RENO, Nev. -- A rising young star on the Oregon Ducks golf team has been invited to play in the PGA Tour's Barracuda Championship in Reno this summer.
Tournament officials announced the exemption Thursday for Norman Xiong (pronounced "ZHONG") for the tourney Aug. 2-5 at Montreux Golf & Country Club.
The Ducks sophomore is coming off a record-setting season that included three consecutive and five total tournament victories. He's on the watch list for the Haskins Award presented annually to the most outstanding collegiate golfer.
Xiong joins a list of previous exempt Reno participants, including current Masters champion Patrick Reed in 2012, Jon Rahm in 2016, Jason Day, Adam Scott and Luke Donald.