VALLEY TOYOTA DEALERS ASSOCIATION EXTENDS TITLE SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT WITH PATRIOT ALL-AMERICA INVITATIONAL

PHOENIX, Ariz. (October 9, 2018) – The Valley Toyota Dealers Association, which is comprised of the ten Toyota dealerships across the Phoenix area, have extended their title sponsorship of The Patriot All-America Invitational for the 2018 tournament. Financial terms of the agreement will not be released. The Patriot All-America Invitational presented by the Valley Toyota Dealers will be played at The Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz., December 29-31 and is regarded as a top international amateur event, attracting PING All-America golfers from all three NCAA Divisions, NAIA and NJCAA rankings as well as from universities outside the United States.  In November 2017, the Valley Toyota Dealers Association and tournament officials started with a one-year title sponsorship agreement for the 2017 tournament, played December 29-31, 2017.

As part of the title sponsorship renewal of The Patriot All-America, the Valley Toyota Dealers Association will receive:

Less than two years after winning the 2016 Patriot All-America Invitational, Cameron Champ has earned his PGA TOUR card after finishing fifth on the Web.com money list.

Champ gained national attention in 2017 as an amateur for leading the field in driving distance at the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills.  Champ chose to forgo his senior season at Texas A&M, turning his sights to the 2017 Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament instead. After finishing T16 and earning status for the 2018 season, Champ picked up his first professional victory at the 2018 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank, posting a 24-under 260 to set a new 72-hole tournament record.

At the 2016 Patriot All-America, played December 29-31 at The Wigwam in Litchfield Park, Ariz., Champ knocked in a one-foot putt for par on the second playoff hole to defeat Zach Olsen of Oklahoma State. Champ entered the final round tied for sixth, three-shots back of second round leader. During his final round, Champ shot a 4-under par 66 (203) that included six birdies and two bogeys to get into the playoff. Meanwhile, Olsen entered the final round tied for eighth, four-shots back. Olsen shot a 5-under par 65 (the best round of the day) to qualify for the playoff.

Defending Patriot All-America Champion Mason Overstreet Competes In Web.com Tour’s Wichita Open

Competing in his first-ever professional golf event, defending Patriot All-America Invitational champion Mason Overstreet battled nerves and a stellar field at the 2018 Wichita Open, played June 21-24 at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kansas. Overstreet, a soon-to-be junior at the University of Arkansas, received a sponsor exemption into the Web.com Tour event for winning the 2017 Patriot All-America Invitational.

Overstreet shot rounds of 71, 70, 72, before shooting a final-round 3-under par 67, that included six birdies. He finished the tournament at even par (280) and tied for 65^th. Brady Schnell beat Brandon Hagy – a 2012 Patriot All-America Invitational participant – and Scott Pinckney in a playoff to win the Wichita Open.  In addition to more than a dozen Patriot All-America alumni playing in the event, the Wichita Open field also included past PGA TOUR winners Mike Weir, Stuart Appleby and Jason Gore.

In December, Overstreet won the 2017 Patriot All-America Invitational by six shots over a strong field of 84 PING All-America golfers from all three NCAA Divisions, NAIA and NJCAA rankings as well as from U.S. Military Academies and universities outside the United States.

Coincidentally, 2016 Patriot All-America Invitational winner Cameron Champ also competed in this year’s Wichita Open and finished in 7^th place. Like Overstreet, Champ had earned an exemption into the Wichita event in 2017 but did not play in the tournament because he qualified-for and played in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, where he tied for 32^nd.

U.S. Open Put Champ in Spotlight, Where He Hopes to Stay

January 11, 2018 | Liberty Corner, N.J.
By Joey Flyntz, USGA

CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO RECAP

It was 2:30 p.m. on June 15, 2017, and the 22-year-old Texas A&M student waited on the tee with nary a morsel of food in his belly to absorb the nerves that had been building throughout the day. When the agonizing wait ended, he pulled out his driver and tried to block out the thousands of fans observing the action on the 492-yard, par-4 10th hole at Erin Hills during Round 1 of the 117th U.S. Open Championship.

As calmly as though he were playing one of the public courses he grew up on in Sacramento, Calif., Cameron Champ crushed his drive 336.5 yards down the middle. And with that, he took a deep breath and walked down the fairway, the first steps on a path leading to a scintillating summer season on the amateur circuit that culminated in his first professional tour card.

“Yeah, it’s safe to say that calmed me down quite a bit,” said Champ, recalling his first shot in a major championship.

Champ’s road to Erin Hills was anything but calm. The son of a former minor-league catcher in the Baltimore Orioles’ system, Cameron inherited his father Jeff’s ability to punish a round ball. But Cameron knew around 8 years old that golf was the game for him.

When he was 15, Champ met well regarded golf instructor Sean Foley, who was just starting to work with Tiger Woods and now coaches 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose.

LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. (December 31, 2017) – Mason Overstreet, a sophomore at the University of Arkansas, shot a final round 6-under par 64 to finish at 11-under par (199) for the tournament and win the 2017 Patriot All-America Invitational at The Wigwam in Litchfield Park, Ariz. Overstreet finished six shots ahead of Austin Eckroat of Oklahoma State (-5, 205), Patrick Fishburn of BYU (-5, 205), SM Lee from Dalton State College (-5, 205), George Cunningham from the University of Arizona (-5, 205), and Garrett May of Baylor University (-5, 205).

In May, Overstreet finished second to Braden Thornberry at the NCAA Individual Golf Championships at Rich Harvest Farms golf course in Sugar Grove, Illinois. Thornberry, the 2015 Patriot All-America champion and current number 2 ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, finished T15 with a final round 74 (210).

Overstreet, who is currently ranked 118^th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and is from Kingfisher, Okla., played in honor of U.S. Army Sergeant Jesse J.J. Castro. Castro was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle while on patrol in Hawijah, Iraq. Each golfer playing in The Patriot All-America honors a fallen or severely injured soldier by carrying a golf bag bearing the name of that soldier. Before the tournament, participants receive a card with the soldier’s story, so they can be familiar with who that person was, what they represented and how they were killed or wounded in action.

With his Patriot All-America victory, Overstreet receives a sponsor exemption into the Web.com Tour’s 2018 Air Capital Classic played June 21 – 24 at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kan.

Overstreet’s -11 under par ties Cory Whitsett of the University of Alabama in 2011 for the lowest winning score in the tournament’s seven-year history.