Knoxville resident and PGA Tour golfer Peter Malnati and his Kids’ Classic is taking place on Monday.
The Peter Malnati Kids’ Classic is being held at Fox Den Country Club in Knoxville.
Ahead of a 9 a.m. EDT start time on Monday, Malnati discussed holding the event with Vols Wire.
He mentioned First Tee director Shawn Mauer and others have been important in helping organize and being able to hold the Kids’ Classic for around 100 participants.
“This is the first year that my wife and I have been fortunate enough to be involved,” Malnati told Vols Wire. “My wife and I are pretty passionate about having more equal access to things like education. I think what golf does, obviously golf has been historically for the upper echelon, socioeconomically, and it has been a pretty exclusive sport. We have never wanted it to be that way.
“I was pretty lucky. I grew up in Dandridge and had access to a place called Dandridge Golf Course. It was very affordable, but still super nice, so I had a place where I could play golf. There are a lot of kids that will never have access to golf because it is too expensive and too exclusive, so the First Tee is just important to us.”
Malnati resides in Knoxville and played collegiately at Missouri from 2007-10. He went to Missouri after attending Jefferson County High School in Dandridge, Tennessee.
Malnati joined the PGA Tour in 2014 and has one career victory, the 2016 Sanderson Farms Championship.
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