In addition to being able to compete in a multitude of wonderful amateur events, Ohio golfers have the opportunity to witness a variety of professional golf throughout the summer months. If you want to see some of the best golfers in the world compete, here are the dates you need to mark your calendars.
Memorial Tournament
The Memorial Tournament is held in Dublin at Muirfield Village Golf Club (MVGC) and is recognized as one of the most important PGA Tour events in the world. A list of past winners is a Who’s Who of the best professionals to play the game. 
Simply going to the tournament and walking around Jack’s creation is worth the price of admission. MVGC also hosted the 1992 US Amateur, 1987 Ryder Cup, 1998 Solheim Cup, 1986 U.S. Junior Amateur and the 2013 Presidents Cup.
The tournament annually contributes millions of dollars to Children’s Hospital and draws the very best golfers, intent on tuning up their games for the U.S. Open.
Tournament dates for 2018 are, May 28-June 3. A complete schedule of events can be found at: https://www.thememorialtournament.com/
Symetra Tour:
This will be the first year for the Prasco Charity Championship to be held at TPC River Bend near Cincinnati, June 29-July 1.
The Symetra Tour is a preparatory tour for the LPGA. Young women looking to make it to the big stage learn their craft to become better professional golfers.
At the end of the season the Symetra Tour awards ten LPGA Tour exemptions for the following season.
If you want to see the next best golfers on “The Road to the LPGA Tour” visit: http://prascocharitychamp.com/ for information.
LPGA Tour:
The Marathon Classic has been held in northwest Ohio since 1984 and has generated over $10 million for local children’s charities. It always draws a quality field of the best women golfers in the world to Highland Meadows Golf Club.
Se Ri Pak won the event five times, plus Lydia Ko has won here twice. Other past winners include, Paula Creamer, Annika Sorentstam, Meg Mallon and So Yeon Ryu.
This year the Marathon Classic is offering a total purse of $1.6 million and will be held, July 12-15.
Visit their website for the schedule of events and ticket information: http://marathonclassic.com/
WGC Bridgestone
This may be the final time to see the PGA Tour at historic Firestone Country Club. It is safe to say that Firestone Country Club has hosted more professional events than any other single club.
The Rubber City Open, the American Golf Classic and the World Series of Golf provided some of golf’s greatest moments. Since 1999 the WGC Bridgestone has welcomed a limited field of the top golfers from around the world to Akron competing for one of the biggest purses in all of golf. 
Tiger Woods has won here eight times, the last coming in his previous comeback in 2013. Will 2018 see a resurgent Woods close out Firestone’s history with a ninth victory?
Get your tickets at: https://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/wgc-bridgestone-invitational.html
Web.com Tour:
The “Path to the PGA Tour” definitely rolls through Ohio. The Web.com tour will spend two weeks in Ohio in late August.
The annual Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship will be held August 23-26 at the OSU Golf Club in Columbus and the DAP Championship will be held the following week, August 30-September 2 at Canterbury in Cleveland.
Both are part of the Web.com Tour Finals series, which includes the Top 75 from the Web.com Tour money list and PGA Tour players ranked 126-200 in the FedEx Cup. They are all competing for 25 PGA Tour cards for 2019.
Find more information for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at: http://www.ncc-golf.com/
Information for the DAP Championship is available at: http://www.dapchampionship.com/
PGA Tour Champions
The Champions Tour will not visit Ohio this year, but the senior set has been a recurring visitor to the state in past seasons. It is rumored that if the WGC Bridgestone does not renew their contract with the PGA Tour, Firestone will host a Champions Tour event in the future.
Ohio Open
The Ohio Open is conducted by the Northern Ohio Section of the PGA, dates back to 1924 and was an important stop on the professional golf circuit prior to 1940. Past winners include very recognizable names. In the early days, Denny Shute, Billy Burke, Byron Nelson and Frank Stranahan won here.
Since then, both Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf were victorious in the Ohio Open, before they went on to win major championships.
The 2018 Ohio Open is sponsored by Davey Tree, Ace Business Solutions and Pyramid Treating. It will be held in Medina and hosted by Fox Meadow Country Club and Weymouth Club, July 16-18.
Information is available at: https://nopga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/nopga18/event/nopga1819/index.htm
