Posted on: Tuesday, April 10, 2001
Turtle Bay to play host to Senior PGA event in October
Advertiser Staff
The Senior PGA's return to O'ahu after a nine-year absence was officially announced yesterday by the PGA Tour and Oaktree Capital Management, LLC, which owns the Turtle Bay Resort.
The Turtle Bay Championship will replace the EMC Ka'anapali Classic on the 2001 schedule. The purse will be raised from $1.1 million to $1.5 million.
The full-field event with 78 players will be played Oct. 5-7 at Turtle Bay's Links at Kuilima, preceded by a 36-hole Pro-Am (Oct. 3-4). PAX-TV will televise the first round, with the final two rounds on CNBC.
The Links was designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay. In 1993, it was among the top four in Golf Digest's "New Resort Courses in America." In 1994, Golf Magazine named it one of the "Top 10 New Resort Courses in the World."
"Our goal is to re-establish Turtle Bay Resort as one of the premier golf and vacation destinations in the world," said Hy Adelman, Oaktree Capital's Project Director. "By aligning with the Senior Tour and the legendary players in the game of golf, we will be able to showcase our world class property and all the amenities we have to offer."
The inaugural Skins Game was played in 1988 on the original Tom Fazio-designed Turtle Bay course, which is now nine holes. The last full-field senior event on O'ahu was the 1992 Ko Olina Senior Classic.
The Turtle Bay Championship precedes the Senior Tour Championship by three weeks. In the past, its place in the schedule enhanced the field as players attempted to finish in the Top 31 to qualify for the tour championship. This year, they are also participating in the Charles Schwab Cup, with the top five at the end of the year sharing a $1 million tax-deferred annuity.
"Being able to continue a full-field Senior Tour event in Hawai'i is extremely gratifying," PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said. "Our players have always enjoyed competing in Hawai'i, and this event falls during a particularly important time of year for the players."
His challengers will be the winners of the U.S. Open (June 14-17), British Open (July 19-22) and PGA Championship (Aug. 16-19). If Woods wins multiple majors again this year, the rest of the foursome will be top alternates from a PGA of America list based on finishes at the Grand Slam events.
Tiger in paradise: By making The Masters his fourth consecutive major victory Sunday, Tiger Woods earned an invitation to four-peat at this year's PGA Grand Slam of Golf, Nov. 20-21 at Po'ipu Bay Resort on Kaua'i.
