WLD players will qualify for match play through double-elimination
and on-course qualifying during Saturday’s Pro-Am
BELLEVILLE, Ontario (June 12, 2024) - The 2024 World Long Drive (WLD) season will make its first of two stops in Canada with the WLD Endless Summer, held June 14-15 at Trillium Wood Golf Club in Belleville, Ontario. The weekend will feature 48 hitters in the men’s Open Division and 12 competitors in the Women’s Division.
CLICK HERE for updated WLD World Rankings
This event will offer a unique format for competition as players will face double-elimination qualifying on Friday, then participate in a Pro-Am on Saturday with four designated holes serving as qualifying holes. On these holes players will hit a set of four golf balls per qualifying hole. Each player’s longest ball will determine their standing on each specific hole, and points will be awarded based on how players finish at each hole.
On-course qualifying will lead to match play (Round of 24 in Open Division, Quarterfinals for Women’s Division).
ONTARIO NATIVES
Kelly Rudney, World No. 3 originally from Kitchener, enters the weekend looking for her second win in 2024. Rudney earned the title, and her first career World Long Drive tour win, in the first event of the season (WLD Huntington Beach). At age 50, Rudney is the oldest woman to ever win a non-Senior Division event.
Ryan Gregnol, originally from Nipigon now living in Kitchener, is currently ranked No. 11 in the world. Gregnol averaged nearly 387 yards per drive last year on the WLD tour, and he won the 2023 Canadian National Championship (not a WLD sanctioned event).
Blind River native Cody Billinghurst's quarterfinal finish at WLD Rocky Mountains earned him a spot in the top 20 of the world rankings. Billinghurst, the winner of the inaugural Endless Summer event, is aiming for his first career WLD tour win.
World No. 36 TJ Baker, an Acton native now living in Buffalo, NY, is looking for his first career World Long Drive tour victory. Baker’s longest drive of the season is 429 yards.
MISCELLANEOUS
World No. 1 Kyle Berkshire earned the win, his first of 2024, in the last tour event (WLD Rocky Mountains). Berkshire outdrove Jack Smith 450 yards to 435 yards in the final. In the Women’s Division at WLD Rocky Mountains, Mai Dechathipat beat Monica Lieving 380 yards to 363 yards in the final.
Senior Division No. 1 Eddie Fernandes has the longest drive of the year for all divisions at 465 yards.
Justin James, World No. 3, has the longest drive in the Open Division this year at 463 yards.
Dechathipat hit the longest drive in the Women’s Division during her win at WLD Rocky Mountains with a 387-yard blast.
CLICK HERE for the 2024 World Long Drive Press Kit, including photos/b-roll of past events and individual competitors. Additional photos/b-roll and interviews available upon request.
Please contact Jonathan Deutsch (469-534-8525) if you plan to cover in-person.
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