RECENTLY

Champions Tour professional Tom Pernice, Jr. finished T43 at the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA TOUR, shooting 5-under 283.

It was announced recently that Gary Koch will be among 13 athletes scheduled for induction into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in the Class of 2012. Koch, who lives in Tampa, played at King High and the University of Florida. In 1975, he joined the PGA TOUR, where he won six events over two decades. He became a television analyst in 1990 and currently plays on the Champions Tour, where he has three runner-up finishes. The Hall, founded in 1961 by the Florida Sports Writers Association, recognizes athletes and athletic events in the state. The Hall showcases memorabilia from its more than 200 inductees at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in Auburndale.

Champions Tour professionals Brad Bryant and Andy Bean raised money for The First Tee YMCA Par 3 facility based in Lakeland, FL at the seventh annual Barkley, Bean, Bryant & Friends Celebrity Skins Game Shootout. With $150,000 raised this year, the event has contributed a total of $1.05 million. Participating celebrities included Charles Barkley (NBA Hall of Fame), Derrick Brooks (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), and LPGA professionals Na Yeon Choi and Sandra Gal, along with Rod Spittle, Jim Thorpe and Mike Hulbert from the Champions Tour.

COMING UP

World Golf Hall of Fame member Annika Sorenstam will give 36 executive women (nine foursomes) expert instruction at the Allianz Championship Women’s Executive Pro-Am on Tuesday of tournament week at the Old Course at Broken Sound Club. The Women’s Executive Pro-Am offers women a golf and business networking experience along with the opportunity to play nine holes with a Champions Tour professional. The day will include a Q&A session with Sorenstam followed by a private group clinic with the 72-time winner.

The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, won by Fred Couples at Westchester Country Club in August last year, will be known as the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS when it is played at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh, PA in June this year.

Allianz Life will be donating $1,000 for every birdie from 2011 Champions Tour Player of the Year, and Allianz-sponsored golfer Tom Lehman at the Allianz Championship. http://together.pgatour.com/stories/2012-stories/january-2012/allianz-life-to-donate-1000.html

The European Senior Tour Qualifying School was first played in 1993. Since 2001, the event has been played at Pestana Golf Resort on Portugal’s Algarve where this week 62 qualifiers will join 13 exempt players. The top six players will earn full Senior Tour cards for the 2012 season and those finishing seventh to 14th will secure conditional playing rights. Former U.S. Open runner-up Mike Donald and Champions Tour regular Dick Mast will be among the contestants.

CHARLES SCHWAB CUP

Dan Forsman, who leads the Charles Schwab Cup after winning the season-opening event, finished 56th in last year’s Charles Schwab Cup race, 2,333 points behind winner Tom Lehman.

NUMBERS

310 – The number of yards John Huston’s tee shots averaged during the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. Huston leads the Driving Distance statistical category, seven yards ahead of second-ranked Kenny Perry. The winner of the tournament, Dan Forsman, averaged 288.2 yards and ranked T11.

DID YOU KNOW?

Kyle Stanley, who has yet to win on the PGA TOUR, lost a playoff to multiple TOUR winner Brandt Snedeker at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open. The last time the Farmers Insurance Open produced a first-time TOUR winner was 1991 when Jay Don Blake won his lone PGA TOUR title. Blake won twice on the Champions Tour in 2011 and was runner-up to fellow Utah resident, Dan Forsman, at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai two weeks ago.

ON THIS DATE

1/30/05 – Hale Irwin became the first player in professional golf to win the same event five straight years and the same tournament six times overall when he prevailed by five strokes over Dana Quigley at the Turtle Bay Championship.

QUOTES TO NOTE

“The stories of bad scores rarely start with, ‘I ripped one down the middle.’” – A humorous observation from Colin Montgomerie, who will turn 50 on June 23 next year.

“I’d like to get a little more fruit out of it than I have in the past.” – Chip Beck, the 2011 Champions Tour Comeback Player of the Year, expresses his desire to improve on last season, which was his best on the Champions Tour.

2011 U.S. Senior Open Champion Olin Browne

NAPLES, FL (JAN. 31, 2012) – The list of competitors for the 25th anniversary of The ACE Group Classic at The TwinEagles Club, Feb. 13-19, continues to improve as tournament officials announced the additions of several Champions Tour major winners including Olin Browne, Russ Cochran, Fred Funk, Jay Haas and Mark O’Meara today. In addition, tournament fans can register online at www.acegroupclassic.com for an opportunity to walk inside the ropes with a professional.

“The level of talent we have playing in this year’s tournament speaks to the core of what makes Champions Tour golf great – accomplished players and engaging personalities that fans of all ages can enjoy,” said Tournament Director Lesley Baker. “We’re thrilled about what the 25th anniversary of Champions Tour golf in Southwest Florida has in store for the Naples community.”

Defending Senior British Open champion Russ Cochran returns to Naples after finishing T3 in 2011. Cochran will be joined by Mark Calcavecchia, who he beat last July to capture his first major title.

The following week, Olin Browne captured the 2011 U.S. Senior Open crown over Tour veteran Mark O’Meara en route to recording the best season of his Champions Tour career. Browne turned in eight top-10 finishes and finished the year seventh in the Charles Schwab Cup race. O’Meara, the 2010 Senior Players Championship winner, played well enough throughout his 2011 campaign to finish ninth in the Schwab Cup.

Tour favorites Fred Funk and Jay Haas, each with three Tour majors to their credit, also will compete. Funk’s three major titles came in a span of three years – The Tradition twice (2008, 2010) and the U.S. Senior Open in 2009. Haas most recently won the Senior Players Championship in 2009, preceded by the Senior PGA Championship in 2006 and 2008.

Overall, The ACE Group Classic field features 20 different Champions Tour major winners. World Golf Hall of Famer Hale Irwin leads the field with seven major titles, followed by Allen Doyle and Loren Roberts with four majors a piece. Other major winners include Peter Jacobsen, defending champion Bernhard Langer, Graham Marsh and Craig Stadler who each hold two major titles. Single-major winners also headed to TwinEagles are Michael Allen, Brad Bryant, Bruce Fleisher, Tom Kite, Mark McNulty, Jim Thorpe, Bobby Wadkins, D.A. Weibring and Fuzzy Zoeller.

For an exclusive opportunity to walk inside-the-ropes during official tournament play, The ACE Group Classic is also announcing the Honorary Observer Contest presented by the Naples Daily News. Contest winners will get the chance to meet Champions Tour pros, take photos, receive autographs and walk inside-the-ropes during rounds of the tournament. Contest entries are available online at www.acegroupclassic.com and entrants must be at least 12 years or older. The deadline to enter is February 10.

Tickets are available online at www.acegroupclassic.com or by phone (239) 593-3900. Children 17 and under are admitted free all week with a ticketed adult. Admission is free February 13 and 14.

(HONORARY OBSERVER CONTEST) – Enter the Naples Daily News Honorary Observer contest to win the experience of a lifetime! The winner will get the the chance to walk inside the ropes with Champions Tour pros as they compete for the ACE Group Classic title. The winner will also receive an autograph from the players. Don’t miss out on this opportunity and sign up today!

The second deal, which is valid from Jan. 30-Feb. 5, is $5 off each daily ticket purchased. The offer is automatically available online at www.acegroupclassic.com, or in the PGA TOUR Superstore located at 2135 Tamiami Trail North in Naples. The daily ticket is valid any one day February 15-19 at The TwinEagles Club. Future discounts will be announced every Monday.

THIS WEEK’S DISCOUNT (Jan. 30-Feb. 5): $5 off EVERY daily ticket purchased.

Click Here to Access This Week’s Ticket Discount

Other exclusive ticket options celebrating the 25th anniversary of The ACE Group Classic include the debut of the Zig Zag Lounge Hospitality Package. The package provides access to the best views of both the 17th and 18th greens complete with lunch buffet and open bar for only $130. Seating and hospitality at the 17th green Zig Zag Lounge-only is available for $75. Both of these ticket options are only available online at www.acegroupclassic.com or by phone (239) 593-3900.

Children 17 and under are admitted free all week with a ticketed adult. Admission is free February 13 and 14.

MORNING CUP OF JOE (JAN. 26, 2012)

By Joe Kilmas

Hello everybody, welcome once again. More great names have committed to play in the 25th Annual ACE Group Classic at The TwinEagles Club, on the eighteen holes designed by Jack Nicklaus and his son Jack. This is the same layout used when it was previously at TwinEagles and all I can say right now is WOW!. It’s shaping up to be a real shootout. Peter Jacobsen, who resides in Bonita Springs, and Fuzzy Zoeller, winner of the Masters in 1979, and a member at Naples National, are now in. Zoeller, a masterful story teller, is always interesting as he walks around the first tee telling tales. In addition to defending champion Bernhard Langer, there are five Hall of Famers who will be playing this year, Hale Irwin, who holds the Champions Tour record for most wins, Tom Kite, Nick Price, Curtis Strange, and Larry Nelson.

In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the ACE Group Classic here in Naples,  25 days of special discounts for the event began on the 23rd of this month. Go online at www.acegroupclassic.com for details on how to obtain some fantastic opportunities and savings.

Dates for the 25th ACE Group Classic are February 13th thru the 19th. Pro-Ams are held on Wednesday and Thursday of tournament week. This is a great time to see the players close-up and personal. This is the time to get your autographs, and cameras are allowed on those two days only. The field will tee it up for real on Friday the 17th, with the final round on Sunday, the 19th.

It’ll be another fantastic ACE Group Classic, so get your tickets early. See you there.

Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach (Photo by Stan Badz/PGA TOUR)

“We are thrilled to announce the additions of some of golf’s living legends and greatest personalities to our field,” tournament director Lesley Baker said. “The Champions Tour is recognized for its fan friendliness, and these golfers are some of the best of the bunch.”

Jacobsen and Zoeller are two of golf’s greatest entertainers. Bonita Springs resident Jacobsen is a seven-time winner on the PGA TOUR and two-time major champion on the Champions Tour. He is one of golf’s leading ambassadors and currently serves as an ambassador role to The First Tee of Naples/Collier, The ACE Group Classic’s host charity.

Zoeller, an honorary member at Naples National, is revered for his determination to make everyone from tournament partners to volunteers and spectators feel noticed and welcomed. Zoeller’s attitude does not outweigh his achievements, though. He has won two Champions Tour titles and is a 10-time PGA TOUR winner, including the 1979 Masters and 1984 US Open champion.

Irwin, the 1997 and 2002 ACE Group Classic champion, will compete for the 13th time and is the tournament’s all-time leading money earner. He is also the Champion Tour’s all-time victory leader with 45 wins. A 1992 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee and three-time U.S. Open champion, Irwin was the Champions Tour’s Player of the Year in 1997, 1998 and 2002.

A 2004 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee, Kite owns 19 PGA TOUR titles, 10 Champions Tour victories and the 1972 NCAA Individual Championship trophy while at the University of Texas. This will be his 11th appearance at The ACE Group Classic.

Inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2003, Price captured three major championships including back-to-back majors at the 1994 British Open and PGA Championship. A native of South Africa, Price has posted four victories on the Champions Tour, most recently at the 2011 Toshiba Classic. In 2011, he finished in the top-10 on both the Champions Tour Money List and the Charles Schwab Cup. Price finished T3 in 2011 at the ACE Group Classic.

Strange captured 16 PGA Tour titles in the 1980s and became the first player to surpass $1 million in a season. He was the first person since Ben Hogan (1950-51) to win back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1988 and 1989. Strange was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.

Nelson, a two-time PGA Championship winner (1981, 1987) and the 1983 U.S. Open champion, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006. Since joining the Champions Tour in 1997, Nelson has won 19 events.

Forsman overcame windy conditions during the final round in Hawaii to beat Jay Don Blake by two strokes and earn his third career Champions Tour title.

 For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.acegroupclassic.com or call (239) 593-3900.

MORNING CUP OF JOE (JAN. 20, 2012)

By Joe Kilmas

When you go to The Naples-Ft. Myers Greyhound track in Bonita Springs, you hear the call, “Here comes Sparky”. Move down a few miles to the Twin Eagles Club off Immokalee Road, and you’ll hear “Here comes the 25th”. Rather appropriate as the ACE Group Classic celebrates it’s 25th year in Naples, and I will celebrate my 25th year as head of the Tee Announcers/Starters. This event has come a long way since it’s beginning as the Senior Tour Aetna Challenge at the Club at Pelican Bay. While it has changed names and venues over the years, it hasn’t changed the response of Naples golfers to the now Champions Tour ACE Group Classic.A star studded field is once again expected for this historic event, including the defending champion Bernhard Langer. Many special ticket offers are now available for the event which begins with two days of Pro-Am competition, Wednesday and Thursday, February, 15th and 16th. They’ll tee it up for real on Friday the 17th, with the final round slated for Sunday, February 19th. For more details on tickets go here.

The purse for the tournament is $1.8 million with the winner receiving $307,000 and 307 Schwab Cup points.

Some quick facts to kick off the tour season:

-Three Champions Tour professionals teed off at the PGA Tour Sony Open – Jim Carter, Corey Pavin and Tom Pernice, Jr. Carter eventually missed the cut, Pavin finished T38 and Pernice finished No. 121.

-Dave Rummers, who has played 18 Champions Tour events over the last four years, will be one of four Iowa natives to be inducted into the Iowa Golf Hall of Fame this spring.

-Champions Tour professional Peter Senior narrowly missed qualifying for the 2012 British Open last week. He finished tied for 2^nd after the 36-hole event but was defeated in the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.

-The winner of the season-opener has gone on to finish in the top-five of the Charles Schwab Cup seven times in the 11-year history. However, no winner of the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship has gone on to win the Schwab Cup in the same year.

-100 double bogeys have been recorded on the 5^th by Champions Tour professionals during the 15 years the Hualalai Golf Club has hosted the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. The hole was ranked in the top-50 most difficult holes on the Champions Tour.

-Loren Roberts is 12-time winner on the Champions Tour but has yet to record a hole-in-one on his Champions Tour career. He recorded six while on the PGA Tour.

“At this stage in my life, in what I want to achieve both personally and professionally, the Champions Tour fits like a glove for me.” — 2011 Champions Tour Player of the Year Tom Lehman compares the Champions Tour to the PGA TOUR during the Allianz Championship Media Day last week.

Click here for the complete story from the Champions Tour website

But only one player could take the top spot, and that player was Tom Lehman. After the season he had last year, it’s a fitting honor.

2011’s Player of the Year posted victories in three of his first seven starts on his way to the Charles Schwab Cup. He also earned a career best $2,081,526 to earn the Arnold Palmer Award.  He won the first major of the season, the Regions Tradition, defeating Peter Senior in a two-hole playoff, before winning the Allianz Championship and Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic.

With the season starting up this week, Lehman looks poised to continue his success into 2012.

Click here for the complete article from the Champions Tour Website.

“We’re excited to start building momentum towards our 25th anniversary with the announcement that our champion will return,” said Tournament Director Lesley Baker. “Langer is eager to recapture the success of his record-setting performance last year and we are thrilled to showcase many of golf’s greatest players in a fantastic setting at The TwinEagles Club.”

Langer’s 2011 ACE Group Classic wire-to-wire victory was nothing short of spectacular, as he posted scores of 64-66-66 to finish four shots ahead of Fred Funk and set a tournament record for lowest score (20-under par). The win was Langer’s 14th on the Champions Tour.

Shortly after his win in Naples, Langer underwent surgery on March 23 to repair an injury to his left thumb suffered during a biking accident. He was out of commission for nearly three months before returning to action in mid-June. The injury derailed his quest for four consecutive Player of the Year awards. Langer competed in 10 tournaments on the Champions Tour after recovering from injury and finished in the top-25 all but once.

From 2008-2010, Langer become the only player in history to win both the Jack Nicklaus Trophy (Player of the Year) and the Arnold Palmer Award (Money List Winner) for three straight years.

Tickets to the 2012 ACE Group Classic are on sale at www.acegroupclassic.com, by phone at (239) 593-3900 or in the Naples’ PGA TOUR Superstore. Children 17 and under are admitted free all week with a ticketed adult.