Print this page  |  Close Window

KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii -- Eight first-time participants will look to start their year on a winning note as the Champions Tour launches its 2007 season next week at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. Andy Bean, Brad Bryant, David Edwards, Fred Funk, John Harris, Jerry Pate, Eduardo Romero and Scott Simpson combined for nine victories and won over $10.3 million in 2006, earning invitations to one of the Champions Tour's premier events. The 2007 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai will be played Jan. 15-21 at Hualalai Golf Course on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Bean earned his first victory 91 events into his Champions Tour career last October at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. The 11-time PGA TOUR winner notched seven top-10s and finished 12th on the Champions Tour official money list with $1,020,678.

Bryant enjoyed the best year of his career in 2006, posting his first two victories at the Toshiba Classic in March and the Regions Charity Classic in May. The Lakeland, Fla., native tallied 10 top-10 finishes en route to finishing fourth in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race. Bryant also enjoyed his most lucrative year as a professional, earning nearly $1.7 and finishing third on the official money list.

A fixture on the PGA TOUR from 1979-2005, Edwards didn't take long adjusting to life on the Champions Tour after turning 50 in April. The four-time PGA TOUR winner posted top-5 finishes in his first two events and captured his first victory at the 3M Championship in August. The Stillwater, Okla., resident finished the year with eight top-10 finishes and earned $1,191,086, finishing 10th on the official money list.

Despite only playing three events after his 50th birthday in June, Funk earned his invitation to Hualalai with a victory at the AT&T Championship, the final full-field event of the 2006 season. A seven-time winner on the PGA TOUR, including the 2005 PLAYERS Championship, Funk will get a one-week head start on his Champions Tour brethren by competing in this week's PGA TOUR event, the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Harris earned his first victory at the Commerce Bank Championship in July after nearly five years on the Champions Tour. The 1993 U.S. Amateur Champion finished the year with four top-10 finishes and was the last player in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship with his 29th place finish on the official money list.

A former U.S. Open and PLAYERS champion, Pate ended a 24-year winless drought with his victory at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in February. The Macon, Ga., native's 2006 season was cut short due to shoulder surgery in July and he will make his first Champions Tour start since last July's Ford Senior Players Championship next week in Hawaii.

A long-time member of the European Tour, Romero garnered Champions Tour Rookie of the Year honors on the strength of his victory at the JELD-WEN Tradition in August, one of five Champions Tour majors. Romero notched three other top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish in a playoff at the Senior British Open. The eight-time European Tour winner finished the season fifth in the Charles Schwab Cup points race and seventh on the official money list.

Simpson, a seven-time winner on the PGA TOUR, rounds out the contingent of players making their first trip to the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. The 1987 U.S. Open Champion earned his invitation to the Big Island by virtue of his victory at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach in September. The San Diego, Calif., native finished the year with eight top-10s and $1,340,676 in earnings, good for sixth position on the final money list.

The MasterCard Championship at Hualalai features winners of Champions Tour major championships of the last five years (2002-2006) and winners of Champions Tour official money cosponsored and approved tournaments of the last two years (2005-2006), plus sponsor invitees Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins.