2008 Bank of America Championship boasts early player commitments
For Immediate Release, April 24, 2008:
CONCORD, MA — Early player commitments to this year's PGA TOUR's Champions Tour Bank of America Championship already have filled nearly two-thirds of the tournament's 78-player field.
More than 50 of golf's top players, including Jay Haas, the tournament's 2007 champion, have committed to competing at the twenty-eighth annual Bank of America Championship, which takes place June 16-22 at Nashawtuc Country Club in Concord.
The Bank of America Championship was one of four tournaments Haas won in 2007, a tour best for last year. He received the Arnold Palmer Award as the Tour's leading money winner for the second consecutive year. He also received Player of the Year honors for the second consecutive year. In 27 starts, Haas led all Tour players with 18 top-10 finishes and finished second in the Charles Schwab Cup race to Loren Roberts, who ended up second to Haas on the 2007 money list. He has a total of nine PGA Tour victories and 10 Champions Tour wins, including a Senior PGA Championship, and he is third on the money list to-date this year.
Roberts also has committed to this year's Bank of America Championship, his first. He is eighth on the money list so far this year. Last year he won two tournaments and the Charles Schwab Cup, scoring 14 top-10 finishes, six of them in the first six tournaments of the year. He has eight PGA TOUR victories and seven Champions Tour wins, including three majors, the JELD-WEN Tradition and Senior British Open Championship and Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
"We're very excited about our field this far in advance of the tournament, and we've just gotten started" said tournament director Tracy West.
The 2008 Bank of America Championship field so far includes all-time money list leaders Dana Quigley (3), Bruce Fleisher (4), Allen Doyle (6), who has won four Champions Tour majors and the 2003 Bank of America Championship, Jim Thorpe (7), Jim Colbert (8) and Tom Jenkins (10). This year's money list leaders who have committed to the tournament to-date, in addition to Haas (3) and Roberts (8), include Mark Wiebe (6), John Cook (7), who will compete in his first Bank of America Championship, Denis Watson (10), Lonnie Nielsen (12), Tom Jenkins (14) and Nick Price (15), who has won three PGA TOUR championships and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Another World Golf Hall Fame member to compete at Nashawtuc this year will be Curtis Strange, who has two U.S. Opens to his credit, and Craig Stadler, who has won a Master's tournament and the 2004 Bank of America Championship.
Two stand out PGA TOUR pros, Jeff Sluman and Wayne Grady, joined the Champions Tour last year, but after the Bank of America Championship, so they will compete this year for the first time at Nashawtuc. Also competing for the first time will be Joey Sindelar, who became eligible for the Champions Tour in March and is a seven-time PGA TOUR champion. Other top pros who have played Nashawtuc regularly and have committed early to returning this year include 1994 Bank of America Championship victor Jim Albus, 1995 winner Isao Aoki, 1996 winner Jim Dent, 2002 winner Bob Gilder and 2005 winner Mark McNulty, as well as David Eger, Keith Fergus, Joe Ozaki, Jerry Pate, Don Pooley, Tom Purtzer, Scott Simpson, Jim Thorpe, Bobby Wadkins and Denis Watson.
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 donated more than $4.8 million to local charities in the past 27 years. Tournament information, tickets and volunteer opportunities are available at 1-866-559-GOLF or www.bankofamericachampionship.com.
Contact:
Nick Ingala, Bank of America Championship, Office, 508-238-2800, njingala@comcast.net
