So competing in the 2021 TrueNorth Greater Cedar Rapids Open, presented by UFG Insurance, is a guy who has won a PGA Tour event and was 48^th in the Official World Golf Rankings his rookie season.

Another golfer had a video of himself telling his dad on the phone he had finally qualified for a PGA tournament go viral, earned himself some monetary backing from a PGA Tour star, then won $50,000 last week at the Waterloo Open.

We also have three former champions of this tournament back for another go at the $30,000 first-place prize and the Bob Brooks-Sam Farner TrueNorth Greater Cedar Rapids Open Memorial trophy.

And there’s a myriad of other talented golfers who are in the same chase.

Welcome back GCRO!

After a missed year because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the GCRO is back for another chapter, it’s 22^nd, at Hunters Ridge Golf Course in Marion.

Smylie Kaufman, who has 92 career starts on the PGA Tour, is trying to resurrect his once blossoming career. He will compete after missing the cut at the PGA’s Barbasol Championship last week in Kentucky.

A winner of the Shriners Hospitals for Children tournament in late 2015, his second career start, and a winner on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2015, Kaufman suffered an elbow injury and then a wrist injury, which has derailed his promising career. The injuries hurt his swing and things went south from there.

The 29-year-old, who is good friends with Justin Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Zach Johnson to name just a few, has made only four cuts since 2018, spanning 35 PGA events.

Kaufman was in the final twosome in the final round of the 2016 Masters with Spieth, but he shot an 81 and finished 29^th. That was his rookie season.

Competing in the GCRO just happened to fit into his schedule. He was going to be in town to take part in the Zach Johnson Foundation outing next Monday at Elmcrest Country Club. He played in the Waterloo Open in 2014 after he got out of LSU and remembered some of the competitors there were playing in Cedar Rapids the next week. So here he is trying to recoup some of the magic.

Michael Visacki shot 23-under-par last weekend and beat former GCRO contender Justin Hueber by one shot to win the Waterloo Open. Visacki qualified for the PGA’s Valspar Championship in April, had a video of him phoning his dad to give him the good news go viral. He became a nationwide story and then was contacted by Thomas, who has helped Visacki with some expenses.

“Big Mike” as he is called, has won 38 times professionally, and the $50,000 win in Waterloo is three times the biggest check of his career, according to a story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Visacki isn’t a stranger to Hunters Ridge. He tied for seventh in the 2018 GCRO at 10-under par.

The 27-year-old from Sarasota, FL., isn’t the only top finisher from Waterloo playing this week.

Patrick Williams (Estero, FL) tied for fourth and 2018 GCRO champ and former University of Iowa golfer Nate Yankovich (Blacklick, OH) tied for sixth.

Four golfers – Nick Mason (Englewood, CO), Li Wang (Seattle, WA), Mark Anguiano (Los Angeles, CA) and Carson Schaake (Omaha, NE) – all tied for eighth up north and will be competing. Wang recently won $5,500 for finishing second in the Wyoming State Open two weeks ago.

Schaake, a former University of Iowa golfer who was one of five GCRO alums to compete in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines last month, tied for third in the 2017 GCRO, missed the cut in 2018 and was T30 in 2019. Mason was T17 in 2019.

Seth Fair (Whitetown, IN) and Carter Page (Jupiter, FL) tied for 12^th in Waterloo and will be at Hunters Ridge. Fair, the GCRO’s 2016 champ, also has two runner-up finishes here, including 2019.  A pretty Fair record indeed.

And Brown Deer Golf Course head pro Sean McCarty, who won the 2009 GCRO title, is back for another try. McCarty has six Top 20 finishes in the GCRO, including a T7 in 2019.

Among other contenders will be Bryce Emory (Aurora, IL) and Samuel Cyr (La Jolla, CA). Those two were among a three-way tie for third in 2019. Cyr was actually the second-round leader, but shot a 1-over-par 73 on Saturday and finished four back.

First round play begins at 8 a.m. Thursday and continues Friday with Round 2.

After a cut, the final round will be held Saturday with the leaders gong off at approximately 11 a.m. The awards ceremony is set to begin between 3 and 4 p.m.

The public is welcome and admission is free all weekend.

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