The First Tee of Phoenix is sending Dalton Marsh and Kaitlynn Criswell to compete in the 2017 PURE Insurance Championship, an official PGA TOUR Champions event to be contested at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, California, the week of September 19-24, 2017. The tournament, which is hosted by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, will be televised internationally on Golf Channel.

After the 2016 tournament, the PGA TOUR and Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE) Insurance announced an agreement making the policyholder-owned property & casualty insurer for high net worth families the title sponsor of the longstanding event, which dates back to 2004.

Marsh and Criswell will join 79 other participants from The First Tee chapters, selected by a national panel of judges. Participants were selected based on playing ability and comprehension of the life skills and core values learned through their involvement with The First Tee. The juniors will be teamed with 81 PGA TOUR Champions players and 162 amateurs as they compete for the pro-junior title at Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills. As of June 28, players currently committed to compete in the PURE Insurance Championship include World Golf Hall of Fame members Tom Watson and Colin Montgomerie, as well as three-time tournament winner Jeff Sluman and defending champion Paul Broadhurst. Players have until Friday, September 8 to commit. 

Dalton Marsh, an incoming sophomore at Hamilton High School in Chandler, earned his first varsity letter as a member of the Huskies’ men’s golf team last year as a freshman. He has played in more than 200 junior golf tournaments with more than 100 top-10 finishes. Marsh joined The First Tee of Phoenix in 2006.

Kaitylnn Criswell, a three-time varsity letter winner at Desert Ridge High School in Mesa, earned AIA All-Section honors twice, and was named the Arizona Sports Character Counts Athlete of the Month. Criswell took first place in the 15-17 year-old Phoenix Metro Junior Championship, the JGAA Scottsdale City Junior Championship and several SWSPGA Antigua Junior Prep Tour events. Criswell joined The First Tee of Phoenix in 2011 and will play for the Minot State University women’s golf team in North Dakota after high school.

Patrick Fernandez of Peoria, Arizona won the event last year while representing The First Tee of Phoenix.

To learn more about The First Tee of Phoenix, visit www.TheFirstTeePhoenix.org.

For more information on the 2017 PURE Insurance Championship, visit www.pureinsurancechampionship.com.