New faces on Champions Tour commit to 2008 Bank of America Championship
For Immediate Release, January 15, 2008:
CONCORD, Mass – When the twenty-eighth annual Bank of America Championship debuts in late spring, a number of faces new to the Champions Tour will be among the top names in golf competing for the Minuteman Trophy.
The 2008 Bank of American Championship, an official event on the PGA TOUR’s Champions Tour and one of only two professional golf tournaments in New England, takes place June 16-22 at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord.
Loren Roberts, Jeff Sluman, John Cook and Wayne Grady are among the standout players who have joined the Champions Tour recently and are playing in their first Bank of America Championship this year. They will compete against top pros already on the early commit list like Allen Doyle, Bob Gilder, Jay Haas, Tom Purtzer, Dana Quigley and Craig Stadler.
Roberts became eligible for the Champions Tour in 2006, the year the Bank of America Championship was rained out. He won one tournament during a short first season on the Tour, a major, the JELD-WEN Tradition, four more in 2006, including the Senior British Open Championship, and two last season. He started 2007 with six straight top-ten finishes, has scored 37 top tens in just two short years and placed second on the Champions Tour money list in 2006 and 2007, winning more than $2 million each year. He has eight PGA TOUR victories.
Sluman became eligible for the Champions Tour late last season and missed an opportunity to play in the Bank of America Championship. He has won six times on the PGA TOUR, including the PGA Championship, and has garnered 105 top-ten finishes, winning more than $18 million. He has been named assistant captain in the United States President’s Cup three times.
Cook became eligible for the Champions Tour last season even later than Sluman and won the 2007 AT&T Championship in only his second Tour start. He has won 11 times on the PGA TOUR, winning nearly $13 million.
Grady joined the Champions Tour last July and was the victim of a number of physical ailments throughout his first half-year on the Tour but managed a final round 68 at the Boeing Classic near Seattle. He has two wins on the PGA TOUR, including the PGA Championship.
Other new faces on the Champions Tour who have committed early to playing their first Bank of America Championship in 2008 are Fulton Allem, Ronnie Black, Gary Hallberg, Donnie Hammond, Mike Hulbert, David Ogrin and Clarence Rose.
Continuing the Bank of America Championship’s charitable tradition, more than a 1,000 volunteers, staff, sponsors and business partners will join 78 Champions Tour pros this year to help increase the $4.8 million the tournament has donated to charity in the past 27 years. More than 50 local charities received at total of $377,500 from last year’s tournament. Traditional beneficiaries include Emerson Hospital; Hanscom Air Force Base—Project Concern; Boys and Girls Club of Assabet Valley; The First Tee of Massachusetts; The Genesis Fund; Concord-Carlisle Athletic Boosters; Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund; Greater Waltham Association for Retarded Citizens; and Lincoln-Sudbury Athletic Boosters.
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. Tournament information is available at www.bankofamericachampionship.com.
Contact:
Nick Ingala, Bank of America Championship, Office, 508-238-2800, njingala@comcast.net
