The Albertsons Boise Open presented by Kraft is a professional golf tournament in Idaho on the Korn Ferry Tour, played annually at Hillcrest Country Club in Boise. Held in mid-September for its first 23 years, the new September playoff schedule of the Web.com Tour in 2013 moved the Boise event up to late July. The event returned to mid-September in 2016, and became part of the Web.com Tour Finals as the penultimate event. The schedule was revised for 2019 and it moved to late August.
The Boise Open has been played every year since 1990, the first year of the tour, then known as the Ben Hogan Tour.[2] It is one of four original tournaments on the current schedule.[3] Future notable names in the top 20 that first year were Tom Lehman, John Daly, Jeff Maggert, and Stephen Ames;[4] David Toms made the cut.
Golf has been played on the site since the 1920s, originally named Idaho Country Club. Established in 1940, Hillcrest Country Club has been the only home of the tournament since its inception. The Boise Open was a 54-hole tournament for its first six years,[4][5] a fourth round was added in 1996.[6]
This stop in southwestern Idaho consistently offers one of the top purses on the Korn Ferry Tour. The 2019 purse is expected to be $1.0 million, with a winner's share of $180,000. The first purse in 1990 was $100,000, with a winner's share of $20,000;[4] the first six-figure winner's share went to Tim Clark in 2000.[7]
The 2003 event featured 13-year-old Michelle Wie, the youngest ever to play on the tour;[8] she carded 78-76 and missed the cut by twelve strokes.[9][10]
Chris Tidland shot 264 (−20) to win by four strokes in 2008; Fran Quinn shot 270 (−14) in 2009 with a birdie on the final hole to edge third round leader Blake Adams by a single stroke.[11] Hunter Haas shot 263 (−21) in 2010 to win by one stroke over Daniel Summerhays.[12]
At the 2015 edition, retired Army Corporal Chad Pfeifer became the first veteran amputee to play on the Web.com Tour, but missed the cut. He lost his left leg in a 2007 explosion and earned entry through a sponsor exemption.
Albertsons, a major supermarket retailer in the western U.S., has been the title sponsor since 2002. The grocery chain was founded 81 years ago by Joe Albertson in 1939 in Boise, and the company was headquartered in the city until 2006, when it was acquired by Supervalu of Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The company has committed to sponsorship of the tournament through 2016
| Buy.com Boise Open | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Michael Long |  New Zealand | 270 | −14 | 1 stroke |  Tjaart van der Walt |
| 2000 | Tim Clark | South Africa | 269 | −15 | 6 strokes |  Patrick Burke Steve Haskins |