ARLINGTON, Texas – Veritex Bank Championship officials announced today that Cooper Dossey, Cody Gribble, Blaine Hale Jr., and Derek Oland will receive sponsor exemptions to compete in the 2022 Veritex Bank Championship, taking place April 10-16 at Texas Rangers Golf Club in Arlington, Texas.
“We are excited to have these four players join the field at this year’s championship,” Anera Sports CEO Rob Addington said. “Each of these players have been successful at every level in their playing career, and it would be a great story to see one of these competitors atop the leaderboard come Saturday afternoon.”
Dossey, 24, played collegiate golf at Baylor University. The Austin-native was a two-time All-American and finished 20th in the inaugural PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global Rankings following the 2021 collegiate season. He turned pro that summer and has competed in many mini tour events across Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Earlier this month, Dossey carded a 13-under-par 58 in the first round of the Coke Dr. Pepper Open in Alexandria, La. He went on to claim his first APT Tour victory by one stroke and leads the APT Tour Money List. Dossey will be making his Korn Ferry Tour debut at the Veritex Bank Championship.
Gribble is no stranger to golf at the highest level. The 31-year-old Dallas native competed on the PGA TOUR from 2013-2021. He won the 2016 Sanderson Farms Championship and has recorded six top-25s on the PGA TOUR. Prior to his professional career, Gribble played collegiate golf at the University of Texas and was a member of the 2012 NCAA National Championship team that included Jordan Spieth and Dylan Frittelli. He is coming off a recent medical leave and is competing this season on the Korn Ferry Tour. Gribble has played in four Korn Ferry Tour events this year, with his best finish coming at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by MISTRAS (tied 41st).
Like Dossey, Hale Jr. will be making his Korn Ferry Tour debut as well. The former All-American at the University of Oklahoma helped lead the Sooners to an NCAA National Championship in 2017. Hale Jr., who grew up in Dallas, currently competes on several mini tours including the APT Tour, where the 25-year-old has recorded four top-25s including two runner-up finishes.
Oland, 29, turned professional in 2016 following his collegiate career at Midwestern State University where he won nine individual titles and was Lone Star Conference Player of the Year in 2014 and 2015. The Plano, Texas resident has competed in four Korn Ferry Tour events. Oland recently won the Paragon Casino Championship after carding rounds of 65-64-67-71 and is currently 2nd on the APT Tour Money List.
“We are very excited about the four sponsor exemptions and especially their ties to the Texas golf landscape,” Veritex Community Bank CEO & President Malcolm Holland said. “We always aim to give these spots to deserving and aspiring young men that are looking for a chance to show their golf abilities and prove they belong amongst the best on the Korn Ferry Tour.”
Dossey, Gribble, Hale Jr., and Oland will join reigning Veritex Bank Championship champion Tyson Alexander in the 2022 tournament field along with several other Korn Ferry Tour winners expected to participate including, Akshay Bhatia, Byeong Hun An, Carson Young and Brandon Matthews. The tournament will feature 156 players competing for a total purse of $750,000 and a winner’s prize of $135,000.
The final field for the 2022 Veritex Bank Championship will be posted on Friday, April 8.
Tickets are on sale for the 2022 Veritex Bank Championship exclusively online at Veritex Bank Championship Tickets. A variety of ticket packages are available, including hospitality and general admissions tickets which offer a wide degree of entertainment and access. Military members (active, reserve, retired, and veterans), first responders, and their families will gain free access to the tournament grounds all week. Children under the age of 18 gain free admittance with a ticketed adult.
For more information on the Veritex Bank Championship including tickets, sponsorship, and spectator information please contact Anera Sports at 469-458-9988 or visit the tournament website, https://veritexbankchampionship.com. Follow tournament news on social media via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
ABOUT VERITEX COMMUNITY BANK:
From day one, Veritex Community Bank’s goal was to build a bank that would be forever rooted in truth, transparency, and uncompromising integrity. With that as a foundation, Veritex went to work building this dream we call Veritex Community Bank. Veritex Bank is now ranked among the 10 largest banks headquartered in Texas. For more than a decade now, Veritex has been making good things happen for business and personal banking customers throughout Texas and beyond.
ABOUT KORN FERRY TOUR:
Founded (1990), owned and operated by the PGA TOUR, the Korn Ferry Tour identifies and develops golf’s next stars, preparing them to compete and win on the game’s biggest stage. The Korn Ferry Tour, which has served as a path to the PGA TOUR since its inception, began providing 50 PGA TOUR cards annually in 2013. Each season, the top 25 players secure PGA TOUR cards via the Korn Ferry Tour’s regular season and an additional 25 players secure promotion through the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. With more than 595 PGA TOUR titles, 25 major championships and six FedExCup Champions, Korn Ferry Tour alumni make up over 80 percent of the PGA TOUR’s current membership. To learn more about the PGA TOUR, the Korn Ferry Tour and to follow the season-long quest for a PGA TOUR card, visit PGATOUR.COM or follow the Korn Ferry Tour on social media.
Six Korn Ferry Tour events are televised annually on GOLF Channel in the United States, with tournament programming also available via 22 linear TV partners in 170-plus countries and territories. Over 70 hours of live coverage is available in 130-plus countries and territories. Programming is also available via the OTT platform GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR in every market outside of the United States (240-plus countries and territories), excluding China, Korea and Russia, with live coverage distributed in 130-plus countries and territories.
ABOUT ANERA SPORTS, LLC:
Founded in 2018, Anera Sports has quickly established a presence in the golf community. Anera partnered with Veritex Community Bank to host the Korn Ferry Tour’s Veritex Bank Championship at the Texas Rangers Golf Club. Anera provides event management services to some of the top amateur championships in the country and operates the business of several amateur golf associations including the Trans-Mississippi Golf Association and the Amateur Golf Alliance. Anera Sports is headquartered in Dallas.