Falmouth Country Club has hosted amateur championships and Ladies Professional Golf Association events, and in June will host a tournament that brings aspiring PGA Tour golfers to Maine. Courtesy photo

The Korn Ferry Tour, the highest level of minor league professional golf, will be teeing it up in Maine in 2021.

The inaugural Live + Work In Maine Open at Falmouth Country Club will be played June 21-27 with or without fans. The Korn Ferry Tour is a developmental arm of the PGA Tour.

The Live + Work Open, under the management of Portland-based Shamrock Sports & Entertainment, was supposed to premiere in June 2020, with 156 golfers vying for $600,000 in total purse money. It was canceled in April because of the coronavirus pandemic and Maine’s restrictions on large gatherings that would have prevented any spectators.

Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour events are currently being held without spectators. Brian Corcoran, the chief engagement officer of Shamrock Sports, said he hopes conditions will allow for a full gallery of spectators in 2021 – but if not, the tournament will still be held.

“The show will go on next June; the question will be what will be the scalability of this event, based on what community conditions and related governance will permit,” Corcoran said.

The Korn Ferry Tour is the PGA Tour’s top developmental professional tour and the primary means for golfers to attain PGA Tour status. The five-year contract for the event between the PGA Tour and Shamrock Sports will begin in 2021.

The tournament beneficiary is the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital. The tournament’s goal is to raise $100,000 or more annually for the hospital through sponsors, ticket sales and special events.

On Wednesday, 18 foursomes played the Falmouth Country Club course as part of the Charity Classic, with proceeds going to the Barbara Bush hospital. Corcoran said following the tournament that the Live + Work Open will be donating $50,000 to the hospital.

“I think it’s quite an accomplishment,” said Deane Beman, the Live + Work in Maine Open’s honorary chair and the former commissioner of the PGA Tour. “The PGA Tour has supported charities in every community that we play. That’s part of our DNA. And to be able to help even when we run into problems we had this year and can’t even hold a tournament, for me to be here and to help raise that amount even with out a golf tournament, it makes me feel good.”

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