The Champions Tour and the Desert Mountain Club announced today that its season-ending event, the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, will be hosted next year by the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Cochise Course, one of six at the facility designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus, will be the venue for the championship.
The top-30 players on the Champions Tour money-list at the conclusion of the 2012 season are eligible to compete in the limited-field event, to be played October 29 – November 4, 2012.
“The Champions Tour has a lot of history at Desert Mountain and we want to continue making history by bringing one of our premier tournaments to this quality venue,” said Champions Tour President Mike Stevens. “Our players are enthusiastic to return.”
Built in 1987, the 7,019 yard Cochise Course was the host venue for The Tradition, one of five major championships on the Champions Tour, for 13 consecutive years from 1989 to 2001. During that period, the Cochise Course was voted by Champions Tour professionals as the “Best Maintained Golf Course” on Tour and was consistently ranked in the national golf magazines’ top-100 lists.
Desert Mountain offers its members six private Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Courses, the most in one location anywhere in the world. The Cochise Course features rolling fairways surrounded by water and desert rock outcroppings. The hallmark of the course is the par-3 seventh hole and par-5 fifteenth hole where the double green for these two holes sits on a picturesque island, approached from two different directions.
“Desert Mountain has such a strong history not only in club and residential golf but in tournament golf,” said Nicklaus, a four-time winner of The Tradition on the Cochise Course. “The years during which Desert Mountain hosted The Tradition are an important part of the club’s first 25 years and its legacy, and the opportunity to host such a significant event as the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship is an ideal way to celebrate the start of the next 25 years in the Desert Mountain story.
“Cochise is a great example of the variety of golf the members at Desert Mountain get to enjoy and among the reasons the club is so unique. It was a challenge to do six different golf courses on six different properties, and I believe we did a good job in creating courses and golf experiences that play in diverse ways. Of the six distinctive design approaches, Geronimo and Cochise were meant to be golf parks, with the sportier course being Cochise. Variety is the beauty of the overall golf experience there. I have said before, you would be hard-pressed to find a better golf complex in the world than Desert Mountain.”
Bob Jones, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager for Desert Mountain Club, shares the Club’s excitement in hosting the prestigious Schwab Cup event: “The anticipation of the Champions Tour professionals returning to Desert Mountain is exciting for the Club’s members and the community. What a fantastic way for us to showcase our Club and begin celebrating our 25th anniversary.”
John Cook is the two-time defending champion of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, winning at Sonoma Golf Club in 2009 and TPC Harding Park last year. Cook is seeking to become the first player in Champions Tour history to win the event three consecutive years.
The complete Champions Tour schedule for the 2012 season is expected to be finalized later this year.
About The Champions Tour
Collectively, the Champions Tour has the most recognizable and accomplished players in the game with many of its 29 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame competing regularly in its events and numerous other major championship winners among its members. The Champions Tour is a membership organization of professional golfers age 50 and older. Conceived in 1980 as the Senior PGA Tour, it started with just four events and purses totaling $475,000. Points earned in official Charles Schwab Cup events in 2011 will determine the Charles Schwab Cup champion, the season-long competition designed to recognize the Champions Tour’s leading player. The Champions Tour’s primary purpose is to provide financial opportunities for its players, entertain and inspire its fans, deliver substantial value to its partners, create outlets for volunteers to give back, protect the integrity of the game and generate significant charitable and economic impact in communities in which it plays. In 2010, tournaments on all three Tours (PGA TOUR, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour) generated $120 million for local charitable organizations, bringing the TOUR’s all-time total of charitable contributions to more than $1.6 billion. The Commissioner of the PGA TOUR is Tim Finchem. Mike Stevens is President of the Champions Tour. The PGA TOUR’s website is www.pgatour.com, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.
About Desert Mountain
Since 1987, no other club has better defined luxurious desert living and championship golf than Desert Mountain. This success comes from the Members and their common vision to make Desert Mountain the ultimate in high desert lifestyle. Members have demonstrated commitment to this vision through the recent and rapid transaction of becoming a member-owned Club in a community setting, opening the gateway to unlimited possibilities. As one of the world’s finest private residential golf clubs, this master-planned development has set the standard for the casual, yet elegant Southwestern lifestyle. Members of the Desert Mountain Club enjoy world-class service and amenities for the entire family. From dramatic shifts in elevation to rolling fairways, each course designed by Jack Nicklaus is decidedly unique with one constant, pervasive scenic beauty and an exceptional golf experience. The Club also features spa and fitness facilities, swimming pools, nine miles of hiking and biking trails and hardcourt, clay and grass tennis facilities. Member-owned Desert Mountain is the Club of the future.
About Charles Schwab
The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) is a leading provider of financial services, with more than 300 offices and 8.2 million client brokerage accounts, 1.5 million corporate retirement plan participants, 765,000 banking accounts, and $1.65 trillion in client assets. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through its Advisor Services division. Independent investment advisors are not owned, affiliated with or supervised by Schwab. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and mortgage services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com.
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