PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – Fresh off a banner year highlighted by all-star performances from veteran players and the arrival of a stellar 2007 ‘rookie’ class, the Champions Tour is gearing up for another exciting season with the announcement of some minor modifications to the 2008 schedule.
Schedule & Purse Updates
Originally released this past June, the 2008 Champions Tour schedule will feature 29 official Charles Schwab Cup events, plus a lineup of three challenge/unofficial events that are played in February and December. The total official prize money has swelled to a record $55.5 million, up $300,000 from when the schedule was first released, after purse increases at the Principal Charity Classic ($1.75M), SAS Championship ($2.1M), Wal-Mart First Tee Open ($2.1M) and Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn ($1.7M).
The Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn has moved up a week on the schedule and will now be held Sept. 8-14, 2008. The event, originally scheduled opposite the Ryder Cup (Sept. 15-21), will fill an off week and will be held for the sixth straight year at the Rock Barn & Spa in Conover, NC.
The Champions Tour’s new event in the Dominican Republic will now be known as The Cap Cana Championship and will be held March 31-April 6 at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at Punta Espada Golf Club.
It was recently announced that the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (April 21-27) at the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa tournament will be reverting back to its historic roots and becoming a team event for the first time since 2001 (when it was ‘unofficial’ money/win). Played as an individual stroke-play event over the past six years, the format for the Legends Division for players ages 50 and older will be a two-man team better ball event, as it was from 1978-2001, but for the first time, will count for official prize money and as an official win for each team member.
Recap of 2007 End of Year Honors
Jay Haas was selected by his fellow competitors on the Champions Tour as the 2007 Player of the Year for the second consecutive season following a four-win campaign that saw him finish with 18 top-10 finishes in 27 starts. He also collected his second consecutive Arnold Palmer Award as the Tour’s leading money winner, taking home $2,581,001. He was selected as the top player in a vote of the membership over Brad Bryant, R.W. Eaks, Loren Roberts and Denis Watson. Haas, a South Carolina resident, and Jim Dent, a fellow Champions Tour player from Georgia, were recently inducted into their respective state Golf Hall of Fames.
Denis Watson, who won twice, including the Senior PGA Championship, earned Champions Tour Rookie of the Year honors. Watson finished third on the money list with 12 top-10 finishes and collected his award over fellow nominees Fred Funk, Scott Hoch, Mark O’Meara and Nick Price.
Eaks was named the Champions Tour Comeback Player of the Year after winning the first two titles of his career. The 55-year old Eaks finished sixth on the money list with a career high $1,534,098. He topped Hoch and Denis Watson for the award.
The Champions Tour Byron Nelson Award for low scoring average went to Roberts for the second consecutive season. On his way to winning the Charles Schwab Cup, Roberts posted a scoring average of 69.31.
The winners will be officially honored at a player dinner to be held in Florida in February.
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About the Champions Tour
The Champions Tour is a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. In 2008 the Champions Tour features a minimum of 29 official events offering $55.5 million in prize money and an average purse of $1.91 million. The Champions Tour operates under the umbrella of the PGA TOUR which includes the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour. The Champions Tour’s primary purpose as an entity of the PGA TOUR is to provide significant competitive and earnings opportunities for players age 50 and older; to protect the integrity of the game; and to help grow the reach of the game in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to providing competitive opportunities for its membership, Champions Tour events also generate significant sums of money for charity. The commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Rick George is president of the Champions Tour. TOUR headquarters is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
Contact:
Michael McPhillips
Director, Communications
Champions Tour
Tel: 904-273-3470
