Shriners Hospitals For Children Open Notes – 2015

Dates: October 19-25, 2015
Where: TPC Summerlin / Las Vegas, Nev.
Par/Yards: 35-36—71/7,255 yards
Field: 144
2014 champion: Ben Martin
Purse: $6,400,000/$1,152,000 (winner)
FedExCup: 500 points to the winner
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Twitter: @ShrinersOpen

A look back at the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

• After a career-best 9-under 62 in the third round, Ben Martin entered the final round of the 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open with a two-stroke lead over Russell Knox.
• Martin carded a final-round 68, which was highlighted by a 46-foot eagle on the par-5 16th hole and a 19-foot birdie on the 72nd hole, to secure a two-shot victory over Kevin Streelman.

More on Ben Martin

• Martin earned his first career PGA TOUR title in his 56th start at age 27 years, 1 month, 23 days.
• Martin played the final five holes (Nos. 14-18) at TPC Summerlin at 15-under par en route to his first PGA TOUR title.
• Martin became the second winner in his 20s in as many events following Sangmoon Bae’s victory at the season-opening Frys.com Open. The 2014-15 PGA TOUR Season set a new season record for most wins by players in their 20s since 1970 (24).
• 2014-15 season:
  • Claimed five top-10 finishes in 24 starts, including his first career PGA TOUR win, easily earning him entry into the FedExCup Playoffs.
  • Made his way through the first three Playoffs events, before a T68 at the BMW Championship ended his season at No. 35 in the FedExCup standings.

Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and the FedExCup

• The Shriners Hospitals Open for Children enters the third season featuring a wraparound schedule that bridges two years with 47 events.
• The 2015-16 PGA TOUR Season kicked off last week with the Frys.com Open and includes seven events during the fall of 2015, all of which will award FedExCup points.
• After a seven-week break, the season will resume in January with the traditional swing through Hawaii before moving to the West Coast.
• The FedExCup Playoffs once again features four events and concludes in September 2016 with the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and the crowning of the FedExCup champion.
• Every week is significant in the race for the FedExCup – four of the seven winners from the fall calendar of 2014 (Sangmoon Bae, Robert Streb, Bubba Watson and Charley Hoffman) qualified for the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and two others (Ryan Moore and Ben Martin) finished inside the top 40.

A Glance At the field

• Three players who competed in The Presidents Cup 2015: Jimmy Walker and Rickie Fowler (U.S. Team) and Steven Bowditch (International Team).
• Nine players who advanced to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola thus finishing in the top 30 in the FedExCup standings: Rickie Fowler (4), Charley Hoffman (10), Jimmy Walker (16), Steven Bowditch (20), Kevin Kisner (21), Scott Piercy (22), Brandt Snedeker (23), Brooks Koepka (24) and Kevin Na (25).
• Eleven players in the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking: Rickie Fowler (5), Brooks Koepka (12), Jimmy Walker (17), Kevin Na (24), Brandt Snedeker (30), Kevin Kisner (34), Charley Hoffman (35), Emiliano Grillo (36), Ryan Palmer (40), Scott Piercy (41) and Hunter Mahan (50).
• Nine major winners representing all four majors: Vijay Singh, Angel Cabrera, Keegan Bradley, Stewart Cink, Jason Dufner, Lucas Glover, Davis Love III, Geoff Ogilvy and Webb Simpson.
• Nine former Shriners Hospitals for Children Open champions are in the field: Ben Martin (2014-15), Webb Simpson (2013-14), Ryan Moore (2012), Kevin Na (2011), Jonathan Byrd (2010), Martin Laird (2009), George McNeill (2007), Stuart Appleby (2003) and Davis Love III (1993).

Notes on the field

• World No. 5. Rickie Fowler will make his return to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open for the first time since 2010.
  • Fowler comes off the strongest season of his career where he recorded two PGA TOUR victories, highlighted by a historic win at THE PLAYERS Championship, and a victory on the European Tour at the Aberdeen Asset management Scottish Open.
  • Fowler advanced to the FedExCup Playoffs for the sixth consecutive season, finishing a career-best fourth in the FedExCup rankings thanks to his third career PGA TOUR title at the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of four Playoffs events.
  • In his previous two starts in Las Vegas, Fowler finished T7 (2009) and T22 (2010) with all eight rounds under par. Fowler will make his first start of 2015-16 in Las Vegas following his Presidents Cup debut on the victorious United States Team.
• Jimmy Walker will make his seventh start at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open where he owns two top-10s, highlighted by a T4 finish in 2015 (the other top-10 was a T10 in 2012)
  • Walker picked up two wins in 2014-15 to bring his career total to five PGA TOUR victories.
  • He ended the season No. 16 in the FedExCup standings and represented the U.S. in his first Presidents Cup appearance.
• Former UNLV golfer Charley Hoffman will begin the 2015-16 PGA TOUR Season at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open where he owns four top-25s in 10 starts, including three top-10s (4/2014, 6/2009, T5/2006).
  • Hoffman comes off a season where he totaled a career-high 12 top-10s and ended a winless drought of 109 starts with his early victory at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, the final event of the 2014 calendar year.
  • He recorded runner-ups at the CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation and the AT&T Byron Nelson, and finished T9 at the Masters Tournament, his best showing in 18 major championship starts.
  • In just his second trip to the Playoff finale, the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola, closed the season No. 10 in the FedExCup.
• Former Shriners Hospitals for Children Open champion and UNLV alum Ryan Moore will make his 10th start in Las Vegas (he won in 2012).
  • While he missed the cut at TPC Summerlin last year, he successfully defended his title at the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in his next start after Las Vegas.
  • Moore advanced through three FedExCup Playoffs events to end the season ranked 39th in the FedExCup.
• PGA TOUR rookie Patton Kizzire, the 2015 Web.com Tour Regular Season and Finals combined money leader, will make his debut as a PGA TOUR member.
  • His Web.com Tour record last season included 23 starts, two wins, two runners-up and one third-place finish, earning the top position on the Web.com Tour priority list which gave him full exempt status on the PGA TOUR and an invitation to the 2016 PLAYERS Championship.
  • While many rookies made their first start of the season at last week’s Frys.Com Open, Kizzire delayed his season to get married in St. Simons Island, Ga., on Saturday, Oct. 17.
• Denny McCarthy and Hunter Stewart, members of the 2015 United States Walker Cup team will make their pro debuts.
  • McCarthy, who graduated from the University of Virginia in May, made his PGA TOUR debut as an amateur at the 2015 U.S. Open where he finished T42.
  • Stewart, a former Vanderbilt University golfer, previously competed as an amateur in the 2014 U.S. Open and RBC Heritage, missing both cuts.
• Ryan Palmer will make his ninth start at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
  • In August, Palmer lost his father, Butch, in a tragic automobile accident in Amarillo, Texas.
  • Butch was active in the Khiva Shrine of Amarillo (#731) since 1985. In 2001, he served as potentate (head officer) and was a member of the Duffers and also the Muleskinners units.

Tournament Records

• Current TPC Summerlin Record: 60, J.J. Henry, 2013
• Best 18 Hole Score: 59, Chip Beck, Round 3, 1991
• Best Round 1 Score: 60, J.J. Henry, 2013
• Best Round 2 Score: 60, Tommy Armour III, 1999
• Best Round 3 Score: 59, Chip Beck, 1991
• Best Round 4 Score: 61, Dicky Thompson, 1991, Jim Gallagher, Jr., 1991, Tag Ridings, 2004
• Best Round 5 Score: 61, Davis Love III, 2001
• Best 36 Holes: 125, Tom Lehman, 2001
• Best 54 Holes: 192, Scott Verplank, 2003, Steve Flesch, 2003
• Best 72 Holes: 259, Stuart Appleby, 2003
• Low Finish by a Winner: 62, Phil Tataurangi, Round 5, 2002
• High Finish by a Winner: 73, Fuzzy Zoeller, Round 5, 1983
• Low Start by a Winner: 61, Ryan Moore, 2012
• High Start by a Winner: 73, Greg Norman, 1986
• Largest 18 -Hole Lead: 3, Bill Glasson, 1985
• Largest 36-Hole Lead: 4, Webb Simpson, 2014
• Largest 54-Hole Lead: 5, John Cook,1992, George McNeill, 2007
• Largest Margin of Victory: 8, Davis Love III, 1993
• Best Come from Behind Win: 5, Bob Estes, 2001,Phil Tataurangi, 2002
• Wire-to-Wire Winners: Fuzzy Zoeller, 1983, Marc Turnesa, 2008

Shriners Hospitals for Children Update

• At this year’s tournament, the message of Shriners Hospitals will focus on a legacy of expertise within and beyond our hospital doors by showcasing patients and former patients.
  Shriners Dream Team
• The Shriners Dream Team consists of three former Shriners Hospitals patients who are active in the game of golf and will be partnered with PGA TOUR pros in the Championship Pro-Am.
  • Jalen Castle, 13: Ever since learning to play golf when she was 2, Jalen Castle has made the game her passion. Joining her high school varsity golf team as a seventh grader, Castle was a member of the 2014-15 South Carolina High School All-State Girls Golf team. When she was diagnosed with scoliosis in June 2014, her family immediately began searching for an alternative to a spinal fusion. They soon came across the anterior vertebral body tethering procedure performed at the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Philadelphia. Castle had the procedure done in April 2015 and was back swinging a golf club a mere six weeks later.
  • Anton Glass, 19: Born without the tibia bone in his left leg, Anton Glass had his leg amputated when he was five and was walking tall in his first prosthesis just a few days later. As he grew, Glass began visiting the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Tampa nearly every year to be fitted for a new prosthetic leg. Thanks to the Shriners staff, he has never held back from competing in high school golf tournaments or living a golfer’s life.
  • Luke Grossnicklaus, 20: Developing a strong passion for the sport at a young age, Luke Grossnicklaus was diagnosed with schleroderma, a disorder that causes the body to attack healthy tissue. The disease settled in Grossnicklaus’ right leg, which prompted his decision to have his leg amputated at Shriners Hospitals for Children in the Twin Cities before he had even reached the eighth grade. Since the amputation, Grossnicklaus has won three high school state medals for golf and now plays at the University of Nebraska Kearny, walking 36 holes or up to 10 miles per tournament.

National Patient Ambassadors

• Shriners Hospitals for Children selects two national patient ambassadors to represent the thousands of children who receive care from the health care system. Clint Crain and Katharine Koonce will be attending this year’s tournament and will be participating in a number of activities.
• Hospital Experience – Wednesday, Oct. 21st at 4 p.m.
  • Patient ambassadors and the Shriners Dream Team will show golf professionals and others how it feels to be a hospital patient during a “Hospital Experience” event on Wednesday, Oct. 21st at 4 p.m.
  • While there is not a Shriners Hospital for Children in Las Vegas, this unique program is designed to bring the hospital experience to the golf course to teach the pros occupational therapy and limb deficiency activities patients use to accomplish everyday tasks that most take for granted (e.g. how to tie your shoes with one hand) followed by the players showcasing golf tips and tricks to the kids.
• Patient Standard Bearers
  • Eighteen Shriners Hospitals for Children patients, representing the hospital branches where they’ve been treated, will volunteer as standard bearers during the tournament’s third and fourth rounds. Dream Team members Castle and Grossnicklaus will participate as well.