Top Golfers Commit Early To Play At 26TH Annual Bank of America Championship
March 28, 2006:
CONCORD, Mass - Early commitments are
showing that the Bank of America Championship once again this year will
welcome some of the game's top players to Nashawtuc Country Club in
Concord to compete in the oldest 54-hole event on the PGA TOUR's
Champions Tour.
When tournament week rolls around June 5-11, Mark McNulty will be on
hand to defend his championship and see if he can become the sixth
player to win consecutive Bank of America Championships. He won last
year's victory, his fourth career win at the time, in a three-man
playoff with Tom Purtzer and Don Pooley after having birdied the final
hole in regulation play. Pooley dropped out on the first extra hole, and
McNulty holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to defeat
Purtzer. McNulty's best showing this season has been T10 at the Outback
Steakhouse Pro-Am.
Purtzer and Pooley, presently fourth on this year's money list, also
will be at Nashawtuc.
Native New Englander Dana Quigley will be there as well. The 2005
Champions Tour Player of the Year got his start on the Champions Tour
with a Bank of America Championship sponsor exemption in 1997. Quigley
won the Wendy's Champions Skins Game this year with teammate Raymond
Floyd and place twelfth in the season-opening MasterCard Championship.
Allen Doyle, another native New Englander and winner of the 2003 Bank of
America Championship, also will be in the field. This year, he tied for
eighth place at the MasterCard Championship and followed with a
sixth-place finish at the Turtle Bay Championship for his best finishes.
Other victors at the Bank of America Championship who have committed to
play this year are Bob Charles, winner in 1989 and 1990, Isao Aoki, 1995
winner, Bob Gilder, 2002 and only wire-to-wire winner, and Craig Stadler,
20004 winner.
Four players in addition to Pooley who are top-ten money winners this
year to-date also will play at Nashawtuc. Brad Bryant is number two on
the list, Tom Kite, three, Tom Jenkins, eight, and Morris Hatalsky
ninth.
Popular players like Gary McCord, Curtis Strange and Lee Trevino also
are expected to compete.
Newcomers to the Champions Tour who will be in the field include New
Englanders Rick Karbowski and Kirk Hanefeld. Karbowski, a long-time New
England club professional, was born and lives in Worcester. Hanefeld was
born in Claremont, N.H., and lives in Acton, Mass. Karbowski joined the
Champions Tour just last year and placed sixth at this year's Ace Group
Classic. Hanefeld turns 50 on May 24, so he will have only the Senior
PGA Championship and Allianz Championship to play before his debut
appearance at the Bank of America Championship. He acquired fully exempt
status on the 2006 Champions Tour by finishing as runner-up at the
National Qualifying Tournament.
Golf fans can fill out a volunteer application, get up-to-date
information about the twenty-sixth annual Bank of America
Championship and buy tickets online by visiting
www.bankofamericachampionship.com. Tickets also are available by
calling toll-free 1-877-559-GOLF.
