Another Barracuda Championship has come to an end, and this time Richy Werenski took home the trophy.
The 22nd annual Barracuda Championship is behind us, and it was a @CudaChamp year of firsts.
New champion
Let's start with the new Barracuda Champion, Richy Werenski. This is Richy's first PGA Tour title, and you can see it coming together in his highlight video here:
What a wild ride on the back nine!! Birdie on 14, eagle on 16 and birdie on 18 to get my first @PGATOUR win pic.twitter.com/dQuL8jHkMp
— Richy Werenski (@werenskir) August 3, 2020
Richy is the 12th player to win his first title at the Barracuda Championship, which is the only PGA Tour event that uses Modified Stableford scoring. The Stableford format helped him score several points in just a few shots; enough to overcome Troy Merritt and win the event by one point.
New venue, new views
This was also the first year that the event was held at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood Golf Course, and we had great feedback from the players. In a pre-event virtual hangout with Barracuda and friends, 2017 Barracuda Champion Chris Stroud had nothing but praise for the venue:
“This might be one of the best courses on tour …. This is an absolute championship golf course, and the facilities are as good as it gets on the tour for us.”
The Old Greenwood Golf Course is a Jack Nicklaus Signature Design and is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains, approximately 30 minutes outside of Reno and North Lake Tahoe. It's a beautiful area and a great course.
Meanwhile at the @CudaChamp … 🐻😬 pic.twitter.com/3fU4gJrRbA
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 31, 2020
Adapting to new challenges
Unfortunately, the venue was not open to fans or special guests during the tournament. Pandemic-related restrictions kept the attendees to a minimum, and this was our first televised-only event. The Golf Channel was on-site to telecast the event for public viewing. In our hangout, Chris Stroud commented on what it meant to have fans onsite:
“It's easier to run a tournament when there are no fans there, and there are no crowds when you're moving back and forth from course to facilities. But you want people out here because you want to have all of the energy. You want to have booths and drinks and food, and as players we miss that interaction. We draw energy from the fans, and we play better.”
Barracuda tradition
One thing that hasn't changed is the Barracuda Championship focus on charity. The event has raised $4.4 million for charity through the end of 2019. This year our Barracuda Bonus, Birdies for Charity, and other fundraisers brought thousands for charity and kept that Barracuda tradition going strong.
We are hopeful and excited for the chance to gather together at the next Barracuda Championship in 2021. Until then, we are grateful for the beautiful new venue and pleased to congratulate Richy Werenski on his first title win.
Hard to describe this feeling right now!! Years of hard work and trusting the process 🏆 @CudaChamp pic.twitter.com/rBN9mQy0uw
— Richy Werenski (@werenskir) August 3, 2020
Christine Barry is Senior Chief Blogger and Social Media Manager at Barracuda. Prior to joining Barracuda, Christine was a field engineer and project manager for K12 and SMB clients for over 15 years. She holds several technology and project management credentials, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Master of Business Administration. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Connect with Christine on LinkedIn here.
