2015 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Notes

Dates: May 18-24, 2015
Where: Colonial Country Club; Fort Worth, Texas
Par/Yards: 35-35—70/7,204
Field: 124; Defending Champion: Adam Scott
Purse: $6,500,000; Winner’s Share: $1,170,000; Format: 72-hole stroke play
Twitter: @CrownePlazaInv Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Colonial
How the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial was won in 2014

• Hideki Matsuyama, David Toms, Chad Campbell and Chris Stroud began the final round of the 2014 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial tied for the lead at 7-under 203, but Adam Scott (who began the day two strokes back) emerged the victor following a 4-under 66.
• The 2013 Masters champion outlasted 2013 PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner with a birdie-3 on the third extra hole (No. 18) to improve his playoff record to 3-0. The winning score of 9-under 271 marked the highest at the Colonial since Olin Browne won in 1999 at 8-under 272.
• Scott entered the week needing a T13 finish or better to retain the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, having moved into the top spot on Monday (May 19, 2014), supplanting Tiger Woods. He was the first World No. 1 to play Colonial since Nick Price in 1995 (finished T12).

More on Adam Scott and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

• Adam Scott is seeking to join Ben Hogan as the only players to win back-to-back Colonials, with Hogan performing the feat twice (1946-47 and 1952-53).
• Scott won in his 221st TOUR start, collecting his 11th victory at the age of 33 years, 10 months, 9 days.
• With the win, Scott became the first player to win the Texas Grand Slam, having won the 2007 Shell Houston Open, 2008 HP Byron Nelson Championship, 2010 Valero Texas Open and 2014 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
  • Recorded the sixth-consecutive come-from-behind win of the Colonial, and the seventh since 2001. He joined Sergio Garcia (2001), Steve Stricker (2009), Zach Johnson (2010), David Toms (2011), Zach Johnson (2012) and Boo Weekley (2013).
  • Scott became the first international winner of the Colonial since Rory Sabbatini in 2007.
  • Won in his third Colonial start (T64-2009, T65-2011, Won-2014)
  • Scott played Colonial Country Club’s ―Horrible Horseshoe‖ in 1-under en route to his win in 2014. He was 1-over on No. 3, 2-under on No. 4 and even-par on No. 5.

Masters champion Jordan Spieth set to tee it up at Colonial

• Local favorite and 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth will be making his third start at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, having finished T7 in 2013 (65-67-71-67) and T14 in 2014 (67-69-70-69).
• So far this season, Spieth has seven top-10 finishes in 13 starts, with victories at the Valspar Championship and Masters Tournament. He also owns runner-up finishes at the Valero Texas Open and Shell Houston Open.

FedExCup and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

• Nine players inside the top 20 in the FedExCup standings are in the field
  • Jordan Spieth (#1)
  • Jimmy Walker (#2)
  • Patrick Reed (#5)
  • Charley Hoffman (#8)
  • Robert Streb (#10)
  • Ben Martin (#12)
  • Sangmoon Bae (#16)
  • Brandt Snedeker (#18)
  • Kevin Kisner (#19).

A glance at the field

• Nine of the top 30 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are in the field, including Jordan Spieth (#2), Adam Scott (#11), Jimmy Walker (#12), Patrick Reed (#15), Kevin Na (#21), Chris Kirk (#23), Zach Johnson (#25), Louis Oosthuizen (#27) and Ryan Palmer (#28).
• Past Colonial champions: Adam Scott (2014), Boo Weekley (2013), Zach Johnson (2010, ’12), David Toms (2011), Steve Stricker (2009), Rory Sabbatini (2007), Tim Herron (2006), Kenny Perry (2003, 2005), Steve Flesch (2004), Corey Pavin (1985, ’96).
• TOUR winners during the 2014-15 season: Sangmoon Bae, Ben Martin, Robert Streb, Nick Taylor, Charley Hoffman, Patrick Reed, Jimmy Walker (2), Brandt Snedeker, James Hahn, Jordan Spieth (2).
• Double-digit TOUR winners: Vijay Singh (34), Corey Pavin (15), Kenny Perry (14), David Toms (13), Steve Stricker (12), Justin Leonard (12), Zach Johnson (11) and Adam Scott (11).
• 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth leads a group of 14 major championship winners three-time winner Vijay Singh, two-time winners Angel Cabrera and Retief Goosen, as well as Jason Dufner (last year’s runner-up), Lucas Glover, Zach Johnson, Justin Leonard, Geoff Ogilvy, Louis Oosthuizen, Corey Pavin, Adam Scott, David Toms and Mike Weir.

The Texas Grand Slam

• Adam Scott became first player to win the Texas Grand Slam in 2014
  The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial is the third event of four legs of the Texas Swing on the PGA TOUR, with Jimmy Walker winning the Valero Texas Open and J.B. Holmes winning the Shell Houston Open.
• Adam Scott became the first player to win the Texas Grand Slam with his win at last year’s Colonial.
• A number of other players, many of them Hall of Famers, have won three titles. Here are the players who have won three of the four events along with the missing link:

Player	Missing Tournament Victory
Bruce Crampton	HP Byron Nelson Championship
Ben Crenshaw	Shell Houston Open
Roberto De Vicenzo	Valero Texas Open
Bruce Devlin	Valero Texas Open
Ben Hogan	Shell Houston Open
Gene Littler	HP Byron Nelson
Phil Mickelson	Valero Texas Open
Byron Nelson	Crowne Plaza Invitational At Colonial
Corey Pavin	HP Byron Nelson
Arnold Palmer	HP Byron Nelson
Nick Price	Shell Houston Open
Sam Snead	Shell Houston Open
Mike Souchak	HP Byron Nelson

Additional Player Notes

• Zach Johnson’s T73 in 2014 snapped a streak of five consecutive top 10s at Colonial and marked his first finish outside of the top 30 in nine starts: T73-2014, 3-2013, 1-2012, 4-2011, 1-2010, T9-2009,
  T30-2006, T26-2005, T142004.
• Web.com Tour member Patrick Rodgers, 22, who just missed out on obtaining Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR with his T2 finish at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship, will make
  his first Colonial start this week via a Sponsor’s Exemption. Rodgers won the Web.com Tour’s Colombia Championship earlier this year in his fifth professional Web.com Tour start.
• Ryan Palmer, who plays out of Colonial Country Club, cracked the top 10 for the first time in his ninth Colonial start, finishing T5 in 2012. Since then he has added a T14 in 2013 and another T5 in 2014.
• Jimmy Walker, who began the 2014 Colonial with 48 bogey-free holes, eventually finished T10 in his second start at the event (2011-T56).
• 2003 and 2005 Colonial champion Kenny Perry will be making his 23rd start at the event.
• Corey Pavin will be making his 32nd career start (just six missed cuts) at the Crowne Plaza Invitational this year, with wins in 1985 and 1995. He has played the event every year dating back to his first start in 1984 and owns eight top 10s at the event, while Ben Hogan leads in all-time top 10s with 15.
• Steve Stricker, winner of the 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, will be making his first start at the event since 2010 and ninth overall.
• Seven-time PGA TOUR winner (including the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open) Retief Goosen will be making his first-ever start at the Colonial.

Miscellaneous Tournament Notes

• Zach Johnson set the 72-hole tournament (65-66-64-64—259) at the 2010 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial to finish at 21-under-par.
• The previous tournament record was set by Kenny Perry, who shot 261 in both his victories in 2003 and 2005. The four-round score of 259 is also a personal best for Johnson, who shot 261 to win the 2008 Valero Texas Open.
• The Colonial CC course record is 61, set by Chad Campbell (2004), Justin Leonard (2003), Kenny Perry (2003), Greg Kraft (1999), Keith Clearwater (1993) and Lee Janzen (1993).
• Colonial Country Club shows its teeth over the stretch of holes from Nos. 3-5, known as the ―Horrible Horseshoe.‖ Cumulatively in 2014, No. 3 played as the third-most difficult on the course (4.149), with No. 4 the second-hardest (3.182) and No. 5 the most difficult (4.285).
• The Colonial has featured six straight come-from-behind winners: Steve Stricker (2009), Zach Johnson (2010 & 2012), David Toms (2011), Boo Weekley (2013) and Adam Scott (2014). Prior to those, the last come-from-behind winner was Sergio Garcia in 2001, who made up a five-shot deficit to defeat Mickelson.
• In the 67 playings of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, the third-round leader/co-leader has gone on to claim victory 35 times.
• In 2012, Zach Johnson became the 12th multiple winner of the Crowne Plaza Invitational. Ben Hogan leads with five wins, while Johnson joined two-time winners Billy Casper, Julius Boros, Al Geiberger, Ben Crenshaw, Bruce Lietzke, Lee Trevino, Corey Pavin, Nick Price, Kenny Perry and Phil Mickelson.
• The last player to win the event in his first start at Colonial was Sergio Garcia in 2001. The others who have performed the feat are Keith Clearwater (1987), Dave Stockton (1967), Clayton Heafner (1948) and Ben Hogan (1946).

Players who recorded their first PGA TOUR victory at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial:

• 1957 Roberto De Vicenzo (1957)
• Dave Stockton (1967)
• Rod Curl (1974)
• Dan Pohl (1986)
• Keith Clearwater (1987)
• Ian Baker-Finch (1989)
• Sergio Garcia (2001).

Players Who Have Won Both The HP Byron Nelson and the Crowne Plaza Invitational

• Ben Crenshaw
• Roberto De Vicenzo
• Ben Hogan
• Sam Snead
• Bruce Devlin
• Jack Nicklaus
• Lanny Wadkins
• Tom Watson
• Bruce Lietzke
• Nick Price
• Phil Mickelson
• Sergio Garcia
• Rory Sabbatini
• Julius Boros
• Ben Hogan (1946) is the only player to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and HP Byron Nelson Championship in the same year.

The “Champions Choice” Invitation

• Every year, past champions of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial select two deserving young players to compete in the event, who otherwise would not have been eligible.
• It’s a unique TOUR tradition known as the “Champions’ Choice” invitation.
• Pros who made their first start at Colonial as a Champion’s Choice include Tom Weiskopf, Craig Stadler, Curtis Strange, Mark O’Meara, Paul Azinger and Davis Love III.
• Dave Stockton won the event as a Champions Choice in 1967 and five other choices have eventually won the event during their careers.
• This year’s recipients are Sam Saunders and Cody Gribble.

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial one of the TOUR’s longest running events

• The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial dates back to 1946 and holds the distinction of being the longest-run event on the PGA TOUR to be contested on the same layout, and the 10th oldest overall.
• Since its inception in 1946, the Invitational has produced an impressive list of champions that few other events can match, with such legends as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer having donned the Scottish royal tartan plaid jacket. The TOUR’s oldest events are as follows:

Event	Est.
BMW Championship (Western Open)	1899
RBC Canadian Open	1904
Valero Texas Open	1922
Northern Trust Open (Los Angeles Open)	1926
Waste Management Phoenix Open	1935
AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro Am	1937
Wyndham Championship	1938
Zurich Classic of New Orleans	1938
AT&T Byron Nelson	1944
Crowne Plaza Invitational At Colonial	1946
Shell Houston Open	1946

History Abounds at Colonial Country Club

• Colonial Country Club is a traditional layout that was built in 1936. Its fame skyrocketed after hosting the 1941 U.S. Open, marking the first time the USGA had hosted their premier event south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
• That tournament, won by Craig Wood, was such a success that it spawned the creation of what is now the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in 1946.
• Among the highlights of the famed club are:
  • Colonial Country Club celebrated its jubilee 75th anniversary in 2011.
  • Hometown favorite Ben Hogan won the first two Invitationals on his way to a career-total five wins at the event, earning it the nickname ―Hogan’s Alley.‖
  • No other course has hosted a U.S. Open (1941), PLAYERS Championship (1975) and annual PGA TOUR event (1946-present).
  • The Wall of Champions, located on the first tee, honors the name and score of each champion dating back to the 1941 U.S. Open. The Wall was erected in 1975 prior to THE PLAYERS.
    Miscellaneous

Crowne Plaza Invitational At Colonial Charities

• The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial remains a leader in giving back to communities, raising over $9 million in 2014 alone for Tarrant County charities.
• Over 100 Tarrant Charities benefit from Fort Worth’s most charitable event, with Cook Children’s Hospital its primary beneficiary.
  • Tracing its roots back to 1918, Cook Children’s embraces an inspiring promise – to improve the health of every child in its region through prevention and treatment of illness, disease and injury.

Ben Hogan Award Presentation

• The Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial will once again host the Ben Hogan Award ceremony, a black-tie event on Monday, May 18 to recognize the top collegiate golfer of the year.
• The Heisman Trophy-like ceremony will honor the three finalists, with the winner revealed at the end of the ceremony. Past recipients of the award include Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Bill Haas, Ryan Moore, Chris Kirk, Matt Every, Peter Uihlein, Kyle Stanley, Chris Williams and Patrick Rodgers.

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial joins forces with Birdies for the Brave

• On Saturday and Sunday of the Tournament, next to the Clubhouse at the Swimming Pool Plaza overlooking the first tee, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial will host all Active, Reserve and Military retirees and their dependents with complimentary hospitality and tremendous viewing in the Northrop Grumman Patriots’ Outpost (up to four per service person).
• There will be a military home donation ceremony on Saturday, May 23, sponsored by Tempur-Pedic.

Astellas Presents Executive Women’s Day

• More than 200 female business leaders are expected to gather on Tuesday, May 19, at the 2015 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial for the Astellas Presents Executive Women’s Day.
• The PGA TOUR and Astellas Pharma US, Inc. (―Astellas‖) is currently in a three-year agreement in which Tokyo-based Astellas will champion the TOUR’s commitment to its new Women’s Initiative, designed to provide women with information that promotes their overall well-being, including informing women about important health and wellness issues, encouraging discussion on those topics and creating opportunities to learn about them.