Hooters Tour Well Represented at 109th US Open| NGA Tour News

News >> Hooters Tour Well Represented at 109th US Open

N. Myrtle Beach, SC…2007 Masters Champion Zach Johnson, 2003 US Open winner Jim Furyk and Hooters Tour career wins leader Chad Campbell are three of twelve former Hooters Tour members to gain exempt status for the 109^th US Open Championship, scheduled from June 18-21, 2009 The Black Course at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York.

This impressive list includes 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis, 2003 PGA champion Shaun Micheel, David Toms, Sean O'Hair, Eric Azley, John Merrick, Camilo Villegas, Bubba Watson, Boo Weekley and Stewart Cink.

While these players were exempt from Local and Sectional Qualifying into the Championship based on their PGA Tour performances and world rankings, a group of former and current Hooters Tour members fought through Qualifiers to earn one of the remaining spots.

Current Hooters players Ryan Blaum, Michael Welch, Andrew Svoboda and Shawn Stefani all qualified for the US Open. The group joined former Hooters Tour players Casey Wittenberg, Gary Woodland, George McNeil, Lucas Glover, Tom Lehman, John Mallinger, James Nitties, Darron Stiles, Scott Gutschewski, Chris Stroud, Andrew Parr, Josh McCumber, Colby Beckstrom, J.P. Hayes, Craig Bowden and Kevin Silva

In all told, 32 current or former Hooters Tour players will be in the field for the 109^th US Open Championship, June 15-21, 2009 The Black Course at Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York

The NGA/Hooters Tour is the 3^rd largest men’s 72-hole professional golf tour in the country behind the PGA and Nationwide Tours, and boasts alumni like 2007 Masters Winner Zach Johnson, 2003 PGA champion Shaun Micheel, 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis, 2003 US Open champion Jim Furyk, British Open and PGA champion John Daly, two-time US Open winner Lee Janzen, British Open champion Tom Lehman, as well as PGA champion David Toms, Tour Championship winner Chad Campbell and back to back Reno Tahoe Open winner Vaughn Taylor to name just a few. All told, the NGA/Hooters Tour alumni have an incredible nine Majors to their credit. The NGA Hooters Tour has helped more than 100 golf professionals acquire their PGA, Nationwide and Champion’s Tour card. In fact, 32% of the players that earned their 2009 PGA Tour cards, and 41% of the players that earned full exempt status on the Nationwide Tour started their careers on the NGA Hooters Tour.

For more information about the NGA Hooters Tour, please check out our website at www.hooterstour.com or contact the Tour office toll free at 800-992-8748.