Elite field to tee off in Lehi tourney

LEHI — The way the tournament is evolving, they're going to have to rename the annual tournament at Thanksgiving Point the "Major" Champions Challenge.

That's because nine of the golfers at this year's Trend Micro Champions Challenge, which is being played today and Tuesday, are former winners of golf's major championships (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA), including two of the three major winners this year.

If you add up all the major championships won by participants in this week's Challenge, you might be surprised to discover the number is 32.

Of course, Jack Nicklaus has won 18 of them, but eight other golfers account for the 14 other "majors," including two of this year's majors winners — Masters champ Mike Weir and U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk, who, by the way, is coming off a victory Sunday at the Buick Open in Michigan.

Tournament officials could probably have talked this year's other major winner — British Open champion Ben Curtis — into coming also, but the tourney was already filled with the top-notch field of 24 golfers.

For years, tournament organizer Johnny Miller has made an effort to bring in top talent from the world of golf, but this year he's outdone himself. Some are even calling it the greatest collection of golfers every to play on a Utah golf course together.

Besides Nicklaus, who is bringing three of his sons along, the tournament will feature two-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin, two-time PGA champion Dave Stockton, British Open and PGA champion John Daly, former Masters champion Craig Stadler and Miller, a U.S. Open and British Open champion, who has all four of his sons playing in the two-day tourney.

Then there's Weir and Furyk, who have made headlines with their major championship victories this year, along with Dean Wilson, a rookie on the PGA Tour, who made headlines when he was paired with Annika Sorenstam at the Colonial earlier this year.

Irwin, Stockton and Stadler will each be playing with their sons in the two-man scramble format

Tuesday, while Furyk is playing with his father, Mike. Weir is playing with old college teammate Wilson, while Daly is paired with Pat Perez, who teamed with him last year to win the Champions Challenge.

This afternoon, each of the professionals and partners will team with different amateurs in a Pro-Am sponsored by SBI and Company. On Tuesday, after a clinic hosted by Johnny Miller at 9 a.m., the 12 teams will tee off in six foursomes beginning at 10 a.m., led by Johnny and Todd Miller and Jack and Mike Nicklaus.