Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship

Maryland Native Fred Funk Joins Local Favorite Jim Thorpe in Adding to an Impressive Field of Champions for the Major Championship this October 6-12 at Baltimore Country Club  

SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 - The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship today announced that Fred Funk, Jim Thorpe and Jay Haas have all committed to play in the final major championship of the 2008 Champions Tour season this October 6-12, at Baltimore Country Club at Five Farms in Timonium, MD.

"We are glad to have these three very popular players and fan favorites compete in the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship," said Executive Tournament Director Steve Schoenfeld.  "Fred Funk and Jim Thorpe both have ties to Maryland and Jay Haas continues to be one of the hottest players on the Champions Tour this season."

All three players own Champions Tour major titles.  Haas captured this season's Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, NY, and Funk won the JELD-WEN Tradition last month at Crosswater Club at Sunriver in Sunriver, OR.  Thorpe won the same event in 2002.

Fred Funk continues to split his playing time between the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.  Funk has claimed eight victories on the PGA TOUR including THE PLAYERS Championship in 2005 and the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun in 2007.  Funk, now 52 years of age, also holds four career victories on the Champions Tour including wins this season at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai and JELD-WEN Tradition, as well as the 2006 AT&T Championship and 2007 Turtle Bay Championship.  Funk served as the golf coach at The University of Maryland from 1982 to 1988.  He is a 1980 graduate of the University of Maryland and was named to the Terps Hall of Fame in 2007 as well as the State of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame.  Funk is a native of Takoma Park, Maryland.

Jim Thorpe holds three championships on the PGA TOUR including the Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championships in 1985 and 1986.  Thorpe's successful Champions Tour career consists of 13 wins including the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2006 and 2007.  Thorpe holds the longest current streak on the Champions Tour of at least one win in eight consecutive seasons.  Thorpe earned a football scholarship to Morgan State University in Baltimore where he played as a running back.  He is a native of North Carolina and joined the PGA TOUR in 1972.
     
Jay Haas won nine times on the PGA TOUR including the 1992 Federal Express St. Jude Classic and the 1993 H.E.B. Texas Open.  Haas owns twelve victories on the Champions Tour including the 2006 and 2008 Senior PGA Championship as well as the 2007 Toshiba Classic, Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, The Principal Charity Classic and Bank of America Championship.  Haas was named Champions Tour Rookie of the Year in 2005, captured the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race in 2006 and was the Champions Tour Player of the Year in 2007.  Haas is a native of St. Louis, Missouri and attended Wake Forest University.

Funk, Thorpe and Haas join an impressive field of competitors that already includes Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Mark O'Meara, defending champion Loren Roberts, Jeff Sluman and Denis Watson.

Players in the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship will be competing for their share of the $2.6 million purse, which equals the largest purse on the Champions Tour this season.  As the last of the Champions Tour majors, with $390,000 going to the winner, the double Charles Schwab Cup points awarded to the top-10 finishers will be a critical factor in deciding the Charles Schwab Cup points race.

About the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship
The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship is one of five major championships on the PGA TOUR's Champions Tour for eligible professionals age 50 and over.  Dates for the 2008 event are October 6-12.  The event will be played on the East Course at Baltimore Country Club in Timonium, MD, with a field of 78 Champions Tour players competing for a share of the $2.6 million purse, the largest of the season.  The final two rounds of the event will be broadcast on NBC in high definition and aired in more than 140 countries around the world (4-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday).  The first and second rounds of this final major of the season will air on the GOLF CHANNEL (1:30-4 p.m. Thursday and Friday).  To purchase tickets, for information about corporate sponsorship opportunities or to become a volunteer for the 2008 tournament, please visit the Official Tournament Website at www.ceseniorplayers.com or call the Tournament Office at 410-470-3033.

About Constellation Energy Group
Constellation Energy (www.constellation.com), a FORTUNE 125 company with 2007 revenues of $21 billion, is the nation's largest competitive supplier of electricity to large commercial and industrial customers and the nation's largest wholesale power seller. Constellation Energy also manages fuels and energy services on behalf of energy intensive industries and utilities. It owns a diversified fleet of 78 generating units located throughout the United States, totaling approximately 8,700 megawatts of generating capacity. The company delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Central Maryland.

About the Champions Tour
The Champions Tour, a division of the PGA TOUR, Inc., is a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. The Champions Tour will feature a minimum of 29 official events offering $55.6 million in prize money in 2008 and its highest average purse ever, $1.91 million. The Champions Tour operates under the umbrella of the PGA TOUR which includes the PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour. The Champions Tour's primary purpose as an entity of the PGA TOUR is to provide significant competitive and earnings opportunities for players age 50 and older; to protect the integrity of the game; and to help grow the reach of the game in the U.S. and around the world. In addition to providing competitive opportunities for its membership, Champions Tour events also generate significant sums of money for charity.  The commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Mike Stevens is president of the Champions Tour.  TOUR headquarters is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
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