All 74 eligible participants commit to prestigious event
(Doral, FL, USA) – As the 5 p.m. ET deadline came and went for commitments to next week’s World Golf Championships-CA Championship, tournament officials saw no difference between the list of eligible players and those who had committed to play in the event. All 74 of the players who qualified for the second World Golf Championships event of the season will be making their way to Doral Golf Resort & Spa next week, including world No. 1 and defending champion Tiger Woods.
Players from 18 different countries have qualified for the CA Championship, including Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Henrik Stenson, winner of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship last month.
"We’ve hit the jackpot," said Eddie Carbone, executive director of the CA Championship. "We’re officially batting a thousand, and I think it is time to go buy a lottery ticket. This is huge for sports fans in South Florida, and we couldn’t ask for anything more for this first World Golf Championships event in Florida."
While 74 players are making plans to tame Doral’s Blue Monster next week, there’s a chance the tournament could add a few more participants by Monday, as the CA Championship field won’t be finalized until the conclusion of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. On March 19, any player who enters the top 10 on the FedExCup Points List will be eligible for the CA Championship, as well as any player who cracks the Official World Golf Ranking’s top 50. Those players must commit to the tournament by 5 p.m. ET on Monday, March 19.
That means players like Vaughn Taylor, a first-round co-leader at Bay Hill Club and Lodge who is currently tied for second after 17 holes of his round today, still has a shot at making the CA Championship field. Taylor, currently 89th in FedExCup Points, could earn a trip to Doral with a win this week. He has 856 points, which puts him 4,062 away from 10th -place Charley Hoffman. A win this week is worth 4,500.
Heath Slocum, a runner-up with John Senden at last week’s PODS Championship, still has a chance to continue the PGA TOUR’s Florida Swing. Slocum, currently 12th in FedExCup Points, needs to finish 17th or better this week to have a chance at cracking the top 10. For Jeff Quinney (13th with 4,467 points), a 14 th-or-better showing is needed.
Limited tickets remain to the 2007 CA Championship:
1. Go to www.worldgolfchampionships.com to order tickets on-line.
2. Call 1-866-4WGC-TIX (866-494-2849) to purchase tickets by phone.
Daily tickets may be purchased at Publix stores in Dade and Broward Counties.
The 2007 World Golf Championships-CA Championship will have an $8 million purse, with the game’s top players competing for the $1.35 million first-place prize and the Gene Sarazen Cup. The event is also a part of the PGA TOUR’s new FedExCup, the season-long competition where PGA TOUR member players will amass points based on their performance.
One of three World Golf Championships events, the CA Championship will feature the top-50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking along with top finishers on the money lists of the six Tours comprising the International Federation of PGA Tours (PGA TOUR, European Tour, Australasian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Asian Tour and Sunshine Tour). The first two rounds will be televised by The Golf Channel and NBC will broadcast the final two rounds. The tournament will be televised in 140 countries.
Some of golf’s best players have emerged victorious during the tournament’s seven-year history. Woods counts five victories in this tournament among his 13 World Golf Championships titles. He won the inaugural event in 1999 at Valderrama in Spain and followed that up with victories in 2002 in Ireland, in 2003 and 2005 in the United States, and then in 2006 in London. In 2000, Canadian Mike Weir captured the title, and in 2004, Els of South Africa triumphed.
The World Golf Championships feature elite players in a variety of competitive formats at venues around the world. Since the series debut in 1999, World Golf Championships have been held in 10 countries. The CA Championship has been played five times in Europe and twice previously in the United States.
About CA
CA (NYSE: CA), one of the world’s largest information technology (IT) management software companies, unifies and simplifies the management of enterprise-wide IT. Founded in 1976, CA is headquartered in Islandia, N.Y., and serves customers in more than 140 countries. For more information, please visit http://ca.com.
Contact: Laura Neal
Director, Communications
Championship Management
Tel: 904-273-7655
Email: lauraneal@pgatourhq.com
Official
World Golf 2007 FEDEXCUP POINTS EUR. 2006 ORDER OF MERIT COUNTRIES #’s
RANKING PLAYER 1 Charles Howell III TOP 20 PLAYER USA 27
1 Tiger Woods, USA 2 Phil Mickelson 1 Padraig Harrington South Africa 9
2 Jim Furyk, USA 3 Vijay Singh 2 Paul Casey England 8
3 Phil Mickelson, USA 4 John Rollins, USA 3 David Howell Australia 8
4 Adam Scott, Aus 5 Mark Calcavecchia, USA 4 Robert Karlsson Sweden 5
5 Henrik Stenson, Swe 6 Aaron Baddeley 5 Ernie Els Spain 2
6 Ernie Els, SAf 7 Mark Wilson, USA 6 Henrik Stenson Canada 2
7 Geoff Ogilvy, Aus 8 Tiger Woods 7 Luke Donald India 2
8 Retief Goosen, SAf 9 Paul Goydos 8 Ian Poulter Japan 2
9 Vijay Singh, Fij 10 Charley Hoffman, USA 9 Colin Montgomerie South Korea 2
10 Padraig Harrington, Ire 2006 PGA TOUR Money List 10 Johan Edfors (Sweden) Thailand 1
11 Luke Donald, Eng TOP 30 PLAYER 11 Sergio Garcia Scotland 1
12 Trevor Immelman, SAf 1 Tiger Woods 12 Retief Goosen New Zealand 1
13 Paul Casey, Eng 2 Jim Furyk 13 Anthony Wall (England) Ireland 1
14 Sergio Garcia, Spn 3 Adam Scott 14 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) Fiji 1
15 Charles Howell-III, USA 4 Vijay Singh 15 Niclas Fasth Denmark 1
16 Nick O’Hern, Aus 5 Geoff Ogilvy 16 Jeev Mikha Singh Argentina 1
17 Davis Love-III, USA 6 Phil Mickelson 17 Angel Cabrera
18 David Howell, Eng 7 Trevor Immelman 18 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) PLAYERS 74
19 David Toms, USA 8 Stuart Appleby 19 Paul Broadhurst (England) COUNTRIES 18
20 Colin Montgomerie, Sco 9 Luke Donald 20 John Bickerton (England)
21 Choi K.J., Kor 10 Brett Wetterich EUR. 2007 ORDER OF MERIT
22 Jose M. Olazabal, Spn 11 David Toms TOP 10 PLAYER
23 Robert Allenby, Aus 12 Rory Sabbatini 1 Henrik Stenson
24 Stewart Cink, USA 13 Joe Durant 2 Retief Goosen
25 Chris DiMarco, USA 14 Chad Campbell 3 Y.E. Yang
26 Stuart Appleby, Aus 15 Stewart Cink 4 Paul Casey
27 Robert Karlsson, Swe 16 Davis Love III 5 Ernie Els
28 Ian Poulter, Eng 17 Rod Pampling 6 Trevor Immelman
29 Chad Campbell, USA 18 Carl Pettersson 7 Nick O’Hern
30 Tim Clark, SAf 19 Retief Goosen 8 Anton Haig, Saf
31 Justin Rose, Eng 20 Brett Quigley (USA) 9 Justin Rose
32 Aaron Baddeley, Aus 21 Lucas Glover, USA 10 Michael Campbell
33 Stephen Ames, Can 22 Dean Wilson (USA) 2006 AUSTRALASIAN TOUR
34 Shingo Katayama, Jpn 23 Arron Oberholser FINAL ORDER OF MERIT
35 Niclas Fasth, Swe 24 Zach Johnson (USA) TOP 3 PLAYER
36 Michael Campbell, NZI 25 Tom Pernice, Jr. (USA) 1 Nick O’Hern
37 Joe Durant, USA 26 Stephen Ames 2 Kevin Stadler (USA)
38 Yang Y.E., Kor 27 K.J. Choi 3 Nathan Green (Australia)
39 Rod Pampling, Aus 28 Ernie Els 2006 ASIAN TOUR
40 Angel Cabrera, Arg 29 J.J. Henry (USA) FINAL ORDER OF MERIT
41 Rory Sabbatini, Saf 30 Ben Curtis (USA) TOP 3 PLAYER
42 Bart Bryant, USA 2006 JAPAN TOUR 1 Jeev Mikha Singh
43 Mike Weir, Can TOP 3 ORDER OF MERIT 2 Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand)
44 Paul Goydos, USA 1 Shingo Katayama 3 Prom Meesawat (India)
45 Arron Oberholser, USA 2 Hideto Tanihara (Japan) 2006/2007 Sunshine Tour
46 Jeev Milka Singh, Ind 3 Jeev Milka Singh TOP 3 ORDER OF MERIT
47 Lucas Glover, USA 1 Charl Schwartzel
48 Carl Pettersson, Swe 2 Louis Oosthuizen (Saf)
49 Steve Stricker, USA 3 Hennie Otto (Saf)
50 Brett Wetterich, USA
Contact:
Laura Neal
Director, Communications
Championship Management
Tel: 904-273-7655
Email: lauraneal@pgatourhq.com