McGreevy, Eckroat highlight field for 109th Oklahoma Open

First and second round pairings

Austin Eckroat, fresh off a PGA Tour rookie season in which he narrowly missed finishing in the top 70 and advancing to the Fed-Ex Cup playoffs, is carrying on a long tradition of Oklahoma’s top professionals gracing the Oklahoma Open with their presence when he tees off at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at Oak Tree Country Club in a featured pairing with Hayden Wood of Edmond and Tyson Reeder of Edmond.

The following group at 12:40 has the event’s second PGA Tour player in two-time champion Max McGreevy of Edmond. McGreevy won the Oklahoma Open in 2017 and 2019 and is paired with fellow former Oklahoma Sooners Charlie Saxon and Johnathan Brightwell.

The Oklahoma Open, which pays the winner $10,000 and carries a total purse of more than $65,000, has five former champions in the field for 2023. Besides McGreevy, they are Casey Fernandez (2018), Andrew Hudson (2020), (Zach James 2022) and Kyle Willmann (2005).

The Open has been won in the past by PGA Tour pros Danny and David Edwards, Doug Tewell, Bob Tway, Gil Morgan, Tom Jones, Willie Wood, Mark Hayes, Todd Hamilton, Robert Streb and Rhein Gibson. Three winners went on to win major championships, including Tway (1985 and 1987) who won the PGA Championship in 1986; Hamilton (1999), who won the Open Championship in 2004, and Lucas Glover (2001), who won the U.S. Open in 2009.

Attendance is free. The 54-hole event will be cut to the low 40 and ties for the final round on Saturday.

– Ken MacLeod