just completing construction of Highland Springs Country Club, and the Ben Hogan Tour required a 501 c 3 non-profit to run any tournament and pay the purse. The Hammons Foundation was a natural fit.

At the time, the Executive Director of the PGA’s Midwest Region was Perry Leslie, a former PGA Tour Player who was the Director of Golf at Highland Springs. He helped steer the tour to Springfield.

“Overall, it’s been a rewarding experience,” Andrews added. “I’ve enjoyed seeing what the charities have been given. It’s been a blessing. That’s our measuring stick.”


Past Winners

The Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper Champions’ History