New Year's Invitational begins Thursday in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Jan. 7, 2015) — The second major event of the calendar year kicks off Thursday at the New Year's Invitational, a 72-hole event at St. Petersburg Country Club that will host some of the nation's top amateurs. The field includes players from 35 colleges and universities as well as standout high school players including defending champion Sam Horsfield of Davenport, Florida. Horsfield, a high school senior slated to attend the University of Florida next September, won last year's event with a 13-under par 275 total. Other contenders for this year’s title are current U.S. Amateur champion Gunn Yang, former U.S. Junior Amateur champion Jim Liu, as well as last year’s runner-up Philippe Schweizer, who is from Switzerland and will attend Purdue University. Last year's third place finisher Michael McGowan, a recent graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, will also be among the participants. The event is one of the oldest continuously running invitational tournaments in the country, having first been played in 1927. Former winners include Masters champion Bob Goalby, Gary Koch, Gary Hallberg, Ryuji Imada, J.B. Holmes, Brandt Snedeker, Jeff Overton and Peter Uihlein. Spectators are welcome to attend the Invitational all four days.