Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, Folds of Honor founder and PGA member, was the picture of pride Friday while discussing the Korn Ferry Tour.

And for good reason.

The developmental golf tour announced it is bringing one of its tournaments, the Compliance Solutions Championship, to The Patriot Golf Club in Owasso for a three-year run starting in 2025.

“I’m an Okie, as I told Governor (Kevin) Stitt,” said Rooney, a former F-16 fighter pilot who served three combat tours in Iraq. “I’m so proud to bring this to our state. I travel half the year, and I’m always telling people, man, I’m from Owasso, Oklahoma, and it is the land of common sense. There is no greater place on earth than our state. To be shining this light on it is a passion point.”

At a news conference at The Patriot, officials said the three-year partnership will begin with a tournament that will be held Sept. 29-Oct.5, 2025. The championship will now serve as a Korn Ferry Tour Finals event, where players compete for increased purses and points over the final four events of the season to determine the top 30 players, who will earn their PGA TOUR cards at season’s end.

Championship officials also announced Friday an increased partnership with the Owasso-based nonprofit Folds of Honor, making the educational scholarship-based program the championship’s primary beneficiary in 2025 and beyond. The Compliance Solutions Championship will also support AutismOklahoma as a charitable partner of the championship. 

“All of us at the Tulsa Regional Chamber and Tulsa Regional Tourism are excited to welcome the Compliance Solutions Championship to The Patriot Golf Club,” said Mike Neal, president and CEO of the Tulsa Regional Chamber. “The Tulsa region’s rich history of hosting professional golf and the picturesque layout of The Patriot Golf Club make this a wonderful partnership. We are grateful to the Korn Ferry Tour for giving our region and its dedicated professional golf fans this unique opportunity.” 

For the 2023-24 academic year, Folds has provided nearly 5,900 scholarships valued at more than $27 million in Korn Ferry Tour events’ footprints, Rooney said. During the same time, the foundation has distributed about 400 educational scholarships in Oklahoma for roughly $1.9 million.

All four rounds of the Compliance Solutions Championship will be broadcast on the Golf Channel. Internationally, telecasts air in more than 170 countries and territories, reaching more than 340 million potential households. 

“Green Country is quickly becoming the capital of the tournament golf world,” said Joel Koester, director of sports sales for the Tulsa Sports Commission. “Along with excellent public golf courses in the City of Tulsa and Tulsa County, the region has world-class tournament venues, too.

“With the Compliance Solutions Championship coming to Owasso, The Patriot joins Southern Hills Country Club, which has hosted many major golf championships, and Broken Arrow’s Cedar Ridge Country Club, site of one of the highest-attended LIV Golf events of the 2023 season, as hosts for top-level golf. Tournament golf is thriving in and around Tulsa, and we can’t wait to see the Korn Ferry Tour in Owasso.” 

Owned and operated by the PGA Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour has served as a path to the PGA since the Korn Ferry Tour’s inception in 1990. 

“We at the Korn Ferry Tour, we talk about it a lot,” said Alex Baldwin, president of the Korn Ferry Tour. “We’re a family. And that family is driven by passion, purpose and people.

“The opportunity for all of us to be able to showcase this amazing community is truly something that is very, very special to all of us.”

Ali Sezgin is general manager and chief operating officer at The Patriot. 

“On behalf of our entire members and team, we are extremely honored and truly excited to host the Korn Ferry Tour tournament for the next three years,” he said. “This tournament holds special meaning, as it supports families affected by autism and Folds of Honor, which provides educational support to the families of fallen soldiers, honoring their ultimate sacrifices.

“Our equity partners, founders and members share a deep connection to Folds of Honor, and The Patriot Golf Club s prod to stand behind such impactful causes. We look forward to raising even greater awareness for these charities and extending a warm welcome to our supporters and golf fans from Tulsa, Owasso and beyond.”