2016 CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation – Tournament Notes

Dates: January 18-24, 2016
Where: La Quinta, Calif.
Courses:
TPC Stadium Course/PGA WEST; La Quinta, CA Par/Yards: 72/7,113
Nicklaus Tournament/PGA WEST; La Quinta, CA Par/Yards: 72/7,159
La Quinta Country Club; La Quinta, CA Par/Yards: 72/7,060
Field: 156
2015 champion: Bill Haas
Purse: $5,800,000 ($1,044,000/winner)
FedExCup: 500 points to the winner
Format: 72-hole stroke play (Rds. 1-3 are pro-am format)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CareerBuilderChallenge
Twitter: @cbgolfchallenge

CareerBuilder takes on title sponsorship role of event for next six years

• CareerBuilder, the global leader in human capital solutions, injected new life into the Palm Desert event with its title sponsorship role, beginning in 2016 and extending through the 2021 event.
• The CareerBuilder Challenge will continue to celebrate Bob Hope’s longtime role as tournament host, and through its relationship with the Clinton Foundation, the event will remain steadfast in its promotion of health-conscious lifestyles.
• In addition to its title sponsorship of the event, CareerBuilder has also joined the PGA TOUR Official Marketing Partner program as the “Official Career Site of the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.”

Venues for the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge

• For just the second time – 1987 being the first – the Stadium Course at PGA WEST will be a part of this year’s rotation.
• For the first time since 1997, Palmer Private at PGA WEST will not be a part of the rotation.
• The three courses in this year’s mix are PGA WEST (Stadium), PGA WEST (Nicklaus Private) and La Quinta Country Club.

How the CareerBuilder Challenge was won in 2015

• Bill Haas began last year’s final round tied for the lead at 17-under with Erik Compton, Justin Thomas and Michael Putnam, before a 5-under 67 Sunday proved good enough for a one-stroke victory over five others at 22-under 266.
• Haas sank a clutch, 20-foot birdie putt on No. 16 to break out of a tie at the top and take the one stroke lead he would not relinquish. Haas, who claimed his first PGA TOUR title at the event in 2010, became the eighth player to win the CareerBuilder Challenge on more than one occasion.
• To help motivate Haas, his great uncle and PGA TOUR legend Bob Goalby was in Sunday’s gallery.

More on Bill Haas

• In 11 starts in the CareerBuilder Challenge, dating to 2005, Haas has posted 50 scores. Of them, 47 have been below par and two have been even par. His only over-par score came in round two of 2007 (73).
• Haas’ only missed cut in the event came in 2013.
• Following his win in Palm Springs last year, Haas went on to claim four additional top-10 finishes, including a T4 at THE PLAYERS Championship.
• As a result of that season-long performance, Haas competed in all four FedExCup Playoffs events and earned a Presidents Cup Captain’s Pick under his father and Captain, Jay
  Haas.
• In the Sunday singles matches, Haas clenched the winning point for the American Team on the 18th hole
  over Sangmoon Bae.
• Haas, a six-time winner on the PGA TOUR, is making his third start of the 2015-16 season this week.

A look at the field

• Eleven of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking: Patrick Reed (10), Zach Johnson (12), Matt Kuchar (20), Paul Casey (22), Kevin Na (23), Marc Leishman (26), Phil Mickelson (39), Bill Haas (40), Robert Streb (42), Anirban Lahiri (43) and Billy Horschel (46).
• Eight of the 28 players who made it to the 2015 TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola: Paul Casey, Bill Haas, Charley Hoffman, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Kevin Na, Robert Streb and Patrick Reed.
• Two of the last five FedExCup champions: Bill Haas (2011) and Billy Horschel (2014).
• Ten major championship winners, combining for 16 major titles and representing all four majors.
• Phil Mickelson, a World Golf Hall of Fame member and owner of three green jackets, five major championship victories and 42 PGA TOUR titles, will make his 13th career start at the CareerBuilder Challenge. Mickelson won in La Quinta in 2002 and 2004.
• Reigning Open Champion Zach Johnson will make his sixth start, and fifth-straight, in this year’s CareerBuilder Challenge. Johnson missed last year’s cut in Palm Springs, but finished inside the top 10 in 2014 (T3) and 2012 (T8). Johnson, winner of 12 PGA TOUR events, including the 2007 Masters and 2015 Open Championship, finished sixth in last year’s FedExCup standings.
• Matt Kuchar is poised to make his ninth start in the CareerBuilder Challenge. Kuchar, a seven-time winner on the PGA TOUR, finished T2 in 2010 and 2015, both years Bill Haas won the event. Kuchar also finished T7 in 2011.
• Though he hasn’t experienced much success in the event, England’s Paul Casey will return for a third time to this week’s CareerBuilder Challenge. In two previous starts, Casey missed the cut in 2002 and 2015.
• Casey is coming off a banner season from the 2014-15 campaign, in which he collected eight top-10 finishes in 24 starts, including playoff losses at the Northern Trust Open and Travelers Championship.
• Kevin Na began the 2015-16 PGA TOUR Season in tremendous fashion, finishing second in a playoff at the Frys.com Open, T2 a week later at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and T3 a week after that at the CIMB Classic. Na will be making his 12 start in the CareerBuilder Challenge and 10th straight. He collected top-10 finishes in 2010 (T8) and 2011 (T5).
• Former World No.1 Luke Donald will make his second-consecutive start in the CareerBuilder Challenge. Donald missed last year’s cut, following rounds of 75-69-70.
• Twelve past champions of the CareerBuilder Challenge, and each since 2004, are in the field: Mark Brooks (1996), Phil Mickelson (2002, 2004), Justin Leonard (2005), Chad Campbell (2006), Charley Hoffman (2007), D.J. Trahan (2008), Pat Perez (2009), Bill Haas (2010, 2015), Jhonattan Vegas (2011), Mark Wilson (2012), Brian Gay (2013) and Patrick Reed (2014).

The CareerBuilder Challenge and the FedExCup

• The CareerBuilder Challenge enters the third season featuring a wraparound schedule that bridges two years with 47 events. The 2015-16 PGA TOUR Season began with seven events during the fall of 2015, each of which awarded FedExCup points.
• After a seven-week break, the season resumed two weeks ago at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, won by Jordan Spieth.
• The FedExCup Playoffs once again features four events and concludes in September with the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and the crowning of the FedExCup champion.
• Since the FedExCup’s 2007 inception, the winner of the CareerBuilder Challenge has made it all the way to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola that year three times: Bill Haas (2015), Patrick Reed (2014) and D.J. Trahan (2008).

Charity

• Since 1960, Desert Classic Charities, the non-profit entity that organizes the CareerBuilder Challenge, has donated more than $56 million to Eisenhower Medical Center and numerous other non-profit organizations in the Coachella Valley.

Tournament Records

• Johnny Miller is the only back-to-back winner of the Humana Challenge (1975-76).
• Arnold Palmer won the Humana Challenge five times. The only other players to win more than once are two-time champions: Billy Casper, John Mahaffey, Johnny Miller, Corey Pavin, John Cook, Phil Mickelson and defending champion Bill Haas.

2015-16 PGA TOUR Storylines

• The CareerBuilder Challenge marks the 10th official event of the PGA TOUR’s wraparound 2015-16 season schedule.
• Year 10 of the FedExCup consists of 47 events including the four FedExCup Playoff events.
• Continuing a trend from the 2014-15 season that saw a TOUR-record 24 victories by players under the age of 30, five of the nine winners so far this season have also been in their 20s.
•  Emiliano Grillo won the season-opening event at the Frys.com Open at the age of 23, making it his second professional victory in a row, as he also captured the Web.com Tour Championship at Dye’s Valley at TPC Sawgrass in the start before. He is the first player to win in his first start as an official PGA TOUR member since Russell Henley at the 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii.
• Smylie Kaufman became the second rookie to win to start the season the very next week at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, winning at the age of 23.
• Justin Thomas, at 22 years of age, captured the CIMB Classic in Malaysia for his first PGA TOUR win in his sophomore season.
• Peter Malnati, another recent Web.com Tour graduate, added to the tally of under-30, first-time winners in 2015-16, winning the Sanderson Farms Championship at the age of 28.
  
  World No. 1 Jordan Spieth, 22, picked up right where he left off at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, winning at Kapalua by eight strokes over defending champion and 2014 CareerBuilder Challenge winner Patrick Reed.