Amateur Player Garners Exemption to Circling Raven Championship, a Symetra Tour Event By Brian Weis

Amateur Player Garners Exemption to Circling Raven Championship, a Symetra Tour Event

Allyn Stephens Wins Notah Begay III Junior Golf Girls Title, Triggers 'Road to the LPGA' Tourney Invite

By Brian Weis

The Coeur d'Alene Tribe today announces that through its partnership with the Notah Begay III Junior Golf Championship (NB3 JGNC), it has bestowed the 2020 Girls 14-18 age group winner with an exemption into next summer's Circling Raven Championship, a Symetra "Road to the LPGA" Tour event.

Allyn Stephens earned the distinction by winning the national title at the NB3 JGNC last week. Circling Raven Golf Club - the acclaimed public course in Northern Idaho and amenity of Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel - will be the playing venue for the professional women's tournament that will begin a three-year run with the inaugural event next summer.

"I am so thankful to the Notah Begay III Junior Golf Championship and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe for giving me this incredible opportunity to test my game against some of the world's best players," said Stephens, from Houston, Texas, who shot 74-65-69 to finish 8 under par in the NB3 JGNC. "It has always been my dream to play professional golf and I can't wait to get to Idaho next summer to play in the Circling Raven Championship."

The Circling Raven Championship's partnership with NB3 JGNC is ideally aligned. A popular professional golf broadcaster, Begay is a Native American and erstwhile PGA Tour member who has dedicated himself, among other things, to promoting opportunities for youth through golf. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe has used its award-winning golf course similarly and chose to host the Circling Raven Championship to empower youth, women, and Native Americans through the game. In addition to Begay's Junior Tour champion, Stephens, the Tribe has provided a 2021 sponsor exemption to Gabby Lemieux, a Native American and Symetra Tour member.

"The Coeur d'Alene Tribe's mission is to educate and celebrate the traditions, values and history of our people," said Coeur d'Alene Casino CEO Laura Penney, MBA. "Partnering with the Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship at the Circling Raven Championship meshes perfectly with our mission. Supporting the dreams and aspirations of young people and women golfers through the Symetra 'Road to the LPGA' Tour benefits all parties involved."

Said Begay: "I must give special thanks to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and its leadership for providing this unique opportunity."

The Circling Raven Championship (CRC) will be held Aug. 23-29, 2021 and feature a full field of competitors battling for $200,000 in prize money. Symetra Tour graduates have had great success on the LPGA, winning multiple events, including Major Championships. Nelly Korda, Inbee Park, and Lorena Ochoa are some of the many illustrious players who reached the LPGA through the Symetra Tour.

For more details about the Circling Raven Championship, Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel, and stay-and-play packages at Circling Raven, call 1.800.523.2464.

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Revised: 12/16/2020 - Article Viewed 18,525 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.