NEWS

Champions Tour E-Notes
 
Jun. 19, 2007
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Bank of America Championship Notes:

  • Curtis Strange is making his first Champions Tour appearance in the Boston area this week at the Bank of America Championship. But he's not unfamiliar with success in that part of New England. Strange won the first of his two U.S. Open titles at The Country Club in Brookline in 1988. He also had top-10 finishes at the Bank of Boston Classic in 1986 (T7) and 1987 (T5) and a T6 at the 1993 New England Classic.

  • Nick Price, one of the newest players on the Champions Tour and also a World Golf Hall of Fame member, will be making his first appearance in the event, as well. Others making their first stops in this event will be Chip Beck, Tim Simpson, Kenny Knox, Massy Kuramoto, Scott Simpson and David Edwards.

  • Only three players have won both a PGA TOUR event and a Champions Tour event in Massachusetts. Arnold Palmer won the 1968 Kemper Open (Sutton) and the 1982 Bank of America Championship (Marlborough), Bob Gilder won the 1982 Bank of Boston Classic (Sutton) and the 2002 Bank of America Championship (Concord) and Bruce Fleisher won the 1991 New England Classic (Sutton) and the 2001 U.S. Senior Open (Peabody).

  • Hale Irwin, a two-time winner (1997-98) and a two-time runner-up, leads all players in total earnings at this event, with $640,620. Larry Nelson, also a two-time winner (2000-01), is second, with $484,180. He is followed by Allen Doyle, the 2003 champion, with $480,746.

  • The Bank of America Championship is the fourth-oldest event on the Champions Tour, with only the Senior PGA Championship (68 years), Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf (30 years), and U.S. Senior Open (28 years) having seniority. This tournament does hold the distinction of being held for the longest time in one metropolitan area as well as the longest span at one club (24 years).

  • Five members of the World Golf Hall of Fame are past champions of this event led by Arnold Palmer (1982), Chi Chi Rodriguez (1986-88), Isao Aoki (1995), Hale Irwin (1997-98) and Larry Nelson (2000-01).

  • Two former New England PGA Players of the Year will make their first appearance in the Bank of America Championship this year. Kirk Hanefeld, a winner of three New England PGA Championships, and Rick Karbowski, the 2003 and 2004 New England Open winner, are both in the field on a sponsor's exemption.