Six women's college golf teams descended on Quail Hollow Club this weekend for the first-ever Access, Opportunity & Development Summit, a new initiative pairing Division I student-athletes with corporate leaders and youth mentors under the banner of Charlotte's marquee PGA Tour stop. UNC Charlotte served as host school for a 36-hole competition that ran Sunday and continues Monday, drawing six-player squads from Gardner-Webb, the College of Charleston, Winthrop University, Appalachian State, and North Carolina A&T alongside UNC Charlotte's own six golfers.
The event, launched jointly by the Truist Championship and Quail Hollow Club, gave the 36 participating athletes a competition built to feel like a professional tournament rather than a typical college meet, according to the WSOC-TV report on the summit's debut. Truist Financial Corp., Atrium Health, and Hendrick Automotive Group teamed up with Quail Hollow Club to elevate the day, the station reported, wrapping the collegiate event around the same course that hosts one of golf's biggest paydays each spring.
A Pro-Style Stage for College Golfers
The 36-hole format gave student-athletes tournament-style scorekeeping, custom apparel, special event logos, and a PGA Tour course setup at Quail Hollow — details that push the competition well beyond a standard college invitational, according to the Charlotte Business Journal. UNC Charlotte's role as host institution anchored the six-program field on a course that has built one of the sport's most prestigious championship résumés, having hosted the 2017 and 2025 PGA Championships as well as the 2022 Presidents Cup, per Winthrop University Athletics. Quail Hollow's closing stretch of holes 16 through 18, known as the Green Mile, ranks among the hardest on tour, the same account notes.
Beyond the competitive format, the summit built in a day-long networking and educational series held the day before the golf began. Ashaunta Epps, founder and CEO of A Perfect Swing Inc. and an LPGA Top 50 Best Teacher, served as the summit's keynote speaker and as an official tournament starter, according to African American Golfer's Digest. Epps specializes in using golf as a strategic tool for corporate networking and professional leadership, the outlet reports.
Pairing Athletes With Corporate Leaders and Local Youth
The summit's community reach extends beyond the six college programs. It directly benefits First Tee – Greater Charlotte through an Am-Am format that pairs two collegiate student-athletes with a local corporate leader and a First Tee youth participant, according to Winthrop University Athletics. First Tee – Greater Charlotte Executive Director Daniel Fogarty said the format creates direct networking avenues connecting local youth with Charlotte business leaders and college athletes, the same report states, noting that the nonprofit serves thousands of youth across the region through school and golf course programs.
Truist Championship Executive Director Adam Sperling said the summit was conceived in collaboration with title sponsor Truist and community champions Atrium Health and HendrickCars.com to foster long-term professional relationships, per the Winthrop account. Truist Championship Hornets co-chairman Rick Schnall, who has played alongside professional golfer Jordan Spieth, is among the tournament's official supporters, according to WSOC-TV. Organizers plan to take the summit to different courses and host venues in future years, the station reported, though exactly how that rotation will work remains an open question.
Built for the Long Haul
Tournament sponsors have committed to supporting the summit through 2031, aligning it with Truist Bank's seven-year title sponsorship deal for the main tournament, African American Golfer's Digest reports. That backing arrives as Charlotte's PGA Tour stop continues an identity shift: the event ran as the Wachovia Championship from 2003 to 2008 and the Wells Fargo Championship from 2011 to 2024 before Wells Fargo declined to renew its sponsorship, opening the door for Truist to take over in 2025, according to Wikipedia.
The Truist Championship itself is one of eight PGA Tour Signature Events, featuring a restricted 72-player field and a $20 million prize purse, per the PGA Tour. Quail Hollow's hosting of the 2025 PGA Championship pushed last year's Truist Championship to Philadelphia Cricket Club, meaning this year marked the tournament's first time back at Quail Hollow since that shuffle, the PGA Tour notes. Hoodline previously mapped out parking and transit for fans heading to Quail Hollow ahead of this year's tournament.
How regional universities will fold this developmental series into their annual fall schedules going forward is not yet settled, according to the dossier of reporting on the summit's launch. For now, the inaugural class of 36 athletes has a shot at saying they played a PGA Tour Signature Event venue under tournament conditions before ever turning pro.
