Sam Saunders is excited to have a home game on his schedule.

Saunders, who lives in Fort Collins, will be part of the field at the Korn Ferry Tour’s The Ascendant presented by Blue played at TPC Colorado in Berthoud July 13-16.

This year’s tournament will be the fifth in TPC Colorado’s history. The event is the only regular professional tour stop in Colorado since The International stopped in 2007. 

“The Korn Ferry Tour is arguably the second-best tour in the world,” Saunders said. “To have an event at that level in Colorado is going to validate that we’re pretty serious about golf in northern Colorado.”

The community around TPC Colorado has grown over the past five years. Saunders is raising his family in Fort Collins and can see the impact the event has on the community.

“It’s incredible. I’ve never seen a place grow so quickly,” Saunders said. “It has suddenly exploded into this golf destination.

“I can’t wait to play in front of friends and family on a course I am familiar with.”

The Ascendant has had strong winners in the past. Three of the four tournaments were won by one stroke with the fourth coming down to a playoff in 2021. The first winner was Nelson Ledesma, who continues to play on the Korn Ferry Tour and has two wins to his name.

Will Zalatoris won in 2020 and went on to become an up-and-coming star on the PGA Tour. Zalatoris, who is currently sidelined with a back injury, won the St. Jude Championship and has three runner-up finishes in majors.

Tag Ridings took the title in 2021, his first win in almost 19 years. Last year Dou Zecheng raised the trophy. Zecheng has three Korn Ferry wins and is playing this season on the PGA Tour. He finished tied for 17th at last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Saunders hopes to get his game back on track in Berthoud. He has bounced back and forth between the PGA and Korn Ferry tours. Saunders has played in one PGA event each of the last couple years and missed the cut in each.

“Professional golf has been a little bit of a struggle for me lately. I’m not going to lie,” Saunders said. “I’ve worked really hard at it. It’s been a great career for me. But I still feel like I haven’t accomplished what I really could have and should have accomplished on the PGA Tour.”

Saunders’ Korn Ferry season has been up and down. He has three top 10s in 12 events but has also missed the cut seven times, including his last two events. He currently ranks 34th on the points list.

Saunders is spending some family time in Steamboat Springs before teeing off in Berthoud. He knows the challenge of TPC Colorado and feels his game suits the course well.

“TPC Colorado is one of the bigger courses we play on the Korn Ferry tour,” said Saunders, who finished tied for 37th last year. “There’s a lot of tee shots where you’ve got to step up and not just hit it straight but hit it long. It’s really a course where you can succeed if you can drive the ball long and straight.”

Another Colorado connection will be teeing it up at TPC Colorado as former CU Buffs golfer Jeremy Paul will be part of the field. Paul, whose brother Yannik is having a strong season on the DP World Tour, finished third in last year’s event.

“I really look forward to this one. It’s one of my favorite tournaments of the year, ” Paul said. “I really like the way it’s run, and they take really good care of all of our players.”

Paul set or tied 24 records during his time at the University of Colorado. He concluded his career with four of the top nine single-season stroke averages in CU history. 

Paul currently ranks 52nd on the Korn Ferry points list. He has one top 10 and has made the cut in eight of his 16 events. 

But a chance to grab his first professional win in Colorado would be special to Paul.

“If I could choose any tournament out of the year where I would love to win it is this one,” Paul said. “I still have a lot of friends there. I have good memories just being there. I really feel comfortable there.

“I have a lot of ties to Colorado and it would be awesome to win there.”

The first round of The Ascendant is set for July 13 and runs through July 16. For ticket information, click here.

This week in golf

UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION

U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN

Course: Pebble Beach GC – Pebble Beach, Calif.

Purse: TBA (Last year: $10 million)

Television: Thursday-Friday, 2-4 p.m. (Peacock), 4-9 p.m. (USA Network); Saturday-Sunday, 1-7 p.m. (NBC)

Defending champ: Minjee Lee

PGA

JOHN DEERE CLASSIC

Course: TPC Deere Run – Silvis, Ill.

Purse: $7.4 million

Television: Thursday-Friday, 2-5 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (Golf Channel), 1-4 p.m. (CBS)

Defending champ: J.T. Poston

DP World

MADE IN HIMMERLAND

Course: HimmerLand GC. – Farsø, Denmark

Purse: $3.25 million

Television: Thursday-Friday, 5-10 a.m. (Golf Channel), Saturday-Sunday, 5:30-10 a.m. (Golf Channel)

Defending cham: Oliver Wilson

LIV GOLF LEAGUE

LIV GOLF-LONDON

Course: Centurion Club – Hertfordshire, England

Purse: $20 million

Television: Friday, 7 a.m.-noon (CW App); Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (CW Network-tape delay)

Defending champ: Charl Schwartzel

Skins game

Odds to win John Deere Classic

Russell Henley +1400

Denny McCarthy +1400

Cameron Young +1600

Ludvig Aberg +2500

Adam Schenk +2800

Adam Hadwin +1800

—Odds from SuperBook Colorado

World golf rankings

Player, points

1. Scottie Scheffler, 12.17

2. Jon Rahm, 10.00

3. Rory McIlroy, 9.22

4. Patrick Cantlay, 7.41

5. Viktor Hovland 6.55

6. Xander Schauffele, 6.35

7. Cameron Smith, 5.46

8. Max Homa, 5.24

9. Matt Fitzpatrick, 5.23

10. Jordan Spieth, 4.82

Ryder Cup standings

United States

Captain: Zach Johnson

Player, points

1. Scottie Scheffler, 25,091.035

2. Wyndham Clark, 13,166.353

3. Brooks Koepka, 9,362.608

4. Xander Schauffele, 8,353.879

5. Patrick Cantlay, 8,328.581

6. Max Homa, 7,650.872

7. Keegan Bradley, 7,422.341

8. Jordan Spieth, 7,299.796

9. Collin Morikawa, 7,116.813

10. Cameron Young, 6,856.248

11. Sam Burns, 6,727.053

12. Rickie Fowler, 6,673.586

Note: The U.S. team will be made up from the top six eligible players in the points rankings with six captain’s picks.

Europe

Captain: Luke Donald

European points

1. Jon Rahm, 3,017.98

2. Rory McIlroy, 3,003.5

3. Yannik Paul, 1,596.00

4. Adrian Meronk, 1,555.71

5. Victor Perez, 1,456.55

6. Adrian Otaegui, 1,346.58

World points

1. Jon Rahm, 350.07

2. Rory McIlroy, 283.33

3. Viktor Hovland, 252.98

4. Tyrell Hatton, 178.67

5. Matt Fitzpatrick, 149.78

6. Tommy Fleetwood, 135.0

Note: The European team will be made up from the top three eligible players from the European points list, the top three eligible players from the World Points list and six captain’s picks.