FALMOUTH, Mass. — After a brief two-year return to Maine, professional golf will leave the state off its schedule in 2023.
The PGA Tour has informed the Live + Work In Maine Open that the event will not be a stop for its top developmental circuit, the Korn Ferry Tour, next year, Brian Corcoran, CEO of Shamrock Sports & Entertainment, said.
Shamrock was the organizer of the event at Falmouth Country Club during its debut in 2021 and again this past June.
Professional golf is in a transitional period as some of the top players in the world have left the PGA Tour to play for LIV Golf, where they receive larger money payouts and play fewer events.
In response, the PGA Tour announced it would raise the total amount of player purses per tournament and reduce the number of events on the schedule.
The Korn Ferry Tour is following similar action, which is why the Tour had to drop several events, including the Live + Work In Maine Open, from the 2023 calendar.
“Certainly, I think there’s a lot to be proud of," Corcoran said Thursday.
Corcoran said the golf tournament has generated more than $10 million to Maine's economy and, through fundraising efforts, has donated more than $250,000 to the Barbra Bush Children's Hospital.
Despite no Korn Ferry action next summer, a new event is already in the works to take its place.
The Drive Fore Kids Celebrity Challenge is Corcoran and Shamrock's new venture. The event is scheduled to debut next June.
“We’re in early conversations with a long list of regional and global celebrities that have voiced a lot of interest in coming to Maine," Corcoran added.
More details are expected to come out in the coming weeks, but Corcoran said there is a lot of interest in the golf and celebrity mix.
"We’ll take a lot of the best practices from the Korn Ferry Tour and really make this into, hopefully, an exciting next chapter," he added.