Ernie Els leads strong field for Dick’s Open
BINGHAMTON, New York — After a dark year followed by a decidedly modified version last summer, the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open is in celebration mode for its return to supposed normalcy this week at the En-Joie Golf Course.
The stars of the Over-50s group line up in the best of ways to compete for a $2.1 million prize pool at a municipal course that will host PGA Tour sanctioned golf for the 51st time.
The competition starts on Friday morning, with the end of the game – if everything goes according to plan – expected to take place in Endicott on Sunday around 5.30am.
Aside from the use of digital tickets, which are becoming increasingly popular in the sports and entertainment industries, there will be no holdovers from last year’s ticketing model. For 2021, when capacity has been capped at 5,000 per day in deference to ongoing COVID precautions — including Friday’s Old Dominion concert — there were no exceptions to the $500 all-inclusive package for the actual one Competition.
The field has been assembled – registrations close at 5:00 p.m. Friday and participants in the $2.1 million PGA Tour Champions event include:
• Steven Alker, who tops the 2022 PGA Tour Champions tally with $2,321,361.
• Alex Cejka, who has finished in the top four three times this season.
• Darren Clarke, winner of last month’s Senior British Open.
• Ernie Els, a one-shot second last summer in his Dick’s Open debut.
• Jim Furyk, a 17-time regular tour winner who was a three-time winner and three-time runner-up in 2020-21.
• Padraig Harrington, two-time British Open winner and this year’s US Senior Open winner.
• Miguel Angel Jimenez, 10-time top 10 finisher this year, who won the Boeing Classic last weekend.
• Bernhard Langer, 43-time PGA Tour Champions winner who led the 2014 Dick’s Open.
“I had a great time last year and you had a great champion, Cameron Beckman,” Els said via video on Twitter. “…I’m really looking forward to coming back and enjoying the golf course and the people. Everything about the Dick’s tournament is world class.”
The field of 78 players will be completed in today’s four-way qualifier at The Links at Hiawatha Landing in Apalachin.
The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open has been held at Endicott every year since 2007 except for 2020 when the event was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Only one previous final round of the Dick’s Open has been played later in a calendar year as this week, August 21st, approaches. That happened in 2015, when Jeff Maggert scored a two-stroke win over Paul Goydos on August 30 for his fourth win in a 10-start span—as one astute columnist wrote, “…pretty good Langerian, or formerly, Irwinian.”
A pre-competition treat is the UHS Golf Expo, featuring World Golf Hall of Fame member and PGA Tour Champions legend Bernhard Langer. That will take place on Wednesday, with Langer’s presentation taking place sometime at 6:15 p.m. on the 18th green.