Final field set for Del Webb Father/Son Challenge  ORLANDO, Fla. -- With the addition of Vijay Singh, Bob Tway and Curtis Strange to fill out the field of the 13th annual Del Webb Father/Son Challenge this weekend, the numbers become that much more astounding.  Bernhard Langer and son Stefan celebrate their victory in 2006. (Badz/PGA TOUR)
In the 18-team field, there are 62 major championships, 422 PGA TOUR victories and 156 Champions Tour titles. But it's much more than just numbers that make this tournament truly special, it's a "Who's who" of modern golf legends all gracing the same fairways one more time. It's the potpourri of recollections come alive this week: "I remember when he made that putt to..." and "Remember when he hit that shot to...?" The Del Webb Father/Son Challenge, taking place this weekend, Nov. 29-Dec. 2 at ChampionsGate Golf Resort outside Orlando, is a unique event. In the invitational, each father must have won at least one major championship on the PGA TOUR to qualify. He is then partnered with his son, grandson in the case of Arnold Pamer, or daughter in the case of Fuzzy Zoeller, in the 36-hole scramble format. NBC will televise the event on Saturday, Dec. 1 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. EST and on Sunday, Dec. 2 from 3-6 p.m. EST. A strong contender based on their runner-up finish in 2006, Tway will again play with son Kevin, a former U.S. Junior Amateur champion and Oklahoma State standout; Strange will play with son Thomas for the fourth consecutive year; and Singh will play with his son Qass for the fifth straight year. Although he's older, bigger and better now, Qass got his start in this event as a 13-year-old. "(This was) my first competition with him, and really, the highlight of my year," Singh told Golf World. "I know he enjoyed it, but I think I enjoyed it more. He's my baby, and it was an honor to play with him." Since then, Qass has hit the gym and the range, dedicating himself to fitness and improving his game. Since a tie for fourth in 2003 and a tie for ninth in 2004, Team Singh moved up into a tie for third in 2005 and finished tied for second last year, left one shot behind after Team Langer birdied the 18th hole to win. Speaking of Team Langer, Bernhard and Stefan look to three-peat this year, which hasn't been done in the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge since the Floyds -- Raymond and Ray Jr. -- won the first three. Floyd joined younger son Robert to again successfully defend in 2000-2001. In both 2005 and 2006, the Langers started with a 13-under-par 59 and finished with a 60, earning one-shot victories both years. In 2005, the victory was made possible when Stefan drilled a clutch three-wood to 20 feet on the par-5 finishing hole. Two putts later, the Langers had the birdie they needed for a two-round total of 24-under-par and the then-15-year-old Stefan had the distinction of being the youngest son to earn the title in event history. Last year, it was Stefan riding to the rescue again, sinking a clutch, 5-foot birdie putt on 18 to hold off Teams Tway and Singh. However, both Team Tway and Team Singh show no signs of slowing in their pursuit to end the Langer reign. Singh is probably the top father player in the field. Despite moving down to ninth in the world, he finished third on the PGA TOUR money list this year -- he made nearly $5 million with two wins, a runner-up, seven top-10 and 16 top-25 finishes in 27 starts. As for the Tways, Bob, now 48, remains competitive on the PGA TOUR, and Kevin is only getting better. Currently ranked No. 150 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings -- a high ranking for a freshman -- Kevin played four tournaments for the sixth-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys this year. His fall was highlighted by a sixth-place individual finish at the Fighting Illini Invitational to help his team win the title. The Stranges debuted in 2004 with a tie for third but have fallen since, finishing tied for 12th last year. Although the Langers have had a firm grasp on the Willie Park Trophy recently, there are a healthy bevy of past champions looking to pry it away. Larry Nelson was the last to win the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge before the Langers. However, the duo of Larry and son Josh, the Nelson representation this year, has never hoisted it. Since 1999, Nelson has alternated playing partners between sons Drew, a professional with whom he won the event by three shots in 2004, and Josh, whose best finish with his dad was third the year before. That year, Larry and Josh finished two shots back of champions Hale and Steve Irwin. Del Webb Father/Son Challenge veterans, Team Irwin is the only duo to have played every year since the inception of the popular event. Entering their 13th appearance, they bring an arsenal of not only unmatched experience, but also one win, three runner-ups, two thirds and eight total top-five finishes. Last year, they rebounded from a first-round 65 with a second-round 59 to finish fifth. Team Irwin's lone win in 2003 came over a guy who knows a thing or two about winning golf tournaments -- he won 73 on the PGA TOUR, including 18 major championships, and 10 on the Champions Tour. However, that year, Jack and Jackie Nicklaus' pair of 62s just wasn't enough to contend with Team Irwin. But this year, Jack will team with son Gary in an attempt to win the duo's second Del Webb Father/Son Challenge -- they shot a record-tying 60-59 for a 119 total to win the 1999 event in a playoff over Raymond and Robert Floyd. That year, Team Nicklaus and Team Floyd finished the 36 holes five shots clear of all challengers. Last year, Jackie and his dad, who admitted in his pre-tournament press conference to be working on his tennis game much more than his golf game, thrilled fans with a typical Golden Bear back-nine charge, birdieing eight straight holes after making the turn at 2-under. That charge brought them to 10-under through 18 holes and left them three shots back of first-round leaders, Davis and Dru Love. Traditionally paired with the Nicklauses in the first round is Arnold Palmer, and such is the case again this year. Palmer and his grandson, standout collegiate golfer Sam Saunders, return for their fifth Del Webb Father/Son Challenge. During his storied career on the PGA TOUR, Palmer clamed seven major titles: four Masters, two British Opens and a U.S. Open and owns 62 PGA TOUR victories in three decades; the go-for-broke Pennsylvanian son of a Deacon gained legions of fans along the way for his swashbuckling style, handsome grin and free-signing autograph pen. Last year, Palmer and Saunders, who plays golf at Clemson, finished 15th. They did fire their best one-round score -- a first-round 64. Their best finishes came in 2003 and 2004, when they finished 12th. Like Jack and Arnie, the Caspers are engrained in the Del Webb Father/Son history, much like Jack, Arnie and Billy Casper are in the history of golf. Casper and Bob -- the eldest son in the field at 47 -- finished 17th last year in their return from a five-year absence. The 76-year-old Casper, who competed in the first seven Del Webb Father/Son Challenges, is the second-oldest player in the field, trailing only 78-year-old Palmer. His 51 victories on the PGA TOUR remain overshadowed by golf's "Big Three" -- Nicklaus, Palmer and Player -- who dominated golf, and the public's consciousness, around the same time. Team Casper's best finish is a T-7 in the inaugural Del Webb Father/Son Challenge in 1995. As one of four fathers to have played in every Del Webb Father/Son Challenge, fan-favorite Lee Trevino and his garrulous style have been mainstays. He's played six times with son Rick and five with son Tony, his best finish coming in 1998, when he and Rick finished T-4. The winner of six major championships: two U.S. Opens, two British Opens and two PGA Championships, Trevino and son Daniel finished 18th in their first event together. Another member of the 13-timers' club, Raymond Floyd is always a threat to win here -- he's done it an unprecedented five times. He teamed with Ray Jr. to claim the first three events (1995-1997), then Floyd and Robert went back-to-back in 2000 and 2001. In 2005, the last time we saw the pairing of Raymond and Robert, they finished one shot behind champions, Team Langer. It was the second runner-up finish for the tandem, which also finished second in 1999. The Floyds are the leading money-winning family in event history. Although he may not have won five, another past Del Webb Father/Son champion, 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler and Chris might grasp the Willie Park Trophy in 2007. However, like the Nelsons, Stadler's win came with another son, PGA TOUR player Kevin, in 2002. Since Kevin played his way onto the Tour and made himself ineligible, Craig and Chris have two 16th-place finishes and a tie for 14th in the three years they've played. David Duval will make his debut here with stepson Deano Karavites. Duval, who has put much of his golf game on hiatus since helping his wife Susie through a difficult second pregnancy that resulted in the healthy birth of daughter Sienna in August, was once the most dominant player on the planet. Between 1997 and 1999, he won 11 times, including the final three events in 1997. In so doing, Duval became the first player in PGA TOUR history to win playoffs in consecutive weeks. Duval's breakout season was 1998, when he won four times, led the tour in money earnings and scoring and racked up 12 top-10s in 23 starts. Duval was the world's No. 1 player for much of 1999, winning four more times and punctuating his season with his spectacular round of 59 during the closing round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Between 1997 and 2001, Duval won 13 times. He wrapped up that streak with his victory in the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, one of three top-10s in major championships that season. That was also Duval's final victory before injuries and swing issues took their toll on his game. Duval's game seems to be on the upswing. He posted three top-25s in 2006 and made cuts in four of the seven events he competed in this season. Although Duval may have won four times in 1998, most golf fans will remember that as the year a 40-something Mark O'Meara won his first major championship at Augusta, then validated it with a win at the British Open. Competing in its fourth Del Webb Father/Son Challenge, Team O'Meara -- Mark and son Shaun -- followed up its career-best third-place finish in 2005 with a tie for 12th last year. A Champions Tour rookie -- he turned 50 in January -- O'Meara was a 16-time winner on the PGA TOUR; his last victory came at the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic in 2004. Aside from those two major championships, which turned O'Meara from another good professional player into a bona-fied Hall-of-Famer, he claimed 14 other PGA TOUR titles between 1984 and 1998. One of O'Meara's chief counterparts during his PGA TOUR days was Tom Kite, who captured the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the site of four of O'Meara's triumphs. While O'Meara is known for his prowess at Pebble Beach, Kite is the only player to make the cut in all four U.S. Opens held on the storied Monterey Peninsula course: 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2000. Known as one of the most tenacious competitors on tour, the gritty Kite, who'll again play with son David, was the first player in PGA TOUR history to reach $6 million, $7 million, $8 million and $9 million in career earnings. He led the Tour's money list in 1981 and 1989 and was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004. Coming off a T-6 performance in 2006, Team Kite is competing in its ninth Del Webb Father/Son Challenge. The team's best finish was a T-3 in 2004. Another mainstay on the Tour throughout the 90s was 1996 British Open champion Tom Lehman, who will make his Del Webb Father/Son Challenge debut with eldest son, 12-year-old Thomas. Lehman enjoyed his best season in five years in 2006, finishing 42nd on the money list as he deftly juggled playing tournament-caliber golf with his duties as U.S. Ryder Cup captain. In 2007, Lehman made 12 cuts in 18 events, earning nearly $900,000, rolling up three top-six finishes and making the cut in the two majors he played in -- the British Open and the PGA Championship. The early and middle nineties were probably best known for Greg Norman, who will play again this year with son Gregory. Team Norman debuted in last year's event with a tie for sixth. Playing his first event of 2007 -- Norman's last round of competitive golf was last year's Del Webb Father/Son Challenge -- he won his two Opens at Turnberry (1986) and Royal St. Georges (1993), when he closed with a marvelous 64 to catch Nick Faldo and Corey Pavin. Considered the world's best golfer in the early and middle 1990s, when he won 20 PGA TOUR titles and enjoyed 29 top-10 finishes in major championships, Norman has turned from competitive golf to building and expanding his business empire. Instead of sweating through more heartbreak that included playoff losses in all four majors, Norman is handling the details of a conglomerate that includes winemaking, course design, apparel, turfgrass, restaurants and event management. And last in name but certainly not in personality is the team of Fuzzy and Gretchen Zoeller. Gretchen, who played at College of Charleston before graduating in 2006, made event history two years ago when she became the first daughter to compete in the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge. Aside from charming fans and media alike with her outgoing personality, Gretchen and her father finished 18th in their debut two years ago. When it comes to charming fans, Gretchen learned from the master: Zoeller has justifiably earned status as one of the Champions Tour's most dynamic characters, someone always ready to take on a challenge in good humor. However, Zoeller's humor belies a talented golfer, one who owns two major championships: the 1979 Masters and the 1984 U.S. Open, which he captured in dramatic fashion by vanquishing fellow Del Webb Father/Son Challenge competitor Greg Norman in an 18-hole playoff. Besides the lucrative $1.085 million purse, the teams also play to win the prestigious Willie Park Trophy, which is based upon the original championship prize of the British Open in 1860. The trophy, a red leather belt with sterling silver embellishments, similar to the belts awarded in modern times to boxing champions, was named after Park in honor of being the first winner of the British Open, the world's oldest golf championship. Park won the British Open four times (1860, 1863, 1866 and 1875) and his son, Willie, Jr., won twice (1887 and 1889). The Willie Park Trophy was created especially for the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge in England by Garrard, the Crown Jewelers since 1843. To purchase tickets, call the Deb Webb Father/Son Challenge tournament office at 866-871-6337 or visit the Web site at www.delwebbfatherson.com. The Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is the benefiting charity for the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge. ChampionsGate Golf Resort is the world headquarters for the David Leadbetter Academy, one of the nation's most sophisticated learning facilities for men, women and children. ChampionsGate Golf Resort has already received honorable mention by Golf Magazine's "10 Most Distinctive Places to Play in the Country" list. The resort features an impressive clubhouse with outstanding restaurant and banquet facilities. The Del Webb Father/Son Challenge is jointly owned by NBC Sports and IMG. |
