(Duluth, Georgia, March 27, 2007) — Charles Howell III, the PGA TOUR’s third leading money earner this year and winner of the Nissan Open in February, will play in the 2007 AT&T Classic, May 14-20 at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth. Howell, along with 155 more of the world’s best players, will compete for a first prize check of $972,000. Now in its 39th year, the 72-hole PGA TOUR event offers a total purse of $5.4 million and has contributed more than $15 million to local charities over the years. Here are some quick facts on Howell:
â?¢ Howell is off to the best start of his seven-year career. He came out of the gate with a second place tie at the Sony Open Hawaii highlighted by a second round 63. Two weeks later he battled Tiger Woods down the stretch at the Buick Invitational in San Diego and finished solo second. Those were a prelude to his performance at the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club where he topped Phil Mickelson in a playoff for his second career win.
â?¢ Since the win he has collected a ninth place tie at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and a tie for sixth at the PODS Championship in Tampa. His money total of $2,427,478 ranks third. Much of the success has been attributed to an off-season focus on the short game which has sparkled in the early going.
â?¢ In the TOUR’s statistical categories this year he ranks second in FedEX Cup points, par four performance, par five performance and top 10s; third in money, fifth in par breakers and sixth in birdie average. He’s also a solid 5th in the always-important All-Around ranking.
â?¢ His money total this year already ranks as the third best of his career topped only by a $2.7 million (9th) campaign in 2002 and $2.5 million (14th) in 2003. In 2002 he also collected his first PGA TOUR win at the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill.
â?¢ The son of a pediatric surgeon, he started playing at age seven. Three years later he broke 70 for the first time and began taking lessons from teaching legend David Leadbetter. After a distinguished tenure on the American Junior Golf Association tour, he went to Oklahoma State for three years. During that time, he was a first team All-American selection twice, and he won the NCAA Championship with a record-breaking score of 23-under-par. He remains a Leadbetter student.
â?¢ He played on the Presidents Cup team in 2003.
Tournament notes:
Troy Matteson and Heath Slocum who play out of The Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, are in the field. Slocum finished second to Mark Calcavecchia at the recent PODS Championship, losing in a playoff. After a lackluster campaign for the majority of his rookie year in 2006, Matteson finished with five consecutive top 10s which included a win at the Fry’s.com Open in Las Vegas.
The May 14-20 tournament dates are the latest since 1990 when it was played May 24-27 at Atlanta Country Club.
Any active duty military personnel and one guest (plus his/her children under 12) will be admitted to the AT&T Classic free of charge. They’ll simply need to present a valid military ID confirming their active-duty status.
For up-to-date information on the 2007 AT&T Classic, please visit www.attclassic.com.
Contact:
John Marshall
Media Director
(770) 436-2643
Joe Chandler
AT&T Corporate Communications
(404) 249-2446
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