With new title sponsor, Wichita Open becomes $1 million golf tournament on Korn Ferry Tour

It’s not often a first-year tournament director has as much good news to share in his first press conference as Dusty Buell did about the future of the Wichita Open on Tuesday.

The major announcement was introducing Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas as the new title sponsor of Wichita’s premier golf tournament for the next three years, but Buell also shared that the tournament has re-upped with Crestview Country Club and the Korn Ferry Tour on new five-year deals to keep the event in Wichita through at least 2027.

And when the Wichita Open is played on June 15-18, 2023, the event will now feature a record-setting $1 million purse.

Buell gave credit for Tuesday’s surge of good news to his predecessor, Roy Turner, who retired after this summer’s Wichita Open after a 23-year run as the tournament director.

“I am relishing in a lot of Roy’s wins,” Buell said. “It’s not about coming in and taking anything away from what Roy’s done. It’s about coming in and making sure everything he has done continues in a major way. I don’t want to be the next Roy Turner. I don’t think anybody can. It’s hard to step in the shoes of a legend, but I want to ensure that one thing that Roy and I have in common is our intense, immense passion for this community.

“He’s going to be my mentor over the next year and I’m going to take every ounce of wisdom I can from him. And we’re going to do this together for a year, and then by that time, hopefully I’ll be ready to walk in those shoes.”

After adding KU Wichita Pediatrics as a chief sponsor recently, Buell said the Wichita Open was ecstatic to add Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas as the title sponsor.

Since the inaugural event in 1990, the tournament has generated more than $3 million for youth programs and charity in the Wichita area.

Both sides agreed the fit was a natural one, given how much of their mission statements to help Wichita overlap.

“We’ve been a lower-level sponsor of the tournament for a while and had such a great experience and we’ve come to understand what a huge amount of good it does for the community,” Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas president Matt All said. “The fact that we’re from here, we live here, our whole mission is to benefit the people of this region.

“It was an easy choice once we had the chance to become the title sponsor.”

The 72-hole tournament has helped attract more than 50,000 spectators to Wichita every June. The 17th hole at Crestview has become one of the most iconic stops on the Korn Ferry Tour, with lively sell-out crowds providing a unique atmosphere.

Buell suspects the increase to a $1 million purse will turn the Wichita Open into a must-stop event for the top players on the Korn Ferry Tour.

“I’m not sure we ever saw this coming,” Buell said. “The talent we’re going to get for Wichita just continues to grow. We’re going to get the Korn Ferry Tour’s best and brightest players. The people you see playing here at Crestview next summer are likely going to be on the big tour next year winning tour championships, winning majors. You can get that up-close, personal connection with these guys like no other in Wichita.”