GLENVIEW, Ill. – The next wave of PGA TOUR stars are back in the greater Chicago area for the 2021 Evans Scholars Invitational presented by First Midwest Bank, scheduled for May 27-30 at The Glen Club in Glenview, Illinois.

Headlining the 156-player field are three of the top five players in the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long standings: Stephan Jaeger, Taylor Pendrith and Davis Riley. The top 25 players at the end of the Korn Ferry Tour’s combined 2020-21 season will earn PGA TOUR cards.

Jaeger and Riley both have two wins this season. With a victory at the Evans Scholars Invitational, either would become the 12th player to earn the three-win promotion to the PGA TOUR. Riley, the runner-up in the Western Golf Association’s 2018 Western Amateur, received a sponsor exemption into the inaugural Evans Scholars Invitational at The Glen Club in 2019.

Riley is one of several players in the field who have performed well in WGA championships. Dawson Armstrong won the 2015 Western Amateur, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen finished second in the 2020 Western Amateur, KK Limbhasut won the 2014 Western Junior and Brady Schnell won the 2003 Western Junior.

Several players with ties to the Chicago area are in this week’s field, including Nick Hardy (Northbrook), Vince India (Deerfield), Brad Hopfinger (Lake Forest), Andy Pope (Glen Ellyn), Patrick Flavin (Highland Park) and Joe Zawaski (Northfield). Hardy, No. 14 in the Korn Ferry Tour standings, finished fourth at last week’s AdventHealth Championship in Kansas City, Missouri. Hopfinger enters the week at No. 45, India is No. 56 and Pope is No. 96.

Flavin received a sponsor exemption, along with Neergaard-Petersen, Jordan Hahn and Jamie Wilson. Zawaski made the field at a Monday qualifying event.

Players with in-state collegiate ties include Hardy, Brian Campbell, Luke Guthrie and Scott Langley, all Illinois alumni, and David Lipsky, Charles Wang and Dylan Wu, all Northwestern alumni.

Defending champion Curtis Thompson is also in this week’s field. Thompson, No. 27 in the Korn Ferry Tour standings, edged Will Zalatoris and Jimmy Stanger by one shot at Chicago Highlands Club last year.

This week marks the Evans Scholars Invitational’s return to The Glen Club, Tom Fazio’s North Shore masterpiece. Sitting on the former site of the Glenview Naval Air Station, The Glen Club features 195-acres of rolling terrain, dramatic elevation changes and stunning vistas.

Scottie Scheffler won the 2019 Evans Scholars Invitational at The Glen Club, erasing a six-shot deficit in the final round to beat Marcelo Rozo – who is in the field this week – in a playoff. Scheffler has become a star on the PGA TOUR, earning 2020 Rookie of the Year honors after posting seven top-10 finishes.

The Glen Club also hosted the Korn Ferry Tour’s Bank of America Open from 2002 through 2008, producing an impressive list of champions that included 2013 PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner (2006) and 2015 Senior Open Championship winner Marco Dawson (2002).

All proceeds from the 2021 Evans Scholars Invitational will benefit the Evans Scholars Foundation and its efforts to send caddies to college on full tuition and housing scholarships. There are 1,045 Evans Scholars attending 19 leading universities nationwide this year, and 11,323 caddies have graduated as Evans Scholars since 1930.