MEDIA CONTACTS: Joel Schuchmann PGA TOUR & PGA TOUR Canada 904-280-4707 joelschuchmann@pgatourhq.com Mark Williams Champions Tour 904-273-5058 markwilliams@pgatourhq.com Jeff Adams Web.com Tour 904-273-3397 jeffadams@pgatourhq.com Nelson Silverio PGA TOUR Latinoamérica 904-273-3528 nelsonsilverio@pgatourhq.com Laury Livsey Ping An China Tour 904-273-3418 laurylivsey@pgatourhq.com E-NOTES May 5, 2015 PGA TOUR THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP on Twitter: @THEPLAYERSChamp Featured groupings THE PLAYERS Championship (all times local) Thursday, May 7 1:17 p.m., No. 1 (8:07 a.m., No. 10 on Friday) Justin Rose Dustin Johnson Zach Johnson 1:28 p.m., No. 1 (8:18 a.m., No. 10 on Friday) Jim Furyk Brandt Snedeker Henrik Stenson 1:38 p.m., No. 1 (8:28 a.m., No. 10 on Friday) Phil Mickelson Sergio Garcia K.J. Choi 1:49 p.m., No. 1 (8:39 a.m., No. 10 on Friday) Martin Kaymer Adam Scott Tiger Woods Friday, May 8 1:17 p.m., No. 1 (8:07 a.m., No. 10 on Thursday) Jimmy Walker Hideki Matsuyama Ernie Els 1:28 p.m., No. 1 (8:18 a.m., No. 10 on Thursday) Brooks Koepka Patrick Reed Rickie Fowler 1:38 p.m., No. 1 (8:28 a.m., No. 10 on Thursday) Bubba Watson Billy Horschel Matt Kuchar 1:49 p.m., No. 1 (8:39 a.m., No. 10 on Thursday) Rory McIlroy Jordan Spieth Jason Day Earning his 10 th PGA TOUR victory at the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play, Rory McIlroy joined Tiger Woods (29) and Jack Nicklaus (17) as the only players on the PGA TOUR in the last 75 years to win 10 events prior to their 26 th birthday. McIlroy won the Cadillac Match Play on Sunday, March 3 and turned 26 on Monday, March 4. Rory McIlroy became the ninth player (accountable for 10 wins) in his 20s to win during the 2014-15 PGA TOUR season: Sangmoon Bae, Ben Martin, Robert Streb, Nick Taylor, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth (2) and Rory McIlroy. Eleven players accounting for 12 wins have won in their 30s and three players in their 40s representing three victories have won. Rory McIlroy is the ninth player with at least two career World Golf Championships victories (2014 Bridgestone Invitational and 2015 Cadillac Match Play). Players with multiple World Golf Championships wins include Tiger Woods (18), Geoff Ogilvy (3), Darren Clarke (2), Ernie Els (2), Hunter Mahan (2), Phil Mickelson (2), Ian Poulter (2) and Dustin Johnson (2). The PGA TOUR lost two historic African-American figures last week: Former PLAYERS Championship winner Calvin Peete passed away on Wednesday, April 29, at the age of 71. Peete, who was easily recognizable by his swing which was the result of a childhood elbow injury, led the TOUR in driving accuracy from 1981-1991. He won 12 times on TOUR, including the 1985 PLAYERS Championship. Ten years later, he made his last TOUR start at the 1995 PLAYERS Championship. Pete Brown, who made history when he became the first African-American golfer to win an officially-sanctioned PGA TOUR title, died on Friday, May 1, at the age of 80. His two TOUR titles both came in 1964: the Waco Turner Open in Burneyville, Oklahoma, and the Sunset-Camellia Open in Rocklin, California.
After winning the consolation match over Jim Furyk and finishing third at the Cadillac Match Play, England s Danny Willett earned Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the 2014-15 PGA TOUR Season. Willett earned 200 Non-Member FedExCup points for a total of 331 in five starts, surpassing the total number of FedExCup points of the player who finished No. 150 (323 points) on the 2013-14 FedExCup points list. Willett is eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the 2014-15 PGA TOUR Season as he attempts to earn his 2015-16 PGA TOUR card through the Non-member Money List or Non-member FedExCup Points List. In addition to his 331 Non-Member FedExCup points, Donaldson has earned $849,058. Justin Hicks, Stuart Appleby, Tim Clark and Kevin Stadler qualified for THE PLAYERS, but are not competing due to injury. Clark and Stadler were replaced in the field by Daniel Berger and Sean O Hair, based on their position in the current FedExCup standings. Justin Thomas, 43 rd in the FedExCup standings, made it into the field for his first start at THE PLAYERS when Victor Dubuisson withdrew this weekend. Last year marked the fourth consecutive year THE PLAYERS cut was even-par 144. 2014 even 144, 82 players 2013 even 144, 77 players 2012 even 144, 72 players 2011 even 144, 74 players 2010 2-under 142, 70 players Rory McIlroy at the 2014 PLAYERS Championship: Finished T6, his career-best showing in five starts at TPC Sawgrass. Led the field with 25 birdies for the week, one off Fuzzy Zoeller s record of 26 in 1994. Was the only player to finish birdie-birdie-birdie on Nos. 16-18 (was 10-under on Nos. 16-18 through the week). Was the lone player to birdie No. 18 all four rounds since data became available in 1983. Two of his 10 career PGA TOUR victories have come at Pete Dye-designed courses: 2012 PGA Championship (The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island) and 2012 BMW Championship (Crooked Stick Golf Club). After his 2014 PLAYERS Championship victory, Martin Kaymer captured the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, becoming the fourth player in history to win a major championship in the same year as THE PLAYERS: Jack Nicklaus (1978, The Open Championship), Hal Sutton (1983, PGA Championship) and Tiger Woods (2001, Masters). The 2014 PLAYERS Championship saw the fewest number of balls in the water (28) on No. 17 since 2003 (compared to the highest numbers of balls in the water since 2003, 93 in 2007). Eighteen of 41 third-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win THE PLAYERS, most recently Martin Kaymer in 2014. So far this season, eight of 24 third-round leaders/co-leaders have converted for victory. Headlined by 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open champion Brooks Koepka, the list of 18 first-time participants at THE PLAYERS this year includes a mix of young PGA TOUR winners, international players and rookies who have played well enough to qualify for the deepest field in golf. Daniel Berger Derek Fathauer Brice Garnett Adam Hadwin Billy Hurley III Ryo Ishikawa Kevin Kisner Brooks Koepka Anirban Lahiri Danny Lee Ben Martin Robert Streb Andrew Svoboda Nick Taylor Justin Thomas Brendon Todd Danny Willett Bernd Wiesberger
From Junior PLAYERS to THE PLAYERS Five players in the field competed in The Junior PLAYERS Championship presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf as American Junior Golf Association juniors. How they fared as juniors at TPC Sawgrass: Morgan Hoffmann: 2007/Won Brooks Koepka*: 2007/T9 Justin Thomas*: 2008/T38, 2009/T26 Jordan Spieth: 2010/T2 Daniel Berger*: 2010/T8 *Making debut at THE PLAYERS Championship. In 2012, Bud Cauley became the first player to go from The Junior PLAYERS to THE PLAYERS. CHAMPIONS TOUR Former European Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam of Wales holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Tom Lehman and Kenny Perry for the 2015 Insperity Invitational title. He won his first Champions Tour title in his 36 th career start at the Insperity Invitational and is now fully exempt on the Champions Tour for one year. Ian Woosnam earned 308 Charles Schwab Cup points with his victory at the Insperity Invitational to jump from T25 to third in the standings in the season-long competition. Joe Durant overtook Olin Browne and is now the fourth player to lead the standings this season. Miguel Angel Jimenez (3 events), Bart Bryant (2 events) and Browne (2 events) are the previous leaders. Rank this week Rank last week Player Events Points 1 4 Joe Durant 5 475 2 1 Olin Browne 8 443 3 T25 Ian Woosnam 5 438 4 2 Bart Bryant 8 431 5 3 Mark O Meara 8 391 Charles Schwab Cup champion Bernhard Langer is in the field at THE PLAYERS Championship as the 2014 Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship winner. The best finish by a Champions Tour player who earned exemption into the field through winning the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship was Mark O Meara who finished 74 th in 2011. Also in THE PLAYERS field is another over-50 competitor, Langer s fellow World Golf Hall of Fame member Vijay Singh. The last time Bernhard Langer competed in THE PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass was 2008 when he finished T15. Langer s record at THE PLAYERS Championship: Events No. of Rounds Best Finish Top 10s Cuts Made Money Earned Low Round 23 88 2 nd (1993, 95) 5 21 $1,479,482 65 (1993) Bernhard Langer has three top-three finishes at THE PLAYERS Championship. In 1993 he finished second, five strokes behind Nick Price. As runner-up in 1995, Langer holed a lengthy putt on the final hole to finish a stroke behind Lee Janzen. In 2001, Langer was third at 12-under, two strokes behind winner Tiger Woods and one stroke behind Vijay Singh. Vijay Singh was not eligible to compete at last year s PLAYERS Championship but never missed competing in the tournament from 1993-2013. His runner-up finish to Tiger Woods in 2001 was one of four top-10 results (T9/2009, T8/ 2006, T8/1996) in 21 appearances. Since 1983, Bernhard Langer has recorded more birdies on No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass than any other player (23). Hal Sutton is second with 19. Champions Tour Rules Official Brian Claar (1991) and players Fred Couples (1997), Joey Sindelar (1999) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (2002) have all made aces on No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass during THE PLAYERS Championship.
Joe Durant was named the Champions Tour Player of the Month for April. Durant recorded an ace in the final round of the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge and went on to claim his first Champions Tour title with partner Billy Andrade. The team won the tournament by three strokes with a 19-under total over 54 holes. It marked the first time since 2011, when Jay Haas won the 3M Championship, that a player had made an ace in the final round and gone on to win the title. Durant also posted a T10 finish at the rain-shortened Greater Gwinnett Championship. WEB.COM TOUR Smylie Kaufman's United Leasing Championship win on Sunday moved him from 28th to fourth on the money list in six starts this season. Smylie Kaufman is a 2014 LSU grad who grew up and still resides in Birmingham, Alabama. His grandfather, Alan Kaufman, coached Graeme McDowell at UA-Birmingham. Smylie was named after his grandmother's cousin, Smylie Gebhart, an All-American defensive end for Georgia Tech in 1971. Kaufman s Younger brother Luckie is a junior at LSU. Smylie Kaufman was a college teammate of Andrew Loupe, John Peterson and Curtis Thompson. THE PLAYERS Championship features 18 first-time participants, 13 of whom are Web.com Tour alums. Of those 13, Daniel Berger, Derek Fathauer, Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor and Justin Thomas, competed in the Web.com Tour Championship last September (won by Fathauer) held on the Dye s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass. In the 144-player field at THE PLAYERS, 85 have Web.com Tour roots. After missing the first cut of 2015, Auburn's Patton Kizzire has yet to miss a cut in seven events, reeling off four top 10s, with no finish higher than T36. He finished T5 on Sunday to remain sixth in earnings. Through eight tournaments, last week's course Victoria National Golf Club, is the toughest on Tour thus far in 2015, playing +2.248 over par of 72. The Web.com Tour resumes play next week at the BMW Charity Pro-Am, played over three courses in the Greenville, South Carolina area. Twenty-nine celebrities will participate this year. PGA TOUR Canada 2015 PGA TOUR Canada qualifying resumes this week with the third and final Qualifying Tournaments. The tournament returns to Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community in Courtenay, B.C. for the second consecutive year. The 2014 Qualifying Tournament at Crown Isle was a starting point for four PGA TOUR Canada winners in 2014: medalist David Bradshaw (The Great Waterway Classic), Tim Madigan (The Players Cup), Greg Machtaler (National Capital Open to Support our Troops) and Nate McCoy (The Wildfire Invitational presented by PC Financial). Matt Harmon (SIGA Dakota Dunes Open presented by SaskTel) was the only other 2014 winner who earned status via Q- School. Notes on the field: 2014 NCAA All-Americans Cory Whitsett (Alabama) and Cheng-Tsung Pan (Washington) headline the field Brett Stewart, son of PGA TOUR Canada alumnus and multiple PGA TOUR runner-up and 1994 Dunhill Cup champion Ray Stewart Michael Sainz, brother of 2013 Players Cup champion and PGA TOUR rookie Carlos Sainz, Jr. PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Rodolfo Cazaubón of Tampico, Mexico, won the Lexus Panama Classic presented by World Jewelry Hub on Sunday to claim his first career win as a professional. The 25-year-old carded a 69 on the final round to finish the week at 12-under 276 in tough windy conditions at Buenaventura Golf Club. He won by two strokes over Ethan Tracy of Galloway, Ohio, and Samuel Del Val of Bilbao, Spain. With his victory, the University of North Texas graduate moved up to second place on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Order of Merit. He has collected $42,875 in three starts and only trails Argentina s Tommy Cocha who has season earnings $63,992 after two early wins.
PGA TOUR Latinoamérica will take a one-week break before having four consecutive events in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic. The first of those events will be the 57 th Abierto Mexicano de Golf to be played at Club Campestre Aguascalientes in Aguacaslientes, Mexico, May 14-17. PING AN CHINA TOUR The St. Andrews Golf Club will host the PGA TOUR China Series for a second consecutive year with next week s Eternal Courtyard Open, the second of 13 official events on the schedule. In 2014, China s Xu Wang set the competitive course record with a 6-under 66 in the second round. The par-4 No. 17 at St. Andrews Golf Club was the most difficult in 2014, yielding only 11 birdies and none during the final round. The course was the site of the 2014 Jianye Tianzhu Henan Open, where 2014 Player of the Year Hao Tong Li defeated Chinese Taipei s Shih Chang Chan by eight strokes, his first of three victories last season.