Greater Hickory Classic opens with star-studded field

R.W. Eaks, champion each of the last 2 tourxml_naments, is in the field

By: John Dell | Hickory Daily Record
Published: September 18, 2009

CONOVER --

The seventh Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn has a field with star power.

Eight of the top 10 and 26 of the top 30 golfers on the Champions Tour money list will compete, with play scheduled to start today at Rock Barn Golf and Spa.

In what could be this tournament's final run, fans from the Hickory area and beyond will get to see the best.

There are five full-field tournaments left in the Charles Schwab Cup points race, and leader Fred Funk will have a chance to extend his advantage. Second-place Loren Roberts and third-place Bernhard Langer are not in the field.

Funk, who has shared time on the PGA Tour this season, has top-10 finishes in 15 tournaments, with one victory. Others in the top 10 in points who will play this weekend are Larry Mize, John Cook, Mark McNulty, Joey Sindelar, Jeff Sluman, and Mike Reid.

R.W. Eaks won his second straight title last year, shooting 61-68-71 to finish at 16 under, four shots clear of Tom Kite and Tom Jenkins.

This year's purse is $1,750,000, with $262,500 to the winner.

One of the "rookies" in the GHC will be David Frost, a 10-time winner on the PGA Tour. He just turned 50 and will make his Champions Tour debut. Also, Mize, Bob Tway, Hal Sutton and Sandy Lyle will play at Rock Barn for the first time.

The field of 78 includes six members of the World Golf Hall of Fame — Kite, Larry Nelson, Nick Price, Curtis Strange, Lee Trevino and Lanny Wadkins, who will be inducted in November — and has a combined 25 majors titles and nearly 400 PGA Tour wins.

Six former Wake Forest golfers are entered — Wadkins, Strange, Jay Haas, Jay Sigel, Gary Hallberg and Leonard Thompson, who will be playing in his 999th tournament (PGA and Champions tours combined).

Other notables in the field will be: Bermuda Run's Walter Hall, who is winding down his 12-year career on the Champions Tour; Chip Beck, a Fayetteville native; Mike Goodes, a Reidsville native who lives in Browns Summit; Gene Jones, a High Point native; and Jim Thorpe, a Roxboro native.

Joining late were four golfers who advanced through the Monday-qualifier. Jack Ferenz and Jay Don Blake shot 65s, and Chris Starkjohann and Javier Sanchez survived an eight-man playoff.

The 54-hole tournament will end Sunday, and the tour will move to next week's SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary.