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 home Tournament Facts & Figures THE SCHEDULE: The 23rd annual AT&T Championship is the 28th official tournament of the year and the 28th of 29 Charles Schwab Cup events in 2007, concluding with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, October 22-28 in Sonoma, CA. This year’s event is again the last full-field tournament of the season. After the AT&T Championship, the top-30 players on the official money list advance to Sonoma, CA to compete in the $2,500,000 Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Total prize money on this year’s Champions Tour is $54.1 million. DATES: October 15-21, 2007 PURSE: $1,600,000 ($240,000 to the winner) SITE: Oak Hills Country Club; San Antonio, Texas
PAR: 35-36 -- 71
YARDS: 6,702
FORMAT: 78
professionals, 54-hole stroke-play event with no cut.
DEFENDING CHAMPION:
Fred Funk – 65-67-69—201 (-12); defeated Chip Beck CHARLES SCHWAB CUP: This is the 28th of 29 events in the season-long competition, with 240 points going to the winner, along with additional points to top-10 finishers based on a per-thousand-dollars-won basis (ex. $180,000 = 180 points). The winner of the season-long competition receives a $1-million annuity, with additional prizes awarded to the next four players. Double points will be awarded at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma. Last year, Jay Haas nipped Loren Roberts by 20 points for the Charles Schwab Cup, the closest race ever. Currently, Roberts leads Haas by just 69 points with Tom Watson holding down the third spot, 588 points back. With a maximum of 1,120 points left for any player to earn, only six players remain in contention for the $1-million annuity that goes to the overall winner. Those still in the running are Roberts, Haas, Tom Watson, Brad Bryant, Denis Watson and D.A. Weibring.
TELEVISION: The AT&T
Championship will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on the GOLF
CHANNEL all three days. Tournament rounds will air from 6:30-8:30
p.m. (CT) each day. GIVING BACK: Proceeds from this year’s AT&T Championship will again benefit the University of Texas San Antonio Health Science Organ Donor Transplant program. This event has raised over $3 million for charity in tournament history. THE TITLE SPONSOR: Headquartered in San Antonio, the new AT&T is the largest telecommunications company in the United States and one of the largest in the world. AT&T has Internet Protocol network capabilities, assets, and resources that are widely regarded as unsurpassed in the marketplace, enabling the company to lead the industry in using the language of the Internet to deliver innovative services that integrate voice, data and video. AT&T is the No. 1 provider of broadband DSL, wireless access, local voice services, long distance voice services, the world’s largest directory publisher and the world leader in transport and termination of wholesale traffic. The company also title sponsors the AT&T Champions Classic on the Champions Tour and the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR.
FAN FEATURES CREATE DISTINCT IDENTITY:
Fully implemented in 2004, the Champions Tour’s “Fan Features” have
been well received by tournaments, sponsors, players and spectators
alike. As a result, the Champions Tour is now the most approachable,
accessible and fan friendly of all major league sports, allowing
players and fans to make a genuine personal connection. Fan Features
include live television interviews during play, gallery in the
fairway behind the final group on both Saturday and Sunday, honorary
observers, caddie for a day, player Q-&-A sessions,
behind-the-scenes tours and game-improvement platforms.
2006…LOOKING BACK:
Fred Funk was two strokes back with four holes to play, but rallied
down the stretch to win his first Champions Tour event in just his
third career start. Beginning at No. 15, Funk made three consecutive
birdies, converting a clutch 12-foot putt on the 17th
hole to take the lead over Beck who had finished his round almost an
hour earlier. Funk survived a tense moment at the last hole when he
missed the green to the left. However, he his a short pitch shot to
within tap-in range to preserve the victory.
23rd ANNIVERSARY:
This year’s AT&T
Championship marks the 23rd anniversary of a Champions Tour event in
San Antonio. Only one other Champions Tour tournament (Bank of
America Championship near Boston/26 years) has been played longer in
the same metropolitan area.
A RICH HISTORY: After being played for 17 years at The Dominion Country Club, the AT&T Championship moved to Oak Hills Country Club in 2002. Oak Hills served as the host of the Texas Open from 1961-1966 and again from 1977-1994. The list of former champions at the prestigious venue includes many of the current members of the Champions Tour – Hale Irwin (1977), Lee Trevino (1980), Bill Rogers (1981), Jay Haas (1982, 1993), Jim Colbert (1983), John Mahaffey (1985), Ben Crenshaw (1986), Donnie Hammond (1989), Mark O’Meara (1990) and Nick Price (1992). In addition, Oak Hills Country Club hosted the old Nabisco Championships of Golf (now The TOUR Championship) in 1987, and Tom Watson claimed that title by two strokes over Chip Beck.
TOURNAMENT
GOTCHA's…
ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, CA. A year ago,
the 30th spot went to Mark McNulty, with $646,459. With a
similar number of events on this year’s schedule, a total of 28
players have already exceeded that figure. Heading into this week’s
AT&T Championship in San Antonio, Jim Thorpe currently sits on “the
bubble” at No. 30 with $597,038 but Tom Jenkins trails Thorpe by
less than $3,000 ($594,239). Last week’s winner, Bernhard Langer
could conceivably play his way into the top-30 with a victory in San
Antonio this week. He currently is 45th on the money list
with $391,600.
FUNK DEFENDS: 2006
AT&T Championship winner Fred Funk will attempt to successfully
defend a title for the first time in his career. The closest Funk
came to defending on the PGA TOUR was when he lost in a five-way
playoff at the rain-shortened Buick Challenge the year after winning
at Callaway Gardens. Lee Trevino (1991-1992) and Jim Albus (1994-95)
are the only two players to win back-to-back at the AT&T
Championship. HAAS EYEING SECOND STRAIGHT JACK NICKLAUS TROPHY: Jay Haas is the only Champions Tour player with four wins thus far in 2007 and has also registered 17 top-10 finishes in 23 starts, the most by any player on the circuit this year. He looks to lock up a second straight Player of the Year honor with another win and comes into this year’s AT&T Championship sporting an outstanding record in Texas. Among Haas’ six TOUR titles in the Lone Star State are three victories alone at Oak Hills. Should Haas win again in San Antonio, he would more than likely become the first player since Hale Irwin (1997-1998) to win back-to-back Jack Nicklaus Trophies, signifying the Champions Tour Player of the Year.
HAAS ALSO CHASES $3 MILLION
PLATEAU: With just
two events remaining in the official 2007 season, the Champions
Tour’s leading money-winner has an outside shot at becoming just the
second player in Tour history to reach the $3-million plateau in
season earnings. Hale Irwin is the only other player to do so,
earning $3,028,304 in 27 starts during the 2002 season. Thus far in
2007, Haas has won four times and finished second in four other
events. He’s earned $2,523,121 in 25 official appearances thus far
on the Champions Tour. ROOKIE RACE ALSO SHAPING UP: Denis Watson, Scott Hoch and Fred Funk, all tournament winners this year on the Champions Tour, are the leading candidates in this year’s Rookie-of-the-Year race. Watson claimed the first senior major championship of the season, the Senior PGA Championship, and then added the Boeing Classic recently, triumphing near Seattle in a record seven-man playoff. Hoch claimed the FedEx Kinko’s Classic in Austin, the Champions Tour’s last visit to the Lone Star State. Funk won the Turtle Bay Championship by a record 11 strokes and then claimed the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico on the PGA TOUR.
VAUGHAN AND SPITTLE BATTLING FOR EXEMPT STATUS:
Among the players facing the
most difficult roads to get into this year’s event at the start of
the year were Bruce Vaughan and Rod Spittle. The pair each went
through the Champions Tour’s National Qualifying Tournament in 2006
and finished T3 in the event. However, unlike previous years, those
performances at Q-School did not entitle them to exempt status
during the 2007 season. Instead, they had to go through open
qualifiers during the year. Vaughan has open qualified eight of 14
times this year, while Spittle open-qualified four times in 10
starts. Should both Vaughan and Spittle finish among the top-50 on
the 2007 earnings list, they would earn a partial exemption on the
Champions Tour for 2008.
PGA TOUR— CHAMPIONS TOUR-- Shell Houston Open – 22 starts AT&T Championship – 6 starts EDS Byron Nelson Championship – 22 starts FedEx Kinko’s Classic – 5 starts Bank of America Colonial – 29 starts Administaff Small Business Cl. – 4 starts Valero Texas Open – 24 starts Bank One Championship – 1 start THE TOUR Championship – 2 starts LaJet Classic – 3 starts THE PLAYERS Championship (Colonial) – 1 start
A
WIN AND HE’S IN:
Mark Wiebe’s victory in his first start at the recent SAS
Championship ended a TOUR win drought of over 21 years and gave him
a one-year exemption on the Champions Tour. Wiebe earned a $300,000
check for his victory near Raleigh, NC, his largest check ever as a
professional.
WORLD GOLF HALL OF FAMERS:
World Golf Hall of Fame members
Ben Crenshaw, Raymond Floyd, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Larry Nelson
and Lee Trevino will all be competing in this year’s AT&T
Championship. Collectively, these six players have won 102 events on
the PGA TOUR and 18 major championships.
EAKS, FERGUS ENJOYING BANNER SEASONS:
R.W. Eaks and
Keith Fergus are enjoying banner seasons on the Champions Tour in
2007. Eaks picked up his first Champions Tour win earlier this year
at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in western New York and recently
claimed a second title at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn.
He has 11 top-10 finishes thus far in 2007 and has earned just over
$1.5 million in official money, double what he made last year.
Fergus also won for the first time on the Champions Tour earlier
this year at the Ginn Championship and has seven top-10s in 2007.
His third-place finish at the SAS Championship moved him over the
seven-figure mark in official earnings for the first time in his
career and he has already exceeded his previous-best year (2006) by
more than $300,000. TOURNAMENT NOTES…
TEXAS TWO-STEP:
Lee Trevino leads all active Champions Tour players in the number of
career TOUR victories in the state of Texas with seven (3 PGA TOUR,
4 Champions Tour). Tom Watson has won six times in the Lone Star
State (5 PGA TOUR, 1 Champions Tour), while Arnold Palmer has also
claimed six PGA TOUR titles in Texas. Jay Haas’ victory last year at
the Administaff Small Business Classic also gives him six wins in
Texas (3 PGA TOUR, 3 Champions Tour). rounds in the 60s, and four of the last six AT&T Championship winners have had one round of 64 or lower en route to their victory. OAK HILLS COURSE INFORMATION: At last year’s AT&T Championship, the field averaged 71.201, the highest for this event since 2003. Here’s a year-by-year look at field scoring averages at Oak Hills since the event relocated there in 2002: 70.716 – 2005 71.390 -- 2003 71.150 – 2004 71.509 -- 2002
BACK-TO-BACK WINNERS: Fred Funk is attempting to become the third player to post back-to-back victories in this tournament. Lee Trevino (1991-92) and Jim Albus (1994-95) are the only players to win on the Champions Tour in San Antonio in consecutive years. Trevino’s first victory in 1991 came in the only rain-shortened event in tournament history. Last week’s winner, Bernhard Langer will be trying to win consecutive events on the Champions Tour, last done by Jay Haas earlier this year (2007 Principal Charity Classic, Bank of America Championship).
DOUBLE-BARRELED: Jay Haas’ victory in 2005 made him the sixth player to capture both a Champions Tour and PGA TOUR event in San Antonio. John Mahaffey, the 1999 AT&T Championship winner, also won the 1985 Texas Open. Don January was the first player to win on both Tours, claiming the inaugural event at The Dominion in 1985 after winning the 1975 Texas Open on the PGA TOUR. Other double winners in the Alamo City include: Bruce Crampton (’64 Texas Open/’86 Benson & Hedges Invitational), Chi Chi Rodriguez (’67 Texas Open/’87 Vantage at The Dominion), Lee Trevino (1980 Texas Open/’91, ’92 Vantage at The Dominion, ’98 Southwestern Bell Dominion).
NEW WINNERS ABOUND: Heading into this week’s AT&T Championship, only six of the 18 different players who won titles in 2006 have claimed a tournament victory in 2006 (Loren Roberts, Jay Haas, Brad Bryant, Gil Morgan, Bobby Wadkins and Fred Funk). The Champions Tour has had 19 different winners so far this year and seven first-time winners (Keith Fergus, Scott Hoch, Denis Watson, Lonnie Nielsen, R.W. Eaks, Mark Wiebe and Bernhard Langer), the most since 2003.
KEY STATS OF THE CHAMPIONS
AT OAK HILLS:
BY THE NUMBERS…BREAKING DOWN THE CHAMPIONS AT OAK HILLS…
CHARTING THE TOP FINISHERS IN 2006: Below is a chart of how the top three players faired last year on the three most difficult (Nos. 7, 12, 13 ) and the three easiest holes (Nos. 15, 10, 8 ) in 2006:
MISCELLANEOUS:
Oak Hills is the only
course on the Champions Tour that finishes with a par-3 hole…When
Zimbabwe’s Mark McNulty won three years ago, he became just the
third international player to win the AT&T Championship, joining
Australians David Graham (1997) and Bruce Crampton
(1986)…Second-round leaders/co-leaders have won this tournament 12
out of 22 years, however, 2005 was the first time a player came from
behind to win on Sunday at Oak Hills.…Last year, the par-4 7th
hole was the most difficult with a stroke average of 4.222 and
yielded just 17 birdies…Fred Funk’s win last year at 50 years, four
months and eight days made him the event’s youngest champion
surpassing Craig Stadler who won in 2003 at 50 years, four months,
17 days…Funk’s victory at Oak Hills in 2006 marked the fourth
straight year the AT&T Championship has been won by a player on his
first attempt and remarkably, it’s now happened 12 times in
tournament history. Don January (1997), Bruce Crampton (1986), Jim
Dent (1990), Lee Trevino (1991), David Graham (1997), John Mahaffey
(1999), Doug Tewell (2000), Craig Stadler (2003), Mark McNulty
(2004) and Jay Haas (2005) are the others to do it…Lee Trevino is
still the tournament’s oldest winner, claiming his third AT&T
Championship title in 1998 at 58 years, three months, 28 days.
Trevino matched his age for the first time in his Champions Tour
career when he fired a 66 in Round 2 last year. His round included a
30 on the back 9 and the overall score was his best on the Champions
Tour since posting a 65 on 8/16/2003 at the Long Island Classic in
New York…Dana Quigley is the AT&T Championship’s all-time leading
money-winner with $485,245.
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