(Ponte Vedra Beach, FL) – The PGA TOUR’s Champions Tour today announced its 2007 tournament schedule. It features 29 official Charles Schwab Cup events and official prize money of $54 million, with the average tournament purse growing to a record $1.86 million.
"The Champions Tour has made great strides working with our tournaments and title sponsors to strengthen our sponsorship foundation, the courses we play and the look, feel and dates of our tournaments," said Champions Tour president Rick George. "As a result, we feel the 2007 schedule is one of the strongest in the history of this Tour and that we are well positioned for the next few years. Coupled with an unparalleled lineup of major championship venues and one of the Champions Tour’s best rookie classes ever, there is a great deal of anticipation about the year ahead among the tournaments, sponsors, players and staff."
"On behalf of the CTTA (Champions Tour Tournament Association), we are very pleased with the progress made by the Champions Tour under Rick George’s direction," said Amy Hawk, chair of the CTTA. "The Tour has made many positive title sponsor announcements in recent months and collectively the Tour and the individual tournaments have worked together to significantly improve tournament staging and promotion. I don’t think the schedule has ever been stronger and it will serve the fans, players, sponsors, television partners and tournaments well."
Twenty-four of the 29 tournaments on the 2007 schedule are already committed through at least 2008, with some extended as far out as 2010 and 2011.
For the 11th year in a row, the Champions Tour’s season officially begins in January at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai (Jan. 15-21) on the Big Island of Hawaii. It will be followed by the Turtle Bay Championship (Jan. 22-28) on Oahu.
The 29th and final event of the year where many of the season-ending award winners will be determined is the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Sonoma (CA) Golf Club (Oct. 22-28), located in wine country just north of San Francisco.
The 2007 lineup of venues for the Champions Tour’s five major championships is the strongest in the history of the Tour. It includes:
â?¢ Kiawah Island Golf Resort (Senior PGA Championship)
â?¢ Whistling Straits (U.S. Senior Open)
â?¢ Muirfield (Senior British Open)
â?¢ Crosswater Club at Sunriver Resort (JELD-WEN Tradition)
â?¢ Baltimore Country Club (Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship)
The latter event moves to the first week in October with NBC providing coverage for the first time. The four U.S. venues are ranked between No. 4 and No. 70 in Golfweek magazine’s 2006 list of "America’s Best" in either the "Classic" or "Modern" category. Muirfield is rated among the world’s top-10 golf courses.
New to the schedule will be the Principal Charity Classic to be played in June at Glen Oaks Country Club in the Des Moines, IA area, home of the sponsoring Principal Financial Group. The Allianz Championship, formerly played in Des Moines, has a new home at the Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, FL, giving the Champions Tour a three-event February swing in Florida once again.
The $2.5 million Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach has been added to the schedule in late March. The host course, The Conservatory at Hammock Beach, is a Tom Watson design that is located in Palm Coast, FL, between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach.
Announced on Sept. 29th was one more new event, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, which ensures official PGA TOUR golf will return to En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott, NY for the 34th year in a row. En-Joie hosted the PGA TOUR’s B.C. Open from 1973-2006.
One of golf’s freshest and most unique events featuring junior golfers and Champions Tour players competing side-by-side, the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach returns to the famed Pebble Beach Golf Links (and Del Monte Golf Course) over Labor Day weekend.
All 29 events will enjoy national television coverage in the United States, with 22 airing complete coverage on The Golf Channel, the Tour’s exclusive cable television home. Five official events will air Saturday and Sunday on NBC, with ABC and CBS televising one tournament each. The five major championships will be on network television.
The Charles Schwab Cup, the Champions Tour’s year-long competition that offers $2.1 million in annuities to its five leading point-earners, enters its seventh year. Designed to identify the Tour’s leading player, the Charles Schwab Cup will continue to be featured prominently in all cable and network telecasts next year.
There will be three Challenge events in 2007 – the Wendy’s Champions Skins Game in mid-January, the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge in December and the Wendy’s 3-Tour Challenge (dates TBD).
Contact:
Jeff Adams
Director of Public Relations
Champions Tour
Tel: 904-273-3397