Don’t forget! The 2012 Champions Tour season starts this week with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Club in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii. John Cook, the reigning champion, will try to be the first player since Al Geiberger (1992, 1993) to defend his title in the season opener. Cook is the last player to defend a title on the Champions Tour, winning the 2009-10 Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
The purse for the tournament is $1.8 million with the winner receiving $307,000 and 307 Schwab Cup points.
Some quick facts to kick off the tour season:
-Three Champions Tour professionals teed off at the PGA Tour Sony Open – Jim Carter, Corey Pavin and Tom Pernice, Jr. Carter eventually missed the cut, Pavin finished T38 and Pernice finished No. 121.
-Dave Rummers, who has played 18 Champions Tour events over the last four years, will be one of four Iowa natives to be inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame this spring.
-Champions Tour professional Peter Senior narrowly missed qualifying for the 2012 British Open last week. He finished tied for 2nd after the 36-hole event but was defeated in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.
-The winner of the season-opener has gone on to finish in the top-five of the Charles Schwab Cup seven times in the 11-year history. However, no winner of the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship has gone on to win the Schwab Cup in the same year.
-100 double bogeys have been recorded on the 5th by Champions Tour professionals during the 15 years the Hualalai Golf Club has hosted the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. The hole was ranked in the top-50 most difficult holes on the Champions Tour.
-Loren Roberts is 12-time winner on the Champions Tour but has yet to record a hole-in-one on his Champions Tour career. He recorded six while on the PGA Tour.
“At this stage in my life, in what I want to achieve both personally and professionally, the Champions Tour fits like a glove for me.” — 2011 Champions Tour Player of the Year Tom Lehman compares the Champions Tour to the PGA TOUR during the Allianz Championship Media Day last week.
Click here for the complete story from the Champions Tour website