The field for the third Tucson Conquistadores Classic is loaded with familiar names and major champions. Here are 18 players to watch – one for each hole at Omni Tucson National Resort. (Players are listed in alphabetical order; career earnings are for PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions only.)
BILLY ANDRADE
Age: 53
Birthplace: Bristol, Rhode Island
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Won three PGA Tour Champions events – Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge, Boeing Classic, Charles Schwab Cup Championship – in 2015, his second year on tour; won four times in a 10-year span on the PGA Tour (1991 Kemper Open, 1991 Buick Classic, 1998 Bell Canadian Open, 2000 Invensys Classic at Las Vegas); helped lead Wake Forest to the 1986 NCAA championship.
Career earnings: $15.9 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 11
Current Champions money-list rank: 21
PGA Tour Champions wins: 3
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-17
WOODY AUSTIN
Age: 53
Birthplace: Tampa, Florida
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Won three Champions Tour events last year – the Tucson Conquistadores Classic, Mitsubishi Electric Classic and Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf; won four events on the PGA Tour – the first in 1995 (Buick Open) and the most recent in 2013 (Sanderson Farms Championship); shot a 59 in January at the Diamond Resorts Invitational, an unofficial Champions Tour event in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Career earnings: $19.8 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 7
Current Champions money-list rank: 32
PGA Tour Champions wins: 3
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: 1
JIM CARTER
Age: 55
Birthplace: Spring Lake, North Carolina.
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Runner-up in the 2016 Tucson Conquistadores Classic, his best finish on the Champions Tour; won the 2000 Touchstone Energy Tucson Open for his lone PGA Tour victory; won the 1994 Nike New Mexico Charity Classic on the Web.com Tour; inducted into the Arizona State Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 after a standout career that included becoming ASU’s first NCAA men’s golf champion in 1983.
Career earnings: $5.5 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 47
Current Champions money-list rank: 72
PGA Tour Champions wins: 0
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: 2
FRED COUPLES
Age: 57
Birthplace: Seattle
Major championships: 1992 Masters
Career highlights: Won 15 times on the PGA Tour over a span of 21 years (1983-2003), including the 1998 Memorial Tournament and the 1996 Players Championship; has won 12 times on the Champions Tour, including last month’s Chubb Classic, the 2013 Charles Schwab Cup Championship and the 2012 Senior Open Championship; participated in five Ryder Cups and five Presidents Cups and served as Presidents Cup captain three times; spent 16 weeks at No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings in 1992; inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in May 2013.
Career earnings: $31.6 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 62
Current Champions money-list rank: 1
PGA Tour Champions wins: 12
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: N/A
MARCO DAWSON
Age: 53
Birthplace: Freising, Germany
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Recorded first PGA Tour Champions victory – and first professional victory of any kind in more than 12 years – at the 2015 Tucson Conquistadores Classic; four months later, won the Senior Open Championship, defeating Bernhard Langer by one stroke; best PGA Tour finish was second place at the 1995 Greater Milwaukee Open; had three top-10 finishes and nine top-25s in 22 Champions Tour events last year.
Career earnings: $6.9 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 39
Current Champions money-list rank: 28
PGA Tour Champions wins: 2
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-4
JOE DURANT
Age: 52
Birthplace: Pensacola, Florida
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Won the 3M Championship in 2016, the second year in a row he finished in the top five in the Schwab Cup standings; had 13 top-10 finishes in 25 events in 2016; recorded one victory (Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge) and three second-places finishes in 2015, his first full season on the PGA Tour Champions; has four career PGA Tour victories (1998 Motorola Western Open, 2001 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, 2001 Genuity Championship, 2006 Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort); named PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year in 2001.
Career earnings: $18 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 3
Current Champions money-list rank: 11
PGA Tour Champions wins: 2
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-17
CARLOS FRANCO
Age: 51
Birthplace: Asuncion, Paraguay
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Won four times on the PGA Tour from 1999-2004; three wins came in 1999 and 2000, when he had 13 top-10 finishes (including the Masters each year); PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in ’99; lone victory on the Champions Tour came at last year’s Shaw Charity Classic; is credited with 27 international victories; two-time participant in the Presidents Cup.
Career earnings: $10.2 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 35
Current Champions money-list rank: 5
PGA Tour Champions wins: 1
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-49
HALE IRWIN
Age: 71
Birthplace: Joplin, Missouri
Major championships: 1974 U.S. Open; 1979 U.S. Open; 1990 U.S. Open
Career highlights: Irwin’s 45 PGA Tour Champions victories, compiled from 1995-2007, are by far the most of all time; won nine times in 1997 and seven times in ’98, when he also finished second six times (in 22 starts); has 20 total PGA Tour victories, the first coming in 1971, the last in 1994; member of five U.S. Ryder Cup teams, compiling a 13-5-2 record; U.S. captain in first Presidents Cup in 1994 (U.S. defeated International Team 20-12); member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Career earnings: $33 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 50
Current Champions money-list rank: 89
PGA Tour Champions wins: 45
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: 68
LEE JANZEN
Age: 52
Birthplace: Austin, Minnesota
Major championships: 1993 U.S. Open; 1998 U.S. Open
Career highlights: Has eight career PGA Tour victories; in addition to pair of U.S. Open triumphs, Janzen won the 1995 Players Championship; lone Champions tour victory came at the 2015 ACE Group Classic; played for two U.S. Ryder Cup teams; attended Florida Southern, which he led to back-to-back NCAA Division II national championships in 1985 and ’86.
Career earnings: $17.5 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 54
Current Champions money-list rank: 15
PGA Tour Champions wins: 1
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-40
JERRY KELLY
Age: 50
Birthplace: Madison, Wisconsin
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Has three career victories on the PGA Tour (2009 Zurich Classic, 2002 Sony Open, 2002 Advil Western Open); had eight total top-10s in 2002, when he earned a career high $2,946,889; has seven second-place finishes, 10 thirds and 91 top-10s in his PGA Tour career; tied for fifth in the 2007 Masters and for seventh in the ’07 U.S. Open; finished third in his Champions Tour debut at the 2017 Chubb Classic.
Career earnings: $28.9 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: N/A
Current Champions money-list rank: 18
PGA Tour Champions wins: 0
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: N/A
TOM KITE
Age: 67
Birthplace: McKinney, Texas
Major championships: 1991 U.S. Open
Career highlights: Won 19 times on the PGA Tour; notched at least one victory in every year but one from 1981-93 and at least four top-10 finishes every year from 1974-94; named PGA of America Player of the Year in 1989, when he was the PGA Tour’s leading money-winner for the second time; won 10 PGA Tour Champions tournaments between 2000 and ’08; played on seven U.S. Ryder Cup teams, compiling a 15-9-4 record (5-0-2 in singles), and served as captain in 1997; member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Career earnings: $27.2 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 93
Current Champions money-list rank: 62
PGA Tour Champions wins: 10
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-75
BERNHARD LANGER
Age: 59
Birthplace: Anhausen, Germany
Major championships: 1985 Masters; 1993 Masters
Career highlights: 30 PGA Tour Champions victories – second most all time – include five majors; won four times in 2016, including two majors (Senior Players Championship, Regions Tradition); credited with 59 worldwide victories in addition to PGA and Champions titles; has 23 runner-up finishes on PGA Tour Champions since 2012; four-time winner of Charles Schwab Cup; six-time Champions Tour Player of the Year; 10-time member of European Ryder Cup team and captain in 2004; European Tour money leader in 1981 and ’84; European Tour Player of the Year in 1985 and ’93; member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Career earnings: $31.7 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 1
Current Champions money-list rank: 2
PGA Tour Champions wins: 30
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: 3
SCOTT McCARRON
Age: 51
Birthplace: Sacramento, California
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Has three victories apiece on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour; had 39 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour from 1995-2011; three Champions Tour victories include last month’s Allianz Championship; runner-up in the 2016 Senior Open Championship; tied for 10th three times in PGA Tour majors over a two-year span (1996-97).
Career earnings: $14.8 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 5
Current Champions money-list rank: 3
PGA Tour Champions wins: 3
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-17
KENNY PERRY
Age: 56
Birthplace: Elizabethtown, Kentucky
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Has won 14 career PGA Tour events, including three victories at the Memorial Tournament; first PGA win was at 1991 Memorial; won five PGA Tour events in 2008 and ’09, when he was in his late 40s; PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year in 2013, when he won three tournaments, including the Constellation Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open, and the Charles Schwab Cup; runner-up in this year’s Allianz Championship; member of two Ryder Cup teams and four Presidents Cup squads.
Career earnings: $39.7 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 41
Current Champions money-list rank: 6
PGA Tour Champions wins: 8
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-49
JEFF SLUMAN
Age: 59
Birthplace: Rochester, New York
Major championships: 1988 PGA Championship
Career highlights: Has won six times apiece on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour; second PGA Tour victory came at the 1997 Tucson Chrysler Classic; has appeared in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championships nine years in a row, tying Bernhard Langer for the longest active streak; had seven or more top-10 finishes in each of those seasons.
Career earnings: $28.8 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 22
Current Champions money-list rank: 9
PGA Tour Champions wins: 6
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-11
STEVE STRICKER
Age: 50
Birthplace: Edgerton, Wisconsin
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: About to make his Champions Tour debut, Stricker has 12 PGA Tour victories; wins include the 2011 Memorial Tournament and the 2001 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship; finished fourth in last year’s Open Championship, his 13th top-10 in a major; three-time member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team; five-time member of the U.S. Presidents Cup team and will serve as captain this year; won the 2012 Payne Steward Award.
Career earnings: $42.4 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: N/A
Current Champions money-list rank: N/A
PGA Tour Champions wins: 0
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: N/A
KEVIN SUTHERLAND
Age: 52
Birthplace: Sacramento, California
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Has one PGA Tour victory, at the 2002 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship; has 25 top-10 finishes in 57 career starts on the Champions Tour, including both of his appearances this season; had five runner-up finishes in past two seasons; two-time All-American at Fresno State after starting his career there as a walk-on; at 2014 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, became the first Champions Tour player to shoot a 59
Career earnings: $18.8 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 6
Current Champions money-list rank: 16
PGA Tour Champions wins: 0
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-11
DUFFY WALDORF
Age: 54
Birthplace: Los Angeles
Major championships: N/A
Career highlights: Won four times on the PGA Tour from 1995-2000; his two career PGA Tour Champions victories include last year’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai; has finished in the top 25 in more than half the PGA Tour Champions events he has entered (66 of 103) and had 10 top-10s in 2016; two-time All-American at UCLA and 1985 College Player of the Year.
Career earnings: $16.5 million
2016 PGA Tour Champions money-list rank: 10
Current Champions money-list rank: 14
PGA Tour Champions wins: 2
Last year at Tucson Conquistadores Classic: T-6
