Professional golf returns to the Sandhills today as the eGolf Tour opens a four-day event at Little River Resort and Southern Pines Golf Club with a purse of $235,000 up for grabs in the second annual Bushnell Championship.

The eGolf Professional Tour, which has earned a status just below the Nationwide Tour, will utilize both courses for the first two days, with the final 36 holes following the cut to the low 71 and ties being played Saturday and Sunday at Little River.

This is the second year that the eGolf Tour has staged at least one tournament in the area. Little River and Seven Lakes Country Club co-hosted the event last year when Tom Gillis won. Gillis is competing on the PGA Tour this year.

Tommy Biershank, of Boiling Springs, S.C., shot 26-under-par 258 to win the Bolle Classic held at the Country Club of Salisbury last week.

With rounds of 68-63-65-62, Biershank set an eGolf Tour scoring record for 72 holes but still needed to make a 5-foot birdie putt on the final hole to stave off Drew Weaver, of High Point, by a shot and claim the $34,140 first-place check.

Ryan Linton, of Pinehurst, made a strong bid for his first win on the Tour, shooting 19-under-par 66-66-67-66—265 to finish fifth and win $8,886.

Other area golfers in the 204-player field include Andy Bare, of West End, David Sanchez, August Beechler and Peter Wilson, of Pinehurst, and Scooter Buhrman and Chip Lynn, of Fayetteville.

Bare finished fifth on the Tour’s money list in both 2007 and 2008 with more than $50,000 each year.

Some prominent names in the field include Tadd Fujikawa, of Hawaii, who made a splash when he qualified for the 2006 U.S. Open as a 15-year-old. Shortly after turning 16, Fujikawa made the cut in the Sony Open in 2007. He recorded a round of 62 in the 2009 Sony, and he currently stands 30th on the 2010 eGolf money list.

Weaver, who won the British Amateur in 2007 and starred on the U.S. Walker Cup team, made national headlines when he was on campus during the massacre at his alma mater, Virginia Tech. He also made headlines when he contended at the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black as an amateur.

Also entered is Grant Waite, who won the PGA Tour’s Kemper Open in 2003. Waite has 406 career PGA Tour starts with one win and five second-place finishes.

Brian Harman, of Savannah, Ga., the top-ranked junior golfer in the world before going to the University of Georgia and becoming a four-time All-American, stands fifth on the eGolf money list. Harman is the highest ranked player without a win this season.

Brendan Gielow, a recent graduate of Wake Forest and a member of the United States Walker Cup team, was the recipient of the 2010 Byron Nelson Award as the senior golfer who exemplifies an impeccable collegiate golf and academic career.

The pubic is invited to attend the tournament at both sites with no admission fee.