2015 TUCSON CONQUISTADORES CLASSIC MEDIA INFORMATION

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1 2015 TUCSON CONQUISTADORES CLASSIC MEDIA INFORMATION Contacts: Phil Stambaugh, Media Official; Dave Senko, Media Official; Dates: March 16-22, 2015 Course: Omni Tucson National Resort (Catalina Course); Tucson, Arizona Par/Yards: /7,143 Year Opened: 1963 Course Designer: Originally designed by Robert Bruce Harris in 1961; Red Lawrence redesigned six holes in 1996; Course totally redesigned by Robert Von Hagge/Bruce Devlin in 1983; Tom Lehman relocated and redesigned holes No. 7/No. 8 in Field: 81 professionals Format: 54-hole stroke-play event with no cut. Charles Schwab Cup (points to winner): 255; Purse: $1,700,000; Winner s Share: $255,000 Television: Golf Channel will televise the event all three days: Friday (5:00-7:00 p.m.), Saturday (2:00-4:00 p.m.) and Sunday (2:00-4:00 p.m.). All times are local. Friday broadcast in tape delayed while Saturday and Sunday broadcasts are live. #Tucson Conquistadores Facebook: ( THE 2015 CHAMPIONS TOUR: This year marks the 36th anniversary of the PGA TOUR s Champions Tour and the inaugural Tucson Conquistadores is the fourth official event on the 2015 schedule. The last of 26 official events this year is the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, November 2-8, at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Champions Tour s primary purpose 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. CHARLES SCHWAB AGREES TO 20-YEAR SPONSORSHIP: The PGA TOUR and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. announced on Jan. 20, 2015 a historic 20-year extension of their multifaceted marketing partnership. This represents the longest marketing agreement the PGA TOUR has ever entered. In conjunction with the extension, the Champions Tour will be creating a playoff system beginning with the 2016 season, with details on the structure forthcoming. This historic 20-year extension of the multifaceted marketing relationship between PGA TOUR and Charles Schwab & Co. will continue through This represents the longest marketing agreement the PGA TOUR has ever entered. The Champions Tour will create a playoff system for the Charles Schwab Cup with structure and timing forthcoming. Every official Champions Tour event carries Schwab Cup points for the top-10 finishers. The agreement signals stability of the Champions Tour and the Charles Schwab Cup.

2 TUCSON CONQUISTADORES: The late Roy P. Drachman was the founding father of the Tucson Conquistadores. The 41 businessmen who formed the original Conquistadores were the leaders of their day. Drachman recognized a need in the community, that of "extra-curricular support of deserving athletes as well as other community sporting events" and he successfully recruited the people who pledged to fill that need. The annual Sports Award Banquet, which had a long, successful run from 1963 through 1994, was the original fundraising event of the Tucson Conquistadores. In 1966, the Conquistadores adopted the Tucson Open golf tournament. The high-powered group turned the fledging PGA TOUR event into an exciting professional sporting and community event which continued through 2006 with over $15 million being raised for charity during those years. From 2007 through 2014, the Tucson Conquistadores served as the tournament leadership team and sales arm for the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship held at The Golf Club at Dove Mountain. This prestigious tournament featured the top 64 golfers in the world and created an unprecedented opportunity for the Conquistadores to raise record levels of funds for Southern Arizona youth - the final 2014 event generated $1.3 million for charity. The Conquistadores have an active membership of up to 55 business and professional men, and a total membership of 197 who represent a cross-section of the Tucson community. True to its charter, the Conquistadores remain a working organization. In addition to its professional golf activities, the group has established the Tucson Conquistadores Foundation. The Foundation s goal is to build an endowment fund that will generate guarantee funds for the future. The key beneficiaries of the Conquistadores' fund-raising effort for this year s event are The First Tee of Tucson and Southern Arizona Youth Athletic Programs. OMNI TUCSON NATIONAL RESORT: Nestled in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, the Omni Tucson National Resort has been the home to numerous PGA TOUR and NCAA events over the years. The Catalina Course was selected as one of Golf Digest s 75 Best Golf Resorts in North America and a Conde Nast Silver Award winner. In addition to the Catalina Course, the resort has the Sonoran Course, designed by Tom Lehman. There is also an array of other entertainment venues, including outdoor dining terraces and an cabana bar, coupled with Tucson s only 4-star, Forbes-rated spa and tennis courts. The resort features 128 guest rooms and suites. KEY STORYLINES/NOTES: CHAMPIONS TOUR RETURNS TO TUCSON: The 2014 Tucson Conquistadores marks the return of the Champions Tour to Tucson for the first time since the Seiko Tucson Senior Match Play Championship in Don January was the winner of that event, defeating Bob Charles in the final. The year prior, Harold Henning won, besting Dan Sikes in the last match. In 1984, Gene Littler defeated January 1-up for his third of eight titles on the Champions Tour. Littler won 29 times on the PGA TOUR, including the 1959 Tucson Open. The Seiko Tucson Senior Match Play Championship was played concurrently with the PGA TOUR s match play event. Tom Watson won the first match play title in 1984, defeating Gil Morgan. Jim Thorpe won in both 1985 and 1986, beating Jack Renner for the title in 1985 and Scott Simpson in the final the following year. The Omni Tucson National Resort also hosted the Champions Tour s National Qualifying Tournament in 1999 and Mark Hayes claimed medalist honors that year by five strokes. CATALINA COURSE AT OMNI TUCSON NATIONAL HAS A RICH HISTORY: The PGA TOUR has had a lengthy relationship with the Omni Tucson National s Catalina Course, dating back to 1965 when it first hosted the Tucson Open. The tournament was played there annually until 1980, with the exception of 1979 when it was played at Randolph Park Golf Course. After moving to both Randolph Park and TPC Starr Pass for a period of time, the event chose the Omni Tucson National as the host course in the multi-course format that was utilized by the tournament from In 1997, the event changed back to a more traditional format of 72 holes at only one course and the Omni Tucson National s Catalina Course hosted the tournament for 10 more years. World Golf Hall of Fame member Bob Charles won the first event at the Catalina Course in 1965 and Kirk Triplett won the last in Among the many highlights at this historic layout involving Champions Tour players were Arnold Palmer s popular victory in 1967, Lee Trevino s back-to-back wins in and Johnny Miller s three straight victories there from , earning him the nickname Desert Fox. Ben

3 Crenshaw also claimed the individual NCAA Championship at this locale in The Catalina Course is a parkland design, illustrative of its early 1960s roots, when Midwestern visitors and homeowners frequented the area and it was what they were familiar with back home. Glorious panoramas of the Santa Catalina Mountains provide the perfect background for this scenic setting. PARNEVIK S DEBUT: Sweden s Jesper Parnevik, a five-time winner on the PGA TOUR, will make his first start as a member of the Champions Tour at the Tucson Conquistadores. Pernevik won his first PGA TOUR crown up the road from Tucson, claiming the 1998 Phoenix Open. His youngest son Phoenix is named for the site of his first victory. Will he again capture the same magic in the state of Arizona this year? Parnevik turned 50 on March 7. On the PGA TOUR, he played in Tucson three times from and his best finish was a T21 in His start at the event in 1994 was just the second of his TOUR career. Can Parnevik become the 19 th player in Champions Tour history to win in his debut? Here s a full list of the players winning their first time out on the Champions Tour: Year Player Event Year Player Event 1980 Don January Atlantic City 2004 Mark McNulty Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am Invitational 1980 Roberto De U.S. Senior Open 2007 Mark Wiebe SAS Championship Vicenzo 1980 Arnold Palmer PGA Seniors Championship 2009 Tom Lehman Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf 1983 Rod Funseth Hall of Fame 2009 Michael Allen Senior PGA Championship Tournament 1985 Gary Player Quadel Seniors 2009 Tom Pernice, Jr. SAS Championship 1989 George Archer Gatlin Brothers 2013 Rocco Mediate Allianz Championship Southwest Senior 1990 Jack Nicklaus The Tradition 2014 Jeff Maggert. Mississippi Gulf Resort 1999 Bruce Fleisher Royal Caribbean 2014 Miguel Angel Jimenez Greater Gwinnett Championship 2000 Lanny Wadkins ACE Group 2001 Bobby Wadkins Lightpath Long Island FIELD INCLUDES FORMER PGA TOUR WINNERS IN TUCSON: The inaugural Tucson Conquistadores will feature nine different players who won PGA TOUR titles in Tucson, including six players who claimed titles at the Omni Tucson National Resort (2006/Kirk Triplett, 2000/Jim Carter, 1997/Jeff Sluman, 1993/Larry Mize, 1992/Lee Janzen, 1978/Tom Watson). David Frost won the Northern Telecom Tucson Open in 1988 at Randolph Park. Jim Thorpe claimed backto-back match-play titles at Randolph Park in Watson also won the Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship in Craig Stadler won the Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open in 1982 at Randolph Park. Can any of these players become the first to don the Conquistadore helmet as a Champions Tour winner? STAR-STUDDED FIELD FOR INAUGURAL EVENT: The 2015 Tucson Conquistadores will have an 81-player field this year and it includes seven members of the World Golf Hall of Fame (Fred Couples, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Mark O Meara, Tom Kite, Sandy Lyle and Tom Watson). Collectively, this year s field has 65 players who won 410 total titles on the PGA TOUR. The field has 19 players who won major championships on the PGA TOUR. There are also 49 players who have won titles on the Champions Tour. A total of 27 of the top-30 money-winners on last year s Champions Tour are committed to play in Tucson this year. THE HELMET IS BACK: One of the most unique trophies in all of sports is back! This year s Tucson Conquistadores will again wear the gold-plated Spanish helmet that was given to the winner of the PGA TOUR event in Tucson for so many years. After Arnold Palmer won the Tucson Open in 1967, the Conquistadores organization collectively decided a new trophy was required to recognize the winner of the tournament. A Spanish helmet, a choice inspired by the organization s logo, was the

4 result, but finding one wasn t easy. After hunting locally with no success, a member of the Conquistadores, who was on vacation in Spain, was asked to return with sample helmets from which a suitable design was chosen. George Knudson was awarded the first helmet after winning the tournament in It was made in Toledo, Spain, an area known for its fine steel-making since the fifth century B.C. The raw steel helmet weighed five pounds; the material was more historically accurate than it was practical. Subsequently, the trophy was made lighter and plated with goldcolored chrome. Its production remained in Spain until 1994, when Tucson s Caid Metal Works took over the job. Kirk Triplett was the last player to claim the iconic trophy when he won in I remember getting a note from Curtis Strange, letting me know that I now had one of the best trophies in golf, said the four-time Champions Tour winner. I thought for a second and then remembered that he had two U.S. Open trophies. How can a Conquistador helmet be as good as the U.S Open trophy? I thought that was pretty cool. BERNHARD LANGER IN QUEST FOR SECOND STRAIGHT SCHWAB CUP, FIFTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR HONOR: Bernhard Langer seeks to duplicate what only five other players, including himself, have been able to do in the history of the Champions Tour, and win consecutive Jack Nicklaus Awards as the Player of the Year. He also hopes to join Tom Lehman as just the second player to win consecutive Charles Schwab Cups. Lehman became the first to win back-to-back Schwab Cup honors in 2011/2012. Last year, Langer won five times, including a pair of major titles, to claim both the Schwab Cup for a second time (2010) and Player of the Year honors on the Champions Tour for an unprecedented fourth time. Hale Irwin (1997, 1998) and Bernhard Langer (2008, 2009, 2010) also claimed consecutive Player of the Year honors as did Jim Colbert (1995, 1996) and Jay Haas (2006, 2007). LANGER IN RARIFIED AIR ON ALL-TIME VICTORY LIST: Bernhard Langer s fifth and final victory of the 2014 season, at the Dick s Sporting Goods Open, gave him 23 career titles on the Champions Tour, tying him with Bob Charles for fifth place on the all-time victory list. Should Langer win at the Tucson Conquistadores, he would tie Miller Barber for fourth place on the all-time wins list. In his Champions Tour career, Langer only had one full season where he s not won within the first four events (2012) and he s never gone a year without finishing among the top three in his first four tournaments. Here s what s possibly ahead of Langer this year as he makes his 152nd career start on the Champions Tour at this year s Tucson Conquistadores : Hale Irwin Lee Trevino Gil Morgan Miller Barber titles; 24 th title came in 95th career start/1999 Coldwell Banker Burnet titles; 24 th title came in 106th career start/1994 Northville Long Island titles; 24 th title came in 241st career start/2006 Allianz Championship (Des Moines) titles; 24 th title came in 169th career start/1989 Vintage Chrysler Invitational CALCAVECCHIA SET TO RETURN; KITE ALSO BEGINS 2015 SEASON: Mark Calcavecchia, a three-time winner of the Waste Management Phoenix Open who also has finished as a runner-up four times on the PGA TOUR in Tucson, will make his first start of the 2015 season at the Omni Tucson National Resort. Calcavecchia s 2015 season has been delayed after he suffered a freak on Thanksgiving morning. His hand went through a plate glass window, cutting the tendon on the top and requiring surgery to reattach. World Golf Hall of Fame member Tom Kite will also make his first appearance on the Champions Tour in Kite s wife, Christy, lost her three-year battle with cancer on January 23. HOME GAME FOR POOLEY: Long-time Tucson resident Don Pooley will play a home game when he tees it up this year at the Tucson Conquistadores. Pooley won twice on both the PGA TOUR and the Champions Tour with his biggest victory coming at the 2002 U.S. Senior Open. He is a member of the University of Arizona Hall of Fame. In his PGA TOUR career, Pooley played 24 times in PGA TOUR events in his hometown and his best finish at stroke play was a T6 in BRYANT OFF TO QUICK START IN 2015: Bart Bryant lost in a playoff to Lee Janzen at the ACE Group, but he s the only player to finish among the top-10 in the first three Champions Tour events of Bryant was T9 at both the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and the Allianz Championship. Can he make it four in a row? He played seven events on the PGA TOUR in Tucson and finished T12 at the Northern Telecom Open in 1995.

5 JANZEN GOES FOR SECOND STRAIGHT WIN: After ending a victory drought of 16 years, 7 months and 25 days with his clutch playoff win at The ACE Group, two-time U.S. Open and 1995 Players champion Lee Janzen goes for his second consecutive victory at the Tucson Conquistadores. Janzen has good vibes coming to the Omni Tucson National Resort & Spa. He won his first of eight PGA TOUR titles at this venue in Janzen is shooting for multiple titles in a year for the first time since 1995 when he claimed three tournaments on the PGA TOUR that season. The last player to win consecutive events on the Champions Tour was Kenny Perry at the 2013 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship and U.S. Senior Open. PERRY A LATE ENTRY: 2013 Champions Tour Player of the Year and Charles Schwab Cup winner Kenny Perry will make his second start on the circuit in 2015 when he plays in this year s Tucson Conquistadores. Perry has been playing primarily on the PGA TOUR this season and was T37 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He was not eligible for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and decided to make the trip to Tucson where, on the PGA TOUR, he played nine times and was T13 in both 1999 and His only start on the Champions Tour this year came at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and he was T13. NO. 18 AMONG HARDEST FINISHING HOLES: When the PGA TOUR played at the Omni Tucson National, the 453-yard, par-4, 18 th hole was traditionally ranked as the hardest on the Catalina Course or among the top-three most difficult. In 2006, the final year of a stroke-play event on the layout, the 18 th was the third most difficult (4.084) after ranking as the most difficult in both 2005 (4.303/33 birdies) and 2004 (4.252/43 birdies). The par-4 9 th ranked as the second hardest in each of those years. Here s what several former winners in Tucson had to say about the final hole on the Catalina Course: Lee Janzen (1992): The 18 th hole is a hard driving hole because of the way the fairway slopes. It s very intimidating. I hit a perfect tee shot but pushed the 3-iron to the right side of the green and had to two-putt par from 70 feet. I ended up making a hard five-foot putt for my first victory. I had never been in that situation before and I made a super hard putt for the win. I think it helped set the stage in my career for other opportunities to make putts on the last hole to win tournaments. Larry Mize (1993): I remember hitting a driver/4-iron there in the final round. It s a tough driving hole, even with a big fairway. There s water on both sides. The fairway slopes on both sides towards the water so if you get your drive a bit off line, it could roll into the water. The tee shot gets your attention and then after that, you ve got a middle- or long-iron shot into a green that s pitched pretty good from back to front. It s an exciting finishing hole for sure. Jeff Sluman (1997): There s water on both sides. If you are having issues off the tee, it s a pucker-up kind of hole. You have to step up and hit a golf shot. There s no bailout either way. It s pretty stressful, but is very rewarding if you pull it off. It s a long, demanding hole. Kirk Triplett (2006): That finishing hole has gotten lots of players over the years. There s a fair number of players who have nightmares. You ve got a lake on the right and a lake on the left and you want to hit your drive as close as you can to the right lake but before you know it, you re into the other lake. It s just a great finishing hole. IT S BEEN CLOSE: The first three Champions Tour events in 2015 have been either decided in a playoff or by a single stroke. The last time the first three tournaments of a Champions Tour season were decided by one stroke or in a playoff occurred in 2010 when, like this year, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and ACE Group had one-stroke victors. The third event that year, the Allianz Championship, was decided in a playoff. What happened in the fourth tournament of the 2010 season? Fred Couples was a four-shot winner at the Toshiba in Newport Beach, Caiforninia. PGA TOUR HIGHLIGHTS FROM TUCSON WINNERS NOW ON THE CHAMPIONS TOUR: 1984: Tom Watson wins the first match play event, defeating Gil Morgan, the defending champion at

6 stroke play the year prior, by a score of 2 and 1. It s Watson s second victory in Tucson, having captured the 1978 Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open in : Jim Thorpe successfully defends his match play title, defeating Scott Simpson 67 to 71 in the final. 1988: David Frost wins his second career title on the PGA TOUR, claiming the Northern Telecom Tucson Open after shooting a career-best 60 in the final round at Randolph Park. 1992: Future two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen wins his first-ever PGA TOUR title, edging Bill Britton by one stroke. 1997: Jeff Sluman earns his first PGA TOUR title since the 1988 PGA Championship, defeating Steve Jones by a shot. 2000: After playing in 292 PGA TOUR events, Jim Carter finally reaches the winner s circle. Carter finishes two strokes ahead of Jean van de Velde, Chris DiMarco and Tom Scherrer. THIS AND THAT: Gene Sauers heads into the Tucson Conquistadores riding a streak of 17 straight rounds of par/better. Sauers s run began in the final round of the 2014 SAS Championship last October Bart Bryant and Kevin Sutherland have recorded double-eagles in the last two Champions Tour events. There s never been an albatross recorded in three straight events on the circuit and the last time there s been three double eagles in the same season was in 2005 Tom Byrum earned a spot in the field by virtue of his T10 finish at the ACE Group, the only nonexempt player to finish among the top-10 in Naples Bob Gilder will make his 87th straight appearance on the Champions Tour at the Allianz Championship. Gilder has not missed a start on the circuit since skipping the 2011 Greater Hickory at Rock Barn Both Jeff Gallagher and Fran Quinn open qualified for this week s Tucson Conquistadores and, in addition to Jesper Parnevik, they will make their debuts on the Champions Tour this week. Both are multiple champions on the Web.com Tour. IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY: Below are some previous highlights of current Champions Tour players that occurred during the week of March in previous years. 3/17/85 Australian Peter Thomson wins The Vintage Invitational in Indian Wells, CA by one stroke over Billy Casper and Arnold Palmer. That would be the first of a record nine titles during the year for Thomson. It has since been matched by Hale Irwin in /17/91 Tom Lehman needs eight extra holes to win a playoff at the rain-shortened (36 holes) Mississippi Gulf Coast. Lehman beats Tim Straub and John Wilson in the playoff at Windance CC. It is Lehman s second career victory and the first of three that lead to his Player of the Year honors. 3/17/96 Paul Goydos trails Patrick Burke and Guy Boros by two strokes going into the final round but shoots a closing-round 67 to defeat Jeff Maggert by one stroke at the Bay Hill Invitational for his first Tour win. 3/18/01 Hale Irwin becomes the winningest player in Champions Tour history when he wins his 30 th career title at the Siebel in Silicon Valley by five strokes over Tom Watson and Allen Doyle. He had started the event tied with Lee Trevino. 3/18/90 Jodie Mudd battles Mark Calcavecchia down the stretch, and despite a bogey at No. 18, prevails by one stroke at THE PLAYERS Championship. 3/18/90 Dick Mast wins the first playoff in Nationwide Tour history, defeating Rick Pearson on the fourth extra hole at the Mississippi Gulf Coast which was shortened to 36 holes due to heavy rains.

7 3/18/07 Tom Purtzer rolled in a 17-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole to give him his second win at the AT&T Champions (also won the SBC ) in a playoff with Loren Roberts. 3/19/95 Nearly one year to the day after his first PGA TOUR victory, Loren Roberts successfully defends his Nestle Invitational title when he holds off Brad Faxon by two strokes despite bogeys on the final two holes. With his victory, Roberts became the first player to win the same event for his first two TOUR wins since Calvin Peete did so in 1979 and 1982 (Greater Milwaukee Open). 3/19/04 Tom Purtzer ties the Champions Tour record when he shoots an 11-under-par 60 to open play at the Toshiba Senior. 3/19/79 In just his 12 th start on the PGA TOUR, Mark McCumber beats Bill Rogers by one stroke to win the Doral-Eastern Open in Miami. 3/19/89 One week after winning the Nestle Invitational in a playoff, Tom Kite claims his second straight event when he defeats Chip Beck by one stroke to win THE PLAYERS Championship. 3/20/94 In his 321 st career start on the PGA TOUR, Loren Roberts breaks through for his first career win, shooting a final-round 67 to defeat Fuzzy Zoeller, Vijay Singh and Nick Price by one stroke at the Nestle Invitational in Orlando. 3/21/82 Jerry Pate claims the first Tournament Players Championship staged at the TPC Sawgrass in dramatic fashion. Playing with an orange ball, Pate played the final seven hole in 4-under-par and birdied both the 17 th (15-footer) and 18 th (5-iron to 2-feet) holes for a two-stroke victory over Brad Bryant and Scott Simpson. Pate celebrates by pushing former Commissioner Deane Beman and course architect Pete Dye into the large lake left of No /21/76 Hubert Green wins for the second week in succession, posting a two-stroke victory over Miller Barber at the Greater Jacksonville Open. 3/21/04 Two days after firing a record-tying 60 in his opening round, Tom Purtzer shoots a 4-underpar 67 in the final round and holds off Morris Hatalsky by one stroke at the Toshiba Senior. 3/22/81 Raymond Floyd defeats Curtis Strange and Barry Jaeckel with a par on the second extra hole to win the PLAYERS Championship in its final time at Sawgrass CC. 3/23/80 Ben Crenshaw posts the best final round on Sunday, a 6-under-par 66, but Lee Trevino holds off the Texas native by one stroke to win the Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass CC.