Bank of America Championship Sponsor Exemption
Goes to Big Break VI: Trump National Winner
And North Andover Woman Wins LPGA Slot
For Immediate Release, Dec. 5, 2006:
CONCORD, Mass. - A sponsor exemption to play in the PGA TOUR's Champions Tour 2007 Bank of America Championship has been awarded to a Warsaw, Ind., man, and a North Andover woman has won a shot at the LPGA TOUR for their victories in The Big Break VI: Trump National, an elimination competition sponsored by The Golf Channel to offer winners their big break into professional golf.
Denny Hepler will compete in the 2007 Bank of America Championship to be played June 18-24 at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord. He also won a sponsor exemption into the 2007 Turtle Bay Championship, as well as waived entry fees in six 2007 Heartland Players Senior Tour Events.
Briana Vega won sponsor exemptions into the 2007 SBS Open at Turtle Bay and 2007 Long's Drug Challenge, as well as waived entry fees for the 2007 Duramed FUTURES Tour season.
The Big Break VI was the sixth season of the competition and was played at the Trump National Golf Course in Los Angeles, with frequent appearances by "The Donald." Basically, nine men and nine women chased their dream of a shot at competing on the PGA TOUR's Champions Tour and LPGA TOUR. The format tested their golf games at a variety of challenges, and Trump changed the contest from time to time during the competition to challenge players even more.
"The Big Break is about opportunity for a struggling mini-tour player or senior-aged competitor to tee it up with the likes of Annika Sorenstam or Hale Irwin and play for hundreds-of-thousands of dollars," said Jay Kossoff, The Golf Channel's executive producer for Original Productions. "The show is an avenue for one of these men and women to find out if they can compete at the next level."
When the competition began, Champions Tour president Rick George said, "With a Champions Tour tournament exemption on the line, "The Big Break VI" may well produce the next Dana Quigley." Quigley, a Massachusetts native, received his big break into professional golf with a Bank of America Championship sponsor exemption in 1997. He won his next tournament, the Northville Long Island Classic, and today is a top Champions Tour player, having won more than $12 million, received a Player of the Year/Jack Nicklaus Trophy, won 11 Champions Tour events and set the record for consecutive Champions Tour starts with 278 over nine years.
Hepler earned his PGA TOUR card on his ninth attempt at the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, but did not play well enough to keep it. He earned his card back at his tenth qualifying tournament. Before playing the TOUR in 1985-86, he played all over the world, pursuing his golf career with his buddy, the late Payne Stewart. The high point of his career was in 1982 when he won the Malaysian Open. He has competed in four U.S. Opens, four PGA Championships and one British Open. After losing his card, he returned home and bought a nine-hole golf course that he renovated into an 18-hole layout. He is a member of the Indiana Golf Foundation Hall of Fame, and besides running his golf course, Raccoon Run Golf Club, he works as a small college and high school basketball official. He was a member of Mark Dismore's pit crew at the Indy 500 from 1999-2001. He started playing golf when he was in the eighth grade when he became intrigued by his math teacher swinging a yardstick in class.
Vega did not take golf seriously until high school when she played on the boys' team and was named All State for girls and second team All State for boys. She earned a golf scholarship to North Carolina State University, and during her stint with the Wolfpack, she set, and still holds, the 18- and 54-hole scoring records. As a senior, she finished tenth at the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships. In 2004, she won the Massachusetts Amateur and qualified to play in the 2004 U.S. Women's Open. This season, she is playing on the Duramed FUTURES Tour. Her mother travels with her on the road and her father flies to tournaments to be her caddie. The 24-year-old cites her father as the person having the most influence on her golf game.
Bank of America Championship
The Bank of America Championship is the longest running 54-hole event on the PGA TOUR's Champions Tour and the only Champions Tour tournament played in New England. The tournament has contributed more than $4.5 million to local charities like the Boys and Girls Clubs of Assabet Valley, Emerson Hospital and many others, over its 26-year history. The twenty-seventh annual Bank of America Championship will take place June 18-24, 2007, at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord. Information, tickets and volunteer applications are available at www.bankofamericachampionship.com .
Contact:
Nick Ingala
Bank of America Championship Media Relations
508-238-2800, njingala@comcast.net
Tracy West
Bank of America Championship Tournament Director
978-266-0266, htwest@bankofamericachampionship.com
Mark Mitchell
The Golf Channel
407-355-4063, mmitchell@golfchannel.com
