Hoag Classic Preview 2020

Hoag Classic Preview 2020
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

• Dates: March 6 – 8, 2020
• Golf Course: Newport Beach Country Club (6,606 / Par 71)
• Designed by: William Bell (1953); Harry Rainville (1973); Ted Robinson (1985, 1998, 1999)
• Purse: $1,800,000 (Winner: $270,000)
• Golf Channel Coverage (local time): Friday: 3:00-5:00 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday: 2:30-5:00 p.m

A Look At The Field

• The 25^th annual Hoag Classic returns to Newport Beach Country Club, this week with a field of 78 players including local favorite and two-time tournament winner Fred Couples along with defending champion Kirk Triplett.
• Hot off his 41^st career victory at the Cologuard Classic, Bernhard Langer, who won the Hoag Classic in 2008, will compete as the new leader in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
• World Golf Hall of Fame member Ernie Els will make the third start of his PGA TOUR Champions career this week.
• The Field Includes:
  • 7 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame: Fred Couples, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Mark O’Meara, Jose Maria Olazabal
• 55 PGA TOUR winners with 342 total career victories
• 51 PGA TOUR Champions winners with 316 total career victories
• 24 with a PGA TOUR Champions major title; 18 with a PGA TOUR major title

2019 Recap: Triplett eagles second playoff hole to earn seventh title

• Kirk Triplett birdied the 18th hole to finish at 10-under 203 and force the second playoff of his career on PGA TOUR Champions alongside Woody Austin.
• Triplett reached the green in two on the par-5 18^th (playoff hole) and made a left-to-right breaking 12-foot eagle putt on the second extra hole to defeat Austin, improving his playoff record to 2-0.
• The win was Triplett’s seventh on PGA TOUR Champions and his first of two in 2019 (PURE Insurance Championship).

Couples Makes Eighth Start At Hoag Classic

• Newport Beach resident Fred Couples will make his eighth start at the Hoag Classic. He owns two victories (2010, 2014), a runner-up finish (2013) and four additional finishes in the top-10 (T5/2011, 2015; T8/2012; T10/2019).
• In 21 rounds at Newport Beach Country Club, Couples owns a 67.00 scoring average and has only recorded one round over par (73/R3, 2012).
• By playing this week, Couples will play four of the season’s first five tournaments for just the fourth time in his career.

Year	Finishes
2010	2nd– 1st – 1st – 1st
2017	2nd – T6 – 1st – T4
2019	T5 – T8 – T20 – T10
2020	2nd – 8 – T5 – TBD

Langer Leaps Ahead

• Last week at the Cologuard Classic, Bernhard Langer came from four strokes back to claim his 41st victory on PGA TOUR Champions and is now just four wins short of all-time leader Hale Irwin (45).
• With the victory, Langer extended his record to 14 straight years with at least one win as he became the fifth oldest player to claim a title.
• The World Golf Hall of Fame member is the Tour’s all-time money leader (current total: $29,168,842) and has won the money title 10 of the last 12 years.
• With the win, the five-time winner of the Charles Schwab Cup moved to No. 1 in the Charles Schwab Cup for the first time this season. He has led the standings at least one week in each of the last nine years. Since 2008 (his first full season on Tour), he has led 134 of 285 weeks (47.02%).
• In 2008, Langer outlasted defending champion Jay Haas in a seven-hole playoff (third longest in tournament history) to capture the second title of his PGA TOUR Champions career. After collecting a total of three titles that season, he went on to win both Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors, but finished third in the Charles Schwab Cup, trailing winner Jay Haas by 96 points.

Rookie Watch

• In just his second career start on PGA TOUR Champions, Brett Quigley won the Morocco Champions and earned fully exempt status through 2021. Last week in Tucson, the Rhode Island native led by two entering the final round but went on to finish T3. The nephew of 11-time PGA TOUR Champions winner Dana Quigley, Brett is one of 11 players making his Hoag Classic debut this week.
• 11-time European Tour winner Robert Karlsson will make his third PGA TOUR Champions start and first appearance at Newport Beach Country Club. A native of Sweden, Karlsson finished eighth at the Cologuard Classic and T23 at the Chubb Classic.
• Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee will make his Hoag Classic debut this week in Newport Beach after earning fully exempt status at Q-School in December. An eight-time winner on the European Tour, Jaidee was the first Thai player to qualify for the Presidents Cup in 2015.

Past Champions in the Field

• This year’s field includes a total of eight past champions: Triplett (2019), Jay Haas (2016, 2007), Duffy Waldorf (2015), Fred Couples (2014, 2010), David Frost (2013), Loren Roberts (2012), Bernhard Langer (2008) and Hale Irwin (2002, 1998).

Fresh Faces

• Leading the field of 11 players making their first appearance at Newport Beach Country Club is Ernie Els, who is making his third career Champions Tour start and finished T2 in the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
• Also making their tournament debut will be Doug Barron, Robin Byrd, Angela Cabrera, Ken Duke, Tim Herron, Thongchai Jaidee, Robert Karlsson, Stephen Leaney, Rod Pampling and Brett Quigley.

SoCal Connections

• This year’s field includes a number of players with Southern California ties. Paul Goydos and Mark O’Meara are both CSU Long Beach alums and Goydos resides in nearby Coto de Caza.
•  Scott McCarron, Corey Pavin, Tom Pernice, Jr., Ken Tanigawa and Duffy Waldorf all attended UCLA, while Olin Browne is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles.  
• In addition to Goydos, other players that call Orange County home include Fred Couples (Newport Beach), John Cook (Corona Del Mar) and Kevin Baker (Newport Beach).

Monday Qualifier at Goose Creek Golf Club

• During the qualifier for the Hoag Classic at Goose Creek Golf Club, a fire broke out on the course and the fire department ordered evacuation of the property.
• After exhausting all options and by order of the fire department, the remainder of the round was cancelled.
• Based on these circumstances, the four (4) qualifiers were determined by the Event Qualifying Reduction policy in the PGA TOUR Champions Handbook.
• Since all players completed nine holes, the qualifiers were based on their first nine-hole scores.
• Due to a two-tee start (1^st & 10^th tees), because players competed on different nines, the qualifiers were determined by the two lowest scores on each side.
• Ties were decided by a match of cards.

Shaun Micheel             32  (Front)
David Morland IV       33  (Front)
Cliff Kresge                 33  (Back)
Andy Raitt                   35  (Back)

Related: Qualifier for Hoag Classic reduced to nine holes due to fire near the course (PGATOUR.com)

PGA TOUR Champions – 2020 Season Overview

Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs

The 2020 Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs will begin with 72 players at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic (Oct. 16-18). The top-54 will advance to the Boca Raton Championship (Oct. 30 – Nov. 1), and the season will conclude with the top-36 players at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (Nov. 5-8), where they will compete for the Charles Schwab Cup.

At the start of the playoffs, each player’s regular-season money total will become the equivalent number of points (e.g. $330,000 equals 330,000 points). During the three Playoffs events, each dollar earned is worth two points, and those points will be added to a player’s regular-season point total. After the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the top 54 players will advance, and after the Boca Raton Championship, the top 36 players will qualify for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The player with the most points at the conclusion of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship will win the Charles Schwab Cup.

The 2020 Rookie Class 

For players to become eligible to compete for PGA TOUR Champions events they must turn 50 years of age by the first competition round. If a player plays less than six tournaments in his first season of eligibility, he is considered a rookie the following season. Newcomers for 2020 with at least one PGA TOUR win include:

• Ernie Els (October 17, 2019) 
• Tim Herron (February 6, 2020) 
• Jim Furyk (May 12, 2020) 
• Mike Weir (May 12, 2020) 
• K.J. Choi (May 19, 2020) 
• Phil Mickelson (June 16, 2020)

Upcoming rookie classes include:

• 2021 – John Senden (April 20, 1971), Stuart Appleby (May 1, 1971), Robert Allenby (July 12, 1971), Padraig Harrington (August 31, 1971)
• 2022 – David Duval (November 9, 1971), Brian Gay (December 14, 1971), Y.E. Yang (January 15, 1972), Justin Leonard (June 15, 1972), Notah Begay II (September 14, 1972)

2020 Schedule

The 2020 schedule features 27 official tournaments in Morocco, Canada, Japan, England and 18 states, with prize money totaling nearly $59 million. After the 24-event Regular Season, the fifth-annual Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs will determine the winner of the season-long race for the Charles Schwab Cup.

• Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai: Miguel Angel Jiménez birdied the second extra hole to win the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai for the second time in his career. Jiménez became the tournament’s eighth repeat champion (2015, 2020) and he extended his streak to seven consecutive years with a victory, the Tour’s second-longest active streak (13, Bernhard Langer).

• Morocco Champions: Brett Quigley won the inaugural Morocco Champions in Marrakech in his second PGA TOUR Champions start, saving par on the final two holes on Saturday to hold off Stephen Ames by one stroke. Winless in 408 career starts on the PGA TOUR, Quigley’s win was his first in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event since 2001 on the Korn Ferry Tour.

• Chubb Classic: Scott Parel closed with an 8-under 63 to erase a three-shot deficit and win the Chubb Classic by two with a tournament record-tying 17-under total. It was the third win of his career and he moved to No. 1 in the Charles Schwab Cup for the first time in his career.

• Cologuard Classic: Bernhard Langer came from four strokes back to claim his 41st victory on PGA TOUR Champions, now just four wins short of all-time leader Hale Irwin. The victory marked Langer’s 14th straight year with at least one win as he became the fifth oldest to claim a title.

1. Hoag Classic
2. Rapiscan Systems Classic
3. Mitsubishi Electric Classic
4. Insperity Invitational
5. Regions Tradition
6. KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship
7. Principal Charity Classic
8. American Family Insurance Championship
9. Mastercard Japan Championship
10. U.S. Senior Open Championship
11. Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship
12. The Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex
13. The Ally Challenge
14. DICK’S Sporting Goods Open
15. Boeing Classic
16. Shaw Charity Classic
17. Sanford International
18. PURE Insurance Championship
19. Ascension Charity Classic
20. SAS Championship
21. Dominion Energy Charity Classic
22. Boca Raton Championship
23. Charles Schwab Cup Championship

via PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS