Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Trevino in MasterCard

Advertiser Staff

Hall of Fame golfers Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino have accepted sponsor exemptions to play in the Champions Tour's MasterCard Championship at Hualalai Golf Club in Ka'upulehu, Kona.

The event on Jan. 27-Feb. 2 kicks off the Champions Tour's 24th season. The tour was previously known as the Senior PGA Tour.

Hualalai, designed by Nicklaus, 62, will host the tournament for the seventh consecutive year. Nicklaus, who won 73 events on the PGA Tour and 10 more on the Seniors Tour, will be making his seventh appearance in the tournament. He won the 1994 MasterCard Championship title.

Palmer, 73, has made four appearances in the championship, the last in 1989. Player, 67, will be playing in his fifth and Trevino, 63, his 11th.

The MasterCard Championship field is comprised of players who have won a Champions Tour major championship within the past five years or a Champions Tour co-sponsored and approved tournament within the past two years.

Others eligible to compete in the 2003 MasterCard Championship are Isao Aoki, Morris Hatalsky, Dana Quigley, Jose Maria Canizares, Hale Irwin, Sammy Rachels, Jim Colbert, John Jacobs, John Schroeder, Ed Dougherty, Tom Jenkins, Jay Sigel, Allen Doyle, Tom Kite, J.C. Snead, Dave Eichelberger, Bruce Lietzke, Doug Tewell, Bruce Fleisher, James Mason, Leonard Thompson, Raymond Floyd, Graham Marsh, Jim Thorpe, Bob Gilder, Mike McCullough, Steve Veriato, Stewart Ginn, Gil Morgan, Bobby Wadkins, Hubert Green, Larry Nelson, Tom Watson, Walter Hall, Don Pooley and Fuzzy Zoeller.

Tickets are available by calling (800) 417-2770.