PGA MEDIA GUIDE PGA Professional National Championship Presenting Sponsors: Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra; Club Car 2010 Facts and Format Tarheel Tour (egolf Tour), and SBC Futures Tour events be- Dates: June 27-30 tween May 10, 2009 - May 11, 2010. (The U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open, PGA Championship and Senior PGA Champi- Site: The Donald Ross Course and The Pete Dye Course French Lick (Ind.) Resort onship are excluded from the 10-tournament count.) The Callaway Golf PGA Assistant Champion will be ex- Presenting Sponsors: empt into the national field, provided that he or she was a PGA Titleist, FootJoy and Cobra; Club Car member at the time he or she won the Championship, and is Exclusive Media Partner: Golf Channel eligibly employed or in an eligible PGA classification at the Contributing Partner: PGA Tour time of entry into the PGA Professional National Champion- Defending Champion: Mike Small, Champaign, Ill. ship. Rules and Regulations The Rules of Golf, which govern Television: Golf Channel (All Times Eastern – TBD) play, are determined by the United States Golf Association and applied by the PGA of America Rules Committee. The First Round: Sunday, June 27 PGA Professional National Championship is subject to the Second Round: Monday, June 28 overall supervision of the board and the PGA Rules Third Round: Tuesday, June 29 Committee. Final Round: Wednesday, June 30 Prize Money and Awards The 2010 PGA Professional National Championship features a $550,000 purse. The 2010 Champion’s name will be inscribed on the Walter Hagen Cup, which is enshrined at the PGA Historical Center in Port St. Lu- The Walter Hagen Cup cie, Fla. The 2010 PGA Professional National Champion receives exemptions for the following: Presented to the PGA Professional Na- n 2010 PGA Championship tional Champion, the Walter Hagen Cup is n 2011 PGA Cup named after the n Six PGA Tour events over a 12-month period legendary golfer, five-time PGA Method of Play Stroke play, four rounds, 18 holes daily Champion and one on two courses. The entire field of 312 will compete on each of the 35 original course once in the first two rounds. Following the first 36 founders of The holes of play, the field will be reduced to the low 70 scorers PGA of America. and those tied for 70th place. Those players will compete in Hagen elevated the the final two rounds on The Pete Dye Course. In the event of role of the PGA a tie for first place upon completion of play, there will be a Professional hole-by-hole playoff. throughout his ca- Eligibility The field of 312 will be limited to those PGA reer. The Haig’s members who are eligibly employed as PGA Professionals inspirational career and in certain pre-established membership classifications as is reflected by to- of May 12, 2010. The PGA of America reserves the right to de- day’s PGA termine whether or not any applicant is so employed and to Professionals in the national championship – reject any applicant who does not meet the requirements. displaying playing skills under a national spot- No player will be eligible if he or she has played in more light while also serving their respective than 10 combined PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Nationwide facilities and golf communities as managers, Tour, LPGA, PGA European Tour, Canadian Tour, Austra- merchandisers and respected teachers of the lia/New Zealand Tour, JPGA Tour, Sunshine Tour (South Af- game. The PGA Professional National Cham- rica), Asian Tour, Safari Tour, PGA Challenge Tour, pion receives a replica of the crystal Walter ½ European Seniors Tour, JPGA Senior Tour, WPGT, JLPGA, Hagen Cup, which stands 14 inches high, 12 Hooter’s Tour (Professional Winter and Carolina Series), inches wide and weighs 17½ pounds. Adams Golf Pro Tour Series, Dakotas Tour, Gateway Tours (Beach and Desert), Heartland Players Senior Tour, LPGT, ©2010 PGA of America. All rights reserved worldwide. May not be reproduced without written consent of The PGA of America. PGA MEDIA GUIDE PGA Professional National Championship n The National Championship Makes Its Debut in Indiana PGA Professional National Championship French Lick Resort Awaits Nation’s Finest PGA Professionals Not since the opening of Whistling Straits in Wisconsin has there been a more anticipated golf course opening in the Midwest, and Hall of Fame architect Pete Dye is responsible for both. The new Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort opened to the public on April 24, 2009. In January 2010, Golf Digest paid one of its top honors to French Lick Resort, selecting the Pete Dye Course as its “Best New Public Course” in the country. French Lick Resort is situated on rolling hills overlooking the Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana. The historic resort is lo- cated in the small town of French Lick, where for more than two cen- turies the Pluto Mineral Springs has attracted visitors. It is also known as the hometown of basketball legend Larry Bird. The PGA of America’s first PGA Professional National Champi- onship to be contested in Indiana appropriately arrives at French Lick, along with a crystal trophy – the Walter Hagen Cup – honoring the man who campaigned throughout his career for the elevation of the golf profession and who by his efforts both on and off the course gave added meaning to the multi-talented role of a PGA Profes- The Pete Dye Course, which opened in April 2009, is one of two sional. celebrated layouts at French Lick Resort that will test the best PGA Professionals in June. French Lick also is a town that has become one of the great golf destinations in the country. Since the early 1900s, golf has been an integral part of this resort. Tom Bendelow designed the first course in 1907 followed by legendary Donald Ross 10 years later. In 2009, French Lick moved to a new level with the opening of The Pete Dye Course. Dye, an Indiana native and 2008 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, is renowned for his innovative course designs. In 1982, Dye introduced stadium golf at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. What followed were a series of Dye signature designs including The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., and now French Lick Re- sort. “I have spent the past five decades designing golf courses all over the world, including courses on great coastal sites,” says Dye, the 2004 PGA Distinguished Service Award recipient. “The course at French Lick Resort brings great excitement to [wife] Alice and me because the course is on arguably the best inland site I have ever worked on.” Complementing the new Pete Dye course at French Lick Resort is the historic Donald Ross course, which has just undergone a $4.6 million restoration project that has brought the course back to Ross’s original plans. French Lick is now the only resort in the world that combines the classic history of Donald Ross and the modern-day design of the leg- endary Dye. This combination is a spectacular opportunity for golf- ers to experience two of the best designers who ever shaped beautiful landscapes into golf courses. French Lick Resort is a $500 million historic restoration and ca- sino development project that includes the West Baden Springs Ho- French Lick Resort also has a historic tel, French Lick Springs Hotel and the new French Lick Casino. This bond with The PGA of America, thanks to premier resort and casino destination in southern Indiana features itsmostflamboyantchartermember– 686 guest rooms and suites; a 51,000-square-foot, single-level ca- Walter Hagen (above). The “Haig” cap- sino; 45 holes of golf, including the fully restored 1917-designed tured the 1924 PGA Championship at the Donald Ross Course at French Lick and the new, 18-hole Pete Dye resort’s Donald Ross Course, defeating Course at French Lick, two full-service spas with a combined 36 Jim Barnes, 2-up, and thus beginning his treatment rooms totaling 42,000 square feet; meeting and event remarkable record four-year winning space totaling 115,000 square feet and an array of dining and enter- streak in the major championship. tainment options. ©2010 PGA of America. All rights reserved worldwide. May not be reproduced without written consent of The PGA of America. PGA Professional National Championship PGA MEDIA GUIDE The Donald Ross Course The Pete Dye Course With a career that spanned from the early 1900s to the late 1940s, Those who have previewed the design say that Pete no other golf course architect is credited with more superb designs – Dye has created one of the most breathtaking and excit- or is more revered – than Donald J. Ross. ing 18 holes of golf in the country. Built on the highest Born the son of a carpenter in Dornoch, Scotland, in 1872, Ross point in Indiana, The Pete Dye Course was carefully became a fine golfer and instructor, and learned the art of green keep- carved on a dramatic hilltop offering a variety of eleva- ing and clubmaking from legendary Old Tom Morris in St. Andrews. tion changes, rugged and dramatic terrain, narrow fair- His early instructional success landed him in New England and then ways and ever-changing bunkers. There are spectacular at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina where he would eventually de- views from every hole, some that stretch for more than sign and rebuild four courses, including the world-famous No. 2 40 miles. Course. Integrating the advances in modern equipment, golf Ross, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has a legacy that balls and player fitness, Dye has designed a golf course is equal to his demanding standards.