Field Set for Mitsubishi Electric Championship

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KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii --The 32nd season of the Champions Tour kicks off next week with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, to be held January 17-23 at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Hualalai Course in Ka'upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

Celebrating its 15th year on the Big Island, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship is the first of 25 official events in the 2011 Charles Schwab Cup race and will feature a 42-player field, the most ever to assemble at this event. Featuring seven members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, the field has won a combined 548 events on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, including 77 major championships. The 54-hole event offers a $1.8 million purse and is open to Champions Tour major championship winners of the last five years, official tournament winners from the last two years, seven sponsor invitees reserved for players with a minimum of 30 combined career victories or 15 combined victories with at least one major title and one sponsor choice with 10-plus wins and one major championship.

Last year, in one of the most exciting finishes in Champions Tour history, 60-year-old Tom Watson birdied the final two holes to overtake Champions Tour newcomer Fred Couples. Watson became the 13th oldest winner in Champions Tour history and the wire-to-wire victory was his first in 34 career starts in Hawaii on the two Tours. Both Watson and Couples will be returning this year.

Also returning is 2009 champion Bernhard Langer, who will embark on his quest for an unprecedented fourth consecutive Player of the Year honor in 2011. Langer captured five titles, including two consecutive major championships, and the Charles Schwab Cup for the first time. He also became the first player to win three straight Player of the Year awards.

Watson and Langer will be joined in the field by five other past champions including Fred Funk (2008), Hale Irwin (1997, 2007), Tom Kite (2002), Loren Roberts (2006) and Fuzzy Zoeller (2004).

Six players will be making their first appearances at the championship- Russ Cochran, David Frost, Gary Hallberg, Larry Mize, Ted Schulz and Rod Spittle- each winning for the first time in 2010.

The full field for the 2011 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai field is as follows:

The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai will air live on the Golf Channel on Friday, Jan. 21 from 6:30-9:00 pm ET and 7:30-10:00 pm ET on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 22 and 23.

To purchase tickets, please call 800-417-2770 or visit http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/s524/.