PGA Tour returns with Viking Classic amidst the Open Championship in Europe
PGA Tour will return this week with the latest episode of the Viking Classic at the Annandale Golf Club at Madison, Mississippi with a winner’s prize share of $648,000. The event will be marred by the third major championship, The Open, going on at the other
side of the Atlantic which will logically steal all the limelight away from the Viking Classic. The players however, will be eager to climb up the rankings in the absence of high profile players.
Annandale Golf Course is one of the most frequently visited courses on the PGA Tour and has hosted some 17 events, including the last year’s Viking Classic. Originally designed by Jack Nicklaus in 1980 and later renovated by him in 2006, Annandale is a par-72
course with a total yardage of 7,199. The venue has been hosting the event since 1994 when it was moved from Hattiesburg Country Club the same year.
Some five major winners of the past will be part of the field for the $3.6-million event, including Steve Elkington (1995 PGA Championship), Rich Beem (2002 PGA Championship), Shaun Michael (2003 PGA Championship), Mark Brooks (1996 PGA Championship), and
Lee Janzen (1993, 1998 US Open).
A strong contingent of international players will also be part of the event with players coming from as many as nine different countries. Most of the field comprises of grizzled veterans who are pitching to win yet another title in their careers while the
young guns of the tour will pose all sorts of difficulties for them.
Kyle Stanley, runner-up of this year’s John Deere Classic, who fell in for a dreadful bogey on the last hole, will be one of the favourites among the field. Stanley was the only contender at the TPC Deere Run who gave Steve Stricker a run for his money.
Stricker won the tournament for the third straight year and will be teeing-off at Royal St. George’s this week.
Keegan Bradley, another of the notable players who will be contesting at the event has already won on the tour for the season when he lifted the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
Johnson Wagner, winner of the Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun, is also one of the strong aspirants of another title on the tour for the season, along with D.A Points, who has won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Chez Reavie, who blasted his career-best round of 62 at the halfway mark of the John Deere Classic, after recovering from an eight-month long rehab from his knee surgery, will be eager to bag a win on the tour and boosts of considerable form to achieve the
same.
Heath Slocum will be returning to repeat history, when he won the tournament six years back. He has a few Top-20 finishes in the season and although has a good driving accuracy, he falls behind in his putting stats.
Matt McQuillan, another one of the rookies who performed brilliantly in the John Deere Classic to finish for a joint third, remains a formidable force after earning his tour card for the season.
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