Concord, N.C. – The eGolf Gateway Tour remains in the greater Charlotte, N.C. area this week for the 12th annual Cabarrus Classic, set to be contested at the George Cobb-designed Cabarrus Country Club in Concord, NC on July 15-17.

The Cabarrus Classic is the longest-tenured event on the eGolf Gateway Tour schedule, dating back to the 2004 season when 16-time tour winner Matt Cannon claimed the inaugural title. The 2015 edition will mark the second straight year the event has been contested in the summer months, in turn bringing the club’s two-year-old Champion Bermuda greens into the mix.

After nearly 40 years with bent grass putting surfaces, Cabarrus Country Club converted to the more heat-tolerant Bermuda greens in 2013, in turn putting forth some of the best greens in the Charlotte area.

“Like many clubs in this area, Cabarrus’ conversion to the new greens was a night-and-day situation,” said eGolf Gateway Tour president David Siegel. “The putting surfaces are PGA TOUR ready, and the speed with which the club can now get them in the heat of July is ideal for an event of this caliber.”

Cabarrus Country Club

Cabarrus Country Club, along with Raintree Country Club in south Charlotte, is one of two private clubs that the majority of tour players in the area belong to. That slight bit of home cooking makes Cabarrus Classic week one of the more popular weeks on tour.

“Cabarrus Country Club has been akin to a second home for our tour, and for a number of our players,” said Siegel. “Since our days at the Tarheel Tour, players have come from all over to play and practice there, with host pros such as current director of golf Ken Guilford and former director of golf David Ross serving as instructors to some of our best up-and-coming talent.”

The Cabarrus Classic features one of the stronger lists of past champions of any eGolf Gateway Tour event, including PGA TOUR members Scott Brown (2009) and William McGirt (2007), as well as former British Amateur champion Drew Weaver (2010), six-time eGolf Tour winner Ryan Nelson (2011) and five-time tour winner T.J. Howe (2013).

Brown, who won the PGA TOUR’s Puerto Rico Classic in 2013, earned the 2009 title as the third of three wins in a breakout season which saw him set the all-time, single-season money mark on the eGolf Gateway Tour with $142,362 in earnings. The former USC-Aiken star posted a 19-under par total over just three rounds to defeat current Web.com Tour member Fernando Mechereffe, as well as PGA TOUR member Lee Williams, en route to the title.

“Part of what makes this event great is that it has traditionally produced some of the best winners in our tour’s history,” said Siegel. “There is a bit of strategy required in a venue that seems somewhat innocent, and that necessary bit of maturity mixed with talent usually puts forth a worthy champion.”

Players of note in this week’s field include:

Christian Brand (Charleston, W.V.)
Former Marshall University star is coming off a runner-up finish at last week’s Imperial Headwear Southern Open, where a 19-under-par total left him seven shots shy of runaway winner Grayson Murray. The second-place effort was Brand’s third in the past 14 months on tour, dating back to similar finishes at the 2013 Willow Creek Open and the Nova Tax Group Open earlier this year. All told, the 2014 Web.com Tour member has seven top-4 finishes in his past two years, solidifying his status as arguably the tour’s best player without a win.

Christian Brand

Jimmy Gunn (Dornoch, Scotland)
Former Web.com Tour member has had a standout year on tour between the west and east coast series, notching eight top-10 finishes and a March win at La Purisima Golf Course in Lompoc, Calif. Gunn’s 2014-15 season includes three runner-up finishes and a solo-fifth-place effort at the tour’s $200,000 Biggs Cadillac Buick GMC Open in May. Gunn, 34, posted rounds of 72-73-70-70—285 to finish T27 at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in his first career start in a major championship.

Grayson Murray (Raleigh, N.C.)
Former junior star broke through in sensational fashion at last week’s Southern Open, posting rounds of 63-64-64-63—254 for a video-game-like 26-under-par total, good for the first professional win of his brief career. Murray, who made waves as a 15-year-old phenom when he made the cut at the Web.com Tour’s Rex Hospital Open, left the college ranks in May to turn professional, collecting T16 and T3 finishes in two starts on tour before claiming the Southern Open win.

Frank Adams III (Laurinburg, N.C.)
Eight-time tour winner is currently the leading money winner with $55,885 in earnings, thanks to a win at the Biggs Cadillac Buick GMC Open and three additional top-10 finishes – including a T4 at Irish Creek last week. The 36-year-old has notched top-25 finishes in each of his 11 starts this year, and has three top-25 finishes in his last four starts at the Cabarrus Classic, with a T4 at the event’s 2013 edition serving has his best of the four.

Other notable players in the field at Cabarrus include five-time tour winner and 2013 Cabarrus Classic champion T.J. Howe (Osceola, Pa.), 2014 leading money winner Ryan Nelson (Charleston, S.C.), former Alabama star and U.S. Junior Champion Cory Whitsett (St. Simons Island, Ga.) and four-time tour winner Matt Ryan (Santa Clarita, Calif.).

Opening-round play at the Cabarrus Classic will begin on Wednesday, July 15th at 8:00 AM, with players competing in threesomes off of Nos. 1 and 10 tees. Following the conclusion of 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 35 percent and ties for Friday’s final round of play. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge. For more information on the event, or the eGolf Gateway Tour, please visit www.egolf.com.