With this being the first round of tournaments in the new edition, no one really knows what to expect. I played in Bugeater last year and it was very good. A lot small that WGC, but super well ran. I think it would be an excellent tournament for you to attend. If it wasn't the weekend before WGC, I would go.
Before you go to a GT, you need to play in some more local tournaments though. Springfield, Joplin and Tulsa have quite a few smaller ones. We'll prolly try to make at least a couple of them preparing for WGC.