Colonial champs pick Hossler, Sadlowski to join field

Beau Hossler, an All-America golfer during his college career at Texas, joins Jamie Sadlowski, a two-time world long drive champion who now plays on the Web.com Tour, as Champions’ Choice invitees to the Dean & DeLuca Invitational.

Tournament officials at Fort Worth’s annual PGA Tour event, set for May 22-28 at Colonial Country Club, announced the selections Monday. The two Champions’ Choice spots are reserved each year for promising players who have yet to compete professionally at Colonial but have been identified as promising players in balloting by past tournament champions.

The first-time competitors in Fort Worth will join a field headlined by defending champion Jordan Spieth, the No. 5 player in the world golf rankings, as well as the past two winners of golf’s major championships: Masters champion Sergio Garcia and Jimmy Walker, winner of the 2016 PGA Championship. Garcia and Walker are among a recent wave of Colonial commitments that gives the event pledges from 10 of the world’s top 27 players, topped by fourth-ranked Hideki Matsuyama.

Hossler and Sadlowski will be making their Colonial debuts in the same manner as Spieth, a Champions’ Choice participant in 2013 who won last year’s event by three strokes.

Hossler, 22, was a two-time Big 12 player of the year during his tenure at Texas (2015, 2016) and was a finalist for the 2016 Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the nation’s top college golfer. He won his first professional event in December on the 2016 Adams Pro Tour and has competed this season on the Web.com Tour, with a top finish of 30th at the Panama Claro Championship in February. Competing on sponsor’s exemptions, he has played in three PGA Tour events, with a best finish of 39th in last month’s Shell Houston Open.

Sadlowski, 28, is a Canadian golfer who rose to prominence with back-to-back World Long Drive titles in 2008 and 2009. He has competed this season in events on the Web.com Tour and the Mackenkie Tour, Canada’s developmental tour.

Other notable recent Colonial commitments include PGA Tour rookie Jon Rahm, the No. 13 player in the world rankings and winner of college golf’s last two Hogan Awards (2015, 2016); as well as Paul Casey (No. 14), Charl Schwartzel (No. 18) and Kevin Chappell (No. 23).

Tickets are available online at www.DeanandDeLucaInvitational.com as well as at local Tom Thumb and Albertsons stores.

This story was originally published May 1, 2017 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Colonial champs pick Hossler, Sadlowski to join field."