Champions Golf Tour

CHAMPIONS - Principal Charity Classic Preview

From The Sports Network

DATES: Friday, May 29th through Sunday, May 31st

SITE: Glen Oaks Country Club, West Des Moines, Iowa

COURSE ARCHITECT: Tom Fazio (1994)

PAR: 71

YARDAGE: 6,879

Hole-By-Hole:	1 - Par 4 373 Yds	10 - Par 4 418 Yds
	2 - Par 3 203 Yds	11 - Par 5 559 Yds
	3 - Par 4 408 Yds	12 - Par 4 421 Yds
	4 - Par 4 377 Yds	13 - Par 4 407 Yds
	5 - Par 3 195 Yds	14 - Par 3 201 Yds
	6 - Par 4 419 Yds	15 - Par 5 549 Yds
	7 - Par 4 412 Yds	16 - Par 3 170 Yds
	8 - Par 4 369 Yds	17 - Par 4 467 Yds
	9 - Par 5 510 Yds	18 - Par 4 421 Yds
	-------------	-------------
	35 3,266 Yds	36 3,613 Yds

Annual:	9th
Television:	Golf Channel - Friday -- 6:30-8:30 p.m. (et) - taped,
	Saturday -- 6:30-9 p.m. (et) - taped,
	Sunday -- 7-9:30 p.m. (et) - taped
Defending Champion:	Jay Haas
Runner-Up:	Andy Bean
Tournament Record:	197 (Gil Morgan, 2006)
36-Hole Record:	130 (Gil Morgan, 2006)
Course Record:	63 (John Bland, 2002)
Total Purse:	$1,725,000
Shares:	1st Place - $258,750; 2nd Place - $151,800; 3rd Place - $124,200

2008 Finish
Player	Score	Player	Score
Jay Haas	203	John Morse	207
Andy Bean	204	Loren Roberts	207
Nick Price	205	Ron Streck	207
Joey Sindelar	206	Kirk Hanefeld	207
John Cook	207	Tom Purtzer	207
		Bobby Wadkins	207

Past Principal Charity Classic Championship Winners
Year	Winner (Score) -- Runners-Up
2008	Jay Haas (203) -- Andy Bean
2007	Jay Haas (201) -- Brad Bryant, R.W. Eaks
2006	Gil Morgan (197) -- Loren Roberts
2005	*Tom Jenkins (204) -- D.A. Weibring
2004	D.A. Weibring (204) -- Tom Jenkins
2003	Don Pooley (200) -- Bruce Fleisher, Bruce Lietzke, Jim Thorpe
2002	Bob Gilder (200) -- John Bland
2001	Jim Thorpe (199) -- Gil Morgan

* - Won in Playoff

Note:Formerly called Allianz Championship (2001-06).

Top Contenders in the Field
Player	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Jay Haas	---	---	---	---	---	---	Won	Won
Andy Bean	---	---	T-29	---	T-17	T-52	T-10	2nd
Nick Price	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	3rd
Joey Sindelar	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	4th
Tom Purtzer	---	---	T-10	---	T-37	T-10	T-16	T-5
Bobby Wadkins	T-12	T-10	T-34	T-40	T-37	T-46	T-25	T-5
Loren Roberts	---	---	---	---	---	2nd	---	T-5
John Cook	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-5
John Morse	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-5
Keith Fergus	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-31	T-16
Hale Irwin	T-41	T-3	T-10	---	---	---	T-7	T-22
Bob Gilder	T-19	Won	T-14	T-27	T-4	T-16	T-31	T-22
Lonnie Nielsen	---	---	---	T-51	T-34	T-23	T-53	T-22
Mike Goodes	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-22
Brad Bryant	---	---	---	---	T-37	---	T-2	T-30
Mark James	---	---	---	---	T-8	T-52	T-4	T-30
Tom Kite	T-4	T-20	T-5	T-4	---	---	T-25	T-30
Mark O'Meara	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-30
R.W. Eaks	---	T-10	---	---	T-45	wd	T-2	T-36
David Edwards	---	---	---	---	---	T-10	T-4	T-36
Morris Hatalsky	---	T-12	T-14	T-51	T-17	T-6	T-7	T-36
Denis Watson	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-7	T-36
Tim Simpson	---	---	---	---	---	T-16	T-16	T-36
Mark McNulty	---	---	---	T-27	---	T-33	T-16	T-36
Gil Morgan	2nd	T-7	T-46	18th	T-17	Won	T-47	T-36
Mark Wiebe	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-36
Tom Jenkins	T-23	T-20	T-40	2nd	Won	T-23	T-16	T-46
Jim Thorpe	Won	T-20	T-2	T-4	T-54	T-25	T-31	T-46
Craig Stadler	---	---	T-46	---	---	---	---	49th
Jeff Sluman	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-50
Dana Quigley	T-7	T-20	T-34	8th	T-4	T-52	T-16	66th
Dan Forsman	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Gene Jones	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

Sports Network Selections

Pick to Win - Dan Forsman
Darkhorse - Bruce Fleisher

Last Week's Pick to Win (Joey Sindelar) - Finished tied for 22nd
Last Week's Darkhorse (Hal Sutton) - Finished tied for 49th

NOTES:

The Champions Tour travels to Iowa this week for the Principal Charity Classic. This event was previously known as the Allianz Championship from 2001-06. Nine of the top-10 players on the money list are expected to play this week, including Jay Haas, who has won this event the last two years. Haas, the 2006 and 2007 Champions Tour Player of the Year, is currently eighth on the money list, but has yet to win a tournament this season. Money leader Bernhard Langer is not playing this week.

Last year, Haas rallied with a six-under 65 in the final round to repeat as champion. Haas, who won the Senior PGA Championship the week before, finished at 10-under-par 203, which was good for a one-shot win over Andy Bean. It was the third time Haas won back-to-back starts. The title was the 12th on the Champions Tour for Haas.

Haas caught fire on the back nine in the final round. He birdied the par-five 11th to move within two of Nick Price. Haas birdied the par-three 14th and made it two straight with a birdie at 15 that gave him a share of the lead. Haas birdied the par-three 16th for his third consecutive birdie and a one- shot lead at 10-under. At the 17th, Haas got up and down for par to retain his lead before he two-putted for par at the last. While Haas was signing his scorecard and waiting for the final two groups to finish, Price needed a birdie to try to force a playoff. Price parred eight straight from the 10th to hold steady at minus-nine. He hit the green with his approach at the last. Price needed to sink a 26-foot birdie putt to get to 10-under, but instead he three-putted for bogey to end at eight-under.

In 2007, Haas opened with a first-round 65 and cruised to a wire-to-wire victory as he won the Principal Charity Classic by three strokes over Brad Bryant and R.W. Eaks. Haas closed with a two-under 69 in the final round to finish at 12-under-par 201. The win was his third of four wins in 2007. With his win in 2007, Haas matched Hale Irwin's hot start to a Champions Tour career. Irwin and Haas both picked up nine wins in their first 49 Champions Tour starts. Haas joined D.A. Weibring (2004) as the only wire-to-wire winners in tournament history.

The 17th hole at Glen Oaks Country Club ranked as the 29th-toughest hole on the Champions Tour in 2008. The par-four hole played to a scoring average of 4.322 and yielded only 10 birdies for the week.

In 2006, Gil Morgan overcame a two-shot deficit with two holes to play, snatching a victory away from Loren Roberts when Roberts double-bogeyed the 17th hole and Morgan birdied it. Morgan closed with a four-under 67 following rounds of 66-64 to end at 16-under-par 197 for his 24th victory on the Champions Tour. Morgan became the oldest winner in tournament history at 59 years, eight months and 12 days. Morgan won his 25th Champions Tour title at the 2007 Wal-Mart First Tee Open to pass Miller Barber for third place on the all-time wins list. Morgan now trails only Hale Irwin (45) and Lee Trevino (29) in career Champions Tour victories.

When Morgan won in '06, he established a new tournament record of 197, breaking the old mark of 199 set by Jim Thorpe in 2001. He also set a new 36- hole record of 130, breaking the mark of 131 established by John Bland in 2002. Morgan is the all-time money leader at this event with $491,665 in earnings. Thorpe is second with $499,533.

In 2005, Tom Jenkins birdied the second playoff hole to knock off 2004 champion Weibring and win The Principal Charity Classic in the first extra session in tournament history.

The Champions Tour moves to Texas next week for the Triton Financial Classic in Austin, where Denis Watson captured last year's event. The tournament was formally known as the FedEx Kinko's Classic.

05/26 16:25:19 ET

As of May 26, 2009, at 04:25 PM ET