Arnold Palmer Private Course – host to the PGA Tour’s Humana Challenge – joins PGA West’s roster of courses hosting the national championships; TPC Stadium, Nicklaus Tournament and Norman courses round out rotation; 2013 Golf Channel Am Tour season currently underway
ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 19, 2012 – The 2013 Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships returns to famed PGA West in Southern California Sept. 22-Oct.1, 2013, with the Arnold Palmer Private Course – host course for the PGA TOUR’s Humana Challenge (formerly the Bob Hope Classic) – joining the tournament’s roster of courses.
The 2013 National Championships mark the first time the Palmer Private Course will be a host course for the Golf Channel Am Tour. PGA WEST’s TPC Stadium Course and Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course – hosts for the final stage of the 2012 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament -and Greg Norman Course return to round out the list of host courses for the 2013 national championships. La Quinta Resort and Club, long recognized as a “Celebrity Hideaway,” returns as tournament headquarters and host resort for the national championships.
“The tournament courses and La Quinta Resort have been tremendous hosts and partners for the Golf Channel Am Tour, said Jeff Foster, Golf Channel Senior Vice President of New Media Ventures. “We are excited to return to PGA WEST for the 2013 Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships and provide our players a first-class tournament experience.”
“La Quinta Resort and Club and PGA West are honored again to host the Golf Channel Am Tour National Championships,” said Jerry Eye, Senior Director of Golf Operations for PGA WEST. “This prestigious event gives top amateurs across the country the chance to compete against one another at some of the most challenging, celebrated and famed golf facilities in the world.”
The Arnold Palmer Private Course, featuring five finishing holes sculpted along the rugged Santa Rosa Mountains, was the site of David Duval’s history-making score of 59 en route to victory at the 1999 Bob Hope Classic. PGA WEST’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course, a co-host for the final stage of the 2012 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, is one of the only courses in the world that features two island greens. The Greg Norman Course, the newest course at PGA WEST, sits on a prehistoric ocean bed 40 feet below sea level. Rounding out the roster of host courses is The TPC Stadium Course, PGA WEST’s crown jewel. Rated as one of the “Top 100 Courses You Can Play” by GOLF MAGAZINE and the fourth toughest course in the United States by Golf Digest, the TPC Stadium Course co-hosted the final stage of the 2012 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, and was a past host of the made-for-TV Skins Game and the Bob Hope Classic.
The Golf Channel Am Tour provides golfers of all ages and skill levels the opportunity to compete in local, regional and national golf tournaments at top facilities and golf destinations nationwide. Culminating the 2013 season will be the National Championships, divided into the traditional National Championship (below 50 in age) Sept. 22-25, followed by the Senior National Championship (ages 50 and older) Sept. 28-Oct.1.
The 2013 Golf Channel Am Tour season is currently underway with local and two-day “Major” Championships taking place nationwide. PGA WEST will host the “Western Masters” Major Championship, April 6-7, 2013, taking place at Nicklaus Tournament and TPC Stadium Courses. Twenty-six Major Championships are currently scheduled in 2013, with new tournaments to be added in January. New on the 2013 schedule are the Kiawah Island Championship, site of the 2012 PGA Championship, on Feb. 23-24 and the Orange County Amateur at Orange County National’s Panther Lake and Crooked Cat courses in Winter Garden, Fla. on April 6-7. The top-three finishers in each flight at Major Championships will earn exemptions into the 2013 National Championships. The complete schedule is available at www.gcamtour.com.
As the largest amateur golf tour in North America with more than 6,500 members, the Golf Channel Am Tour is open to the public and provides the most professional tournament experience for players of all ages and abilities, as well as offering unparalleled access to some of the most renowned and challenging golf courses across the country. Broken up into 60 local chapters throughout North America, the Golf Channel Am Tour conducted more than 800 local championships and 25 two-day “Major” Championships throughout the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico in 2012. For more information about the Golf Channel Am Tour and the national championships, visit www.gcamtour.com.
Golf Channel is a multimedia, golf entertainment and services company based in Orlando, Fla. The Golf Channel cable network, co-founded by Arnold Palmer, is available in more than 120 million homes worldwide through cable, satellite and wireless companies. Exclusive partnerships with the world’s top tours allow Golf Channel to feature more live golf coverage than all other networks combined, added to a programming schedule distinguished by golf’s best news, instruction and original programming. Golf Channel’s digital platform of businesses is led by www.GolfChannel.com, a leading golf destination on the Internet, delivering unmatched coverage of the world of golf, as well as other services that help the recreational player with how to play, what to play and where to play golf.
Contact:
Jeremy Friedman
Golf Channel
t: 407-355-4058
e: jfriedman@golfchannel.com
