It is easy to identify four of these states: Florida, California and North Carolina. The fifth? Mississippi. The North Mississippi Classic will debut on the web.com Tour from April 18-22 at Country Club of Oxford. It joins the Sanderson Farms Champion (Country Club of Jackson), on the PGA Tour, and the Rapiscan Systems Classic(Fallen Oak near Biloxi on the Champions Tour). The web.com Tour is the equivalent of Class AAA for Major League Baseball for those who don’t play professional golf. It is the proving ground of future multi-millionaires on PGA Tour. Justin Thomas, who is currently the PGA Tour’s leading money winner, was a web.com Tour player in 2014. Patton Kizzire was named the 2015 web.com Tour Player-of-the Year. He has won more that $3 million this year. Jonathan Randolph, a Mississippian, has been successful on the web.com Tour three times. The 72-hole, $550,000 North Mississippi Classic field will feature a mixture of future stars and ex-PGA Tour players looking to get back on the PGA Tour. Braden Thornberry (20 years old), the reigning NCAA champion and Ole Miss junior who won the ninth Ole Miss tournament of his college career, will also be part of the field. Thornberry was granted a sponsor’s exemption to the North Mississippi Classic field. Thornberry could win a professional amateur tournament. The short answer is yes. He finished fourth at the FedEx St. Jude Classic at Memphis last summer. He regularly shoots scores at college tournaments that could win events in the web.com Tour. The competition in the North Mississippi Classic will be fierce. Sam Burns, a former LSU golfer who was named NCAA Player of Year in 2017, is one of the newcomers. Burns was recently paired with Tiger Woods at the Honda Classic. Burns shot 68 and Woods 70 in front of typical Tiger Woods galleries. Maverick McNealy will also be in the field. He was once the No. Maverick McNealy, who was the world’s No. 1 amateur after he broke many Woods’ Stanford University records. He turned professional in 2017. Ex-PGA Tour members who have been winners on the biggest tour in golf will be playing in the North Mississippi Classic. The best indicator of the Classic field is Shaun Micheel (former PGA Championship winner) who hopes to get a spot at Oxford. Archie Manning and Cooper Manning will host a Wednesday Manning Pro-am to precede the 72-hole tournament. The Wednesday pro-am will still have spots available. The Oxford tournament, like the Sanderson Farms Championship will benefit Century Club Charities. This charity has raised over $12 million through the Jackson-based PGA Tour event. Steve Jent, executive Director of the Sanderson Farms and North Mississippi tournaments, said, “This is a natural match for us.” Hosting the North Mississippi Classic will allow us to foster relationships with young players, who will be the lifeblood for the PGA Tour over the next few years.”