NEWS

This week's pro golf events | March 16-22, 2015

By The Associated Press
Published on
 
PGA TOUR
ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL
 
Site: Orlando, Florida.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: Bay Hill Club and Lodge (7,419 yards, par 72).
Purse: $6.2 million. Winner's share: $1,116,000.
 
Last year: Matt Every won his first PGA Tour title, rallying to beat Keegan Bradley by a stroke.
 
Last week: Jordan Spieth won the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook, beating Patrick Reed and Sean O'Hair with a 30-foot birdie putt on the third hole of a playoff. The 21-year-old Spieth has two PGA Tour titles and four worldwide victories.
 
Notes: Top-ranked Rory McIlroy is playing the tournament for the first time. He has made two PGA Tour starts this year, missing the cut the Honda Classic and tying for ninth two weeks ago in the WGC-Cadillac Championship. He also has played two European Tour events, winning in Dubai after finishing second in Abu Dhabi. ... Eight-time winner Tiger Woods is skipping the tournament, the second event he has missed since saying he would not return to competition until his game was ready. ... Tournament host Arnold Palmer is 85. ... The Valero Texas Open is next week, followed by the Shell Houston Open and the Masters.
 
 
LPGA TOUR
JTBC FOUNDERS CUP
 
Site: Phoenix.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, Wildfire Golf Club (6,583 yards, par 72).
Purse: $1.5 million. Winner's share: $225,000.
 
Last year: Karrie Webb won for the event for the second time in four years. She matched the course record with a 9-under 63 to beat five players by a stroke.
 
Last event: South Korea's Inbee Park won the HSBC Women's Champions on March 8 in Singapore for her 13th LPGA Tour title. Top-ranked Lydia Ko was second, two strokes back.
 
Notes: Ko has two worldwide victories this year, winning the tour's Women's Australian Open and the Ladies European Tour's New Zealand Women's Open in consecutive weeks. The 17-year-old New Zealander has six LPGA Tour victories and 10 worldwide victories in professional events. ... South Korea's So Yeon Ryu won the LET's World Ladies Championship in China on Sunday, beating Park by a stroke. ... Stacy Lewis won the 2013 tournament. ... Judy Rankin, Sandra Palmer and Donna Caponi are the Pioneers honorees. ... The tour will be in California the next two weeks for the Kia Classic in Carlsbad and the ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage.
 
CHAMPIONS TOUR
TUCSON CONQUISTADORES CLASSIC
 
Site: Tucson, Arizona.
Schedule: Friday-Sunday.
Course: Omni Tucson National, Catalina Course (7,143 yards, par 72).
Purse: $1.7 million. Winner's share: $255,000.
 
Last year: Inaugural event.
 
Last event: Lee Janzen won the ACE Group Classic on Feb. 15 in Naples, Florida, for his first Champions Tour title. He beat Bart Bryant with a par on the first hole of a playoff.
 
Notes: Jesper Parnevik is making his first Champions Tour start. The five-time PGA Tour winner turned 50 on March 7. ... The PGA Tour's defunct Tucson Open was played on the course 30 times from 1965 to 2006. Four-time Champions Tour winner Kirk Triplett won the final Tucson Open in 2006. ... The Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic is next week.
 
EUROPEAN TOUR/EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR
MADEIRA ISLANDS OPEN
 
Site: Santo da Serra, Madeira Islands.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: Santo da Serra Golf Club (6,826 yards, par 72).
Purse: $634,140. Winner's share: $105,690.
 
Last year: England's Daniel Brooks won a playoff in the fog-shortened event overshadowed by the death of caddie Ian MacGregor. MacGregor, working for Alastair Forsyth, collapsed and died of a heart attack on the ninth fairway.
 
Last week: George Coetzee won the Tshwane Open in South Africa on his home Pretoria Country Club course. He beat countryman Jacques Blaauw by a stroke.
 
Notes: Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles west of Morocco. ... Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed the Santo da Serra course. ... The Trophee Hassan II is next week in Morocco.
 
WEB.COM TOUR
CHILE CLASSIC
 
Site: Santiago, Chile.
Schedule: Thursday-Sunday.
Course: Mapocho Golf Club (7,440 yards, par 72).
Purse: $600,000. Winner's share: $126,000.
 
Last year: Canada's Adam Hadwin birdied the final two holes for a one-stroke victory at Prince of Wales Country Club.
 
Last week: Peter Malnati won the Brazil Champions, birdieing the final three holes for a four-stroke victory.
 
Notes: The tournament ends the tour's season-opening, five-event Central and South Americam swing. ... The event is in its first season at Mapocho after three years at Prince of Wales. ... The Louisiana Open is next week.
 
OTHER TOURNAMENTS
 
MEN
 
PGA TOUR LATINOAMERICA: Colombia Open, Thursday-Sunday, Lagartos Club, Bogota, Colombia.
 
SUNSHINE TOUR: Investec Cup, Thursday-Sunday, Millvale Private Retreat, Lost City Golf Course, Sun City, South Africa.
 
NGA TOUR: Pine Classic at Diamondhead, through Wednesday, Diamondhead Country Club, Pine Course, Diamondhead, Mississippi.
 
eGOLF GATEWAY TOUR: Nova Tax Group Open, through Friday, North Stone Country Club, Huntersville, North Carolina.
 
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