First Tee-Greater New Orleans teen Ariana Blagrove arrives at PGA TOUR Champions’ PURE Insurance Championship

Ariana Blagrove arrived this morning at Pebble Beach to compete alongside PGA and Champions Tour Pro Golfer, John Huston

New Orleans – Ariana Blagrove is representing First Tee — Greater New Orleans this week as she competes in the 2022 PURE Insurance Championship Impacting First Tee. The event, in its 19th year, brought teens from First Tee chapters to Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course for the PGA TOUR Champions tournament. The annual event, hosted by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, is televised nationally on Golf Channel. Ariana has been paired and will compete with John Huston, an American professional golfer who has won seven PGA Tour events and currently plays on the Champions Tour.

Ariana has been with First Tee  — Greater New Orleans for four years. She is a senior at Ursuline Academy and has been playing competitive golf since 2015. Last year, Ariana’s high school golf team made history for Ursuline Academy after winning the LHSAA Division II Golf State Championship. Ariana has a golf handicap of 4.4.

Throughout this week, participants apply their character strengths and life skills learned from First Tee programs during the one-of-a-kind event where they are paired with a PGA TOUR Champions player and amateurs from the business world. Ariana is competing for the Pro-Junior Team title. She joins 77 other teens from First Tee chapters across the country and – for the second year in a row – a participant from First Tee — Morocco. Participants were selected by a national panel of judges based on their personal growth and development through First Tee’s programs, as well as their playing ability.

The full junior field was revealed live on Golf Channel’s “Golf Today.” Several players and legends of the game helped surprise select participants with the news of their selection, including World Golf Hall of Fame Member Jack Nicklaus; PGA TOUR players Stewart Cink, Cameron Champ, and Austin Smotherman; PGA TOUR Champions player Ken Duke; and No. 1 APGA Collegiate Player and Duke University stand-out Quinn Riley.

“Congratulations to Ariana Blagrove who was selected to play and represent First Tee — Greater New Orleans on a national stage,” said Greg McLaughlin, First Tee CEO. “Her hard work and commitment to academic and personal growth through our program has secured this opportunity. Thank you to our partners − PURE Insurance, PGA TOUR Champions, Pebble Beach Resorts, Monterey Peninsula Foundation and Golf Channel − for their commitment to young people and helping us provide this opportunity to these deserving teens.”

This year’s field of PGA TOUR Champions players will feature World Golf Hall of Fame Members Bernhard Langer, Mark O’Meara, Vijay Singh, as well as three-time PURE Insurance Championship winner Kirk Triplett. Clint Eastwood serves as chairman of the PURE Insurance Championship.

Play will be conducted on Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course on Friday and Saturday. The final round will be contested solely at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Sunday, where 23 First Tee juniors will compete based on their 36-hole performance. The tournament will crown one male and one female First Tee Junior Champion on Sunday.

More than 1,000 teens from First Tee have played in the PURE Insurance Championship, experiencing the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet, play and be mentored by PGA TOUR Champions players and amateurs in the field.

“Supporting these incredible young men and women along with the great work of First Tee through this sponsorship is tremendously rewarding for our entire team,” said Katie Krum, Chief Marketing Officer at PURE Insurance. “I know firsthand the impact and value that participating in youth sports can have on one’s development, personally and professionally, so I am particularly proud to be part of an organization that lends support to such a worthy cause.”

First Tee is a youth development organization that teaches life skills and helps kids and teens build their strength of character through golf. The PURE Insurance Championship is one of several national opportunities provided by First Tee Headquarters to encourage and motivate participants as they progress through the program and toward higher education opportunities.

The junior field for 2022 PURE Insurance Championship can be viewed here.

For more information on the tournament, visit PUREInsuranceChampionship.com. To learn more about First Tee, visit FirstTee.org.