Kelly Kraft poses with his championship trophy after the final round at the U.S. Amateur golf tournament on Aug. 28, 2011 in Erin, Wis. Kraft defeated Patrick Cantlay, of Los Alamitos, Calif. (Associated Press)

The HP Byron Nelson Championship is bringing big names in professional golf to North Texas.

Top PGA players Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh have committed to play in the tournament, May 14 to May 20.

Joining them at the Las Colinas Four Seasons Resort will be SMU graduates Colt Knost (’07) and Kelly Kraft (’11).
Knost graduated from SMU with all-conference and all- region honors.

His senior year as a Mustang he joined Bobby Jones (1930) and Jay Sigel (1983) as the only people to win three USGA events. He was No.1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for five weeks in 2007 before turning professional after winning the U.S. Amateur Championship.

Knost has played in 11 PGA Tour events in 2012, notable finishing third in the RBC Heritage in April. Knost ranks 45th in Money Leaders on the PGA Tour.

Kraft followed Knost’s footsteps, winning the 2011 U.S. Amateur.

Unlike Knost, however, Kraft maintained his amateur status and accepted his awarded invitation to the 2012 Masters.

He made the cut to remain in the tournament by one shot, the first American amateur to do so since 2005.

After finishing with the highest score of the three amateurs in the Masters with a 306, Kraft announced his plans to turn professional.

This decision declined his amateur invitations to the U.S. Open and British Open.

The HP Byron Nelson Championship will be one of his first PGA Tour events as a professional.

Since going pro, he has played in the Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and the Valero Texas Open, along with Knost, in April.

Knost and Kraft, both Dallas residents, will join seven of the top 25 on the PGA Tour money list to commemorate what would have been Byron Nelson’s 100th birthday.

Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA Tour Rookie of the year and 2011 HPBNC winner, is returning to defend his title.

Matt Kuchar, who tied for third at the 2012 Masters, and Carl Pettersson, who recently won the RBC Heritage will also be at the tournament.

All the players will hit the 7,166-yard, par-70 TPC Four Seasons resort course for the first round on May 17.

Check smudailycampus.com for updates and information during and after the tournament.