24 Feb ESPN will air 2010 Wendy’s Champions Skins Game this Saturday and Sunday
Terry Gannon, Andy North Judy Rankin Handle Announcing Duties from Beautiful Ka’anapali, Maui, Hawaii
For Immediate Release
KAANAPALI, Maui – The Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME, which provides sports fans the opportunity to view and listen to golf legends in a more up close and personal manner, will be telecast on ESPN this Saturday and Sunday from the beautiful Royal Kaanapali Golf Course at the Kaanapali Beach Resort.
For the fifth consecutive year, the players will compete in the alternate-shot, team format. Air times for this popular golf format are Saturday, Feb. 27, 4:00-6:00 p.m. ET and Sunday, February 28, 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET (Times vary in different areas; check your local listings). The broadcast will also be available on ESPNHD.
Featured in this year’s edition of the Champions Tour event are the teams of Jack Nicklaus/Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw/Fuzzy Zoeller, Fred Couples/Nick Price and Gary Player/Loren Roberts.
Zoeller and Crenshaw, both Masters champions, returned to defend their 2009 title while Couples made his Champions Tour debut.
Crenshaw is one of five players in the field, along with Nicklaus, Player, Price and Watson, who are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. The eight players in the field have a combined 42 major championship victories.
Handling the announcing duties for ESPN Regional Television golf producer Chris Ohlmeyer will be Terry Gannon and Andy North in the booth and Judy Rankin on the course.
Here is a snapshot of the teams:
Ben Crenshaw—Fuzzy Zoeller: While Zoeller has won two consecutive competitions as an individual—teaming with Peter Jacobsen in 2008 and Crenshaw in 2009—as a duo they hope to become the first team to win back-to-back titles. Hall of Fame member Crenshaw has accumulated 19 PGA TOUR victories, including the 1984 and 1995 Masters. Zoeller won the 1979 Masters, the 1984 U.S. Open and the 2002 Senior PGA Championship during a career that has included 12 victories.
Jack Nicklaus—Tom Watson: These two legends and Hall of Fame members have entertained and amazed sports fans for decades. Still considered the greatest to play the game, Nicklaus started his professional career by winning the 1962 U.S. Open for the first of an unmatched 18 major championship titles. Watson excited the sports world earlier this year as he lead the British Open late into Sunday before losing a playoff to Stewart Cink. It would have been Watson’s sixth Open title. Together this twosome has won 134 official events on both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour.
Gary Player—Loren Roberts: This team is in place for the second time. They finished third with four skins in 2008. Roberts has won the Charles Schwab Cup title two of the past three years and has accumulated 11 wins on the Champions Tour, including three this year. Player has won 163 tournaments around the world, including nine major championship titles. The Hall of Fame member will be competing in this event for the 11th time.
Fred Couples—Nick Price: Not only is this Couples debut on the Champions Tour, both of these players will be making their first appearance in the Wendy’s Champions SKINS GAME. They will also be the youngest team in the competition. Couples enjoyed his year as captain of the victorious U.S. team at the Presidents Cup this fall. He arrives on the Champions Tour with 15 career victories and has won the Tour’s version of the Skins seven times. Price just completed his third year on the Champions Tour and picked up one win this year. He won 18 times on the TOUR.
About Wendy’s Restaurants
Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers Restaurants was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas and is the third largest quick-service hamburger restaurant chain in the world, with more than 6,600 restaurants worldwide.
ESPN Regional Television
ESPN Regional Television (ERT) is the nation’s largest producer and distributor of collegiate sports programming, producing more than 1,000 sporting events per year. In addition to event sponsorship, ERT produces 800 events for national, regional and local networks, serves as the exclusive syndication rights-holder for college conferences (Big 12, Big Ten and BIG EAST) and exclusive marketing rights-holder for select schools (Kansas, Oregon, South Florida and Iowa State). In recent years, ESPN, Inc. has created or acquired events it owns, markets and televises to increase its value to advertisers and affiliates.
About Kaanapali
Located on Maui, along one of the most stunning coastlines in the world, Kaanapali is rich in history and tradition. From the shores of Kaanapali, the neighbor Islands of Lana’i and Moloka’i are in clear view. The slopes of Mauna Kahalawai, the West Maui Mountains, serve as the dramatic backdrop for this luxury, 1,200-acre resort destination which was once a warrior training ground and the playground for Hawai’i’s royalty. As the state’s first planned resort, Kaanapali established a pinnacle for other destinations on the islands to strive to attain over the years. Kaanapali Resort is set beside three miles of white sand beach and is home to Maui’s only oceanfront shopping Center, 11 hotels and condominiums, three world-class spas, two golf courses and over 40 restaurants.
Recognized as the playground of the Pacific, over a half a million visitors choose to visit Kaanapali annually.
The Royal Kaanapali Course, a Robert Trent Jones Senior design, opened in 1962 and has tested the skills of golf professionals and amateurs alike. A Par 71 stretching 6700 yards, the Royal Course combines wide fairways and undulating greens, making it both distinctive and demanding.
Home of the Champions Tour Kaanapali Classic for 14 years, the Royal Kaanapali Course also hosted Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, the Canada Cup and LPGA Kemper Open, donning such golfing greats as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Jan Stephenson and Betsey King. Over the last three years, Kaanapali Golf Resort has invested over $13 million in renovations and infrastructure. Golf course architect, Robin Nelson, was brought in to oversee the rework of the Kaanapali Kai Course and “nip/tuck” enhancements to the championship Royal Kaanapali Course.
For more information about Kaanapali Beach Resort visit www.Kaanapaliresort.com and Kaanapali Golf Resort visit www.kaanapaligolfresort.com or call (808) 661-3271.
Media Contact: Lee Patterson, 704-913-1088, leep@qhcgolf.com