Local Teen Selected To Play in PGA Tour Champions Event at Pebble Beach

The First Tee of Three Rivers Park District is sending Kurt Lambert to compete in the 2018 PURE Insurance Championship Impacting The First Tee, an official PGA TOUR Champions event to be contested at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, California, September 24-30. The tournament, which is hosted by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, will be televised internationally on Golf Channel September 28-30.

The PURE Insurance Championship is the only event of its kind in which 81 junior golfers from The First Tee are teamed with 81 PGA TOUR Champions players and 162 amateurs during an official PGA TOUR Champions tournament. Lambert will be competing for the pro-junior title. He will join 80 other participants from The First Tee chapters, selected by a national panel of judges. The participants, who represent 22 states, were selected based on playing ability and application of the Nine Core Values and life skills learned through their involvement with The First Tee’s programs.

“We are proud to be a part of such a prestigious event that supports so many deserving young men and women from The First Tee throughout the country,” said Katherine Frattarola, Chief Marketing Officer of the PURE Group of Insurance Companies. “They are what make this tournament so special, and it’s humbling to be a part of something that has such a profound impact on their lives both on and off the course.”

“We are proud of the junior golfers selected to play at this year’s PURE Insurance Championship,” said Keith Dawkins, Chief Executive Officer of The First Tee. “These 81 teens, and the event, embody The First Tee’s beliefs around the importance of fan engagement, diversity and inclusion and having a sense of civic responsibility that is expressed through our Nine Core Values.”

Players committed to compete in the PURE Insurance Championship include defending champion and World Golf Hall of Fame member Bernhard Langer, as well as fellow World Golf Hall of Fame members Colin Montgomerie, Mark O’Meara and Sandy Lyle.

Lambert, of Maple Grove, is 17 and a student at Heritage Christian Academy. “Being selected to play in this event is a big honor,” Lambert said.  “I’m looking forward to playing well and representing my First Tee chapter in this great event.”

“Kurt is a great choice for two reasons,” said Brian Pabst, program director of the First Tee of Three Rivers Park District. “One, Kurt is a great golfer, but more importantly, Kurt truly represents the nine core values of honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment that we teach as part of the First Tee Program.”

More than 870 kids from The First Tee have played in the tournament over its 15-year history while learning from PGA TOUR Champions players and amateurs in the field, all while showcasing The First Tee’s Nine Core Values and the leadership and life skills they have acquired. 

The First Tee of Three Rivers Park District is one of 150 chapters around the country and world introducing the sport of golf and The First Tee’s Nine Core Values to kids, positively impacting their lives. Since 2001, more than 45,000 kids have been impacted through chapter programs. The organization is engaging the next generation of fans, growing and diversifying the sport and positively impacting millions of kids along the way through The First Tee Nine Core Values: honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment.

Learn more about The First Tee of Three Rivers Park District. For more information on Kurt Lambert, to request an interview or photos, please contact Tom Knisely, Media Relations Specialist, at 763-694-7617 or tom.knisely@threeriversparks.org.