NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF.–Past and recent Champions Tour winners and ‘A-list’ golfers continue to line up on the 2011 Toshiba Classic’s red carpet as World Golf Hall of Famers Hale Irwin and Nick Price, third-year Champions Tour player Tom Lehman and second-year Tour player Paul Azinger have stated their intention to play in the 17th-annual Toshiba Classic, March 7-13 at Newport Beach Country Club.
The Toshiba Classic
Hoag Hospital Foundation produces the annual Toshiba Classic and the 2011 tournament will benefit the Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Center at Hoag. During the last 13 years, the Toshiba Classic has generated more than $13 million for charity, the most on the Champions Tour. Televised domestically to over 81 million households on Golf Channel, the tournament generates an estimated $25 million in annual economic impact, benefiting the businesses of Newport Beach and Orange County.
Irwin is the Toshiba Classic’s only two-time champion (1998 and 2002) and is the winningest player in Champions Tour history with 45 victories. Lehman notched his third Champions Tour title in as many years on Tour on Sunday when he birdied the 18th hole to win the Allianz Championship. The foursome of Irwin, Price, Lehman and Azinger own 55 PGA TOUR titles (eight majors) and 51 Champions Tour titles (eight majors).
The $1.7 million Toshiba Classic, the only Southern California event on the Champions Tour, awards a $255,000 winner’s check and is televised on Golf Channel on Friday, March 11 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. PT, Saturday, March 12 from 3:30-6:30 p.m. PT, and Sunday, March 13, from 4-6:30 p.m. PT.
Daily tickets for the Toshiba Classic are $20 if purchased in advance of tournament week, or $25 at the gate. Season patron badges, providing admission to the grounds and clubhouse for practice rounds and the tournament, are $100. Daily patron tickets, providing access to the grounds and the clubhouse on a single day, are $40. Tickets and corporate packages are available by calling (949) 660-1001 or check out AToshibaClassic.com.
Toshiba Classic Executive Director Jeff Purser is looking forward to another award-winning event in 2011. In the 1998 Toshiba Classic, Irwin blazed his way to a final-round 9-under-par 62 to leapfrog the field for a one-stroke win. Four years later, Irwin shot a then-Classic record 17-under-par 196 to win by five shots. Irwin, 65, continues to keep his game sharp and competitive, as his 17th-place finish at last year’s Toshiba Classic and two top-10 finishes in 2010 indicates. He also tied for sixth in last weekend’s Allianz Championship, giving him 199 top-10 career finishes, four shy of tying Sir Bob Charles’ Champions Tour record of 203.
Irwin, a 1992 Hall of Fame inductee, holds seven Champions Tour majors (1998 and 2000 U.S. Senior Opens, 1996, ’97, ‘98 and 2004 Senior PGA Championship, 1999 Ford Senior Players Championship). He captured 20 titles on the PGA TOUR, highlighted by the 1974, 1979 and 1990 U.S. Opens.
A 2003 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee and former World No. 1, Price is in the prime of his Champions Tour career. In 2010, he won his second and third Champions Tour events, notched his best Toshiba Classic result with a tie for ninth place, and placed fifth on the Tour’s money list.
Price is an 18-time PGA TOUR winner, including major championship triumphs at the 1992 and 1994 PGA Championship and 1994 British Open, to go along with 24 other worldwide victories. He won the 1993 and 1994 PGA TOUR Player of the Year awards and was the PGA TOUR’s leading money-winner both years.
Lehman, who tied for third place in his Toshiba Classic debut last year, won in his Champions Tour debut at the 2009 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, and won his first Champions Tour major championship in 2010 at the Senior PGA Championship. He finished runner-up at the 2011 season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai before capturing the Allianz Championship.
A five-time PGA TOUR champion, including the 1996 British Open, Lehman still splits his playing time with the PGA TOUR, where he tallied four top-25 finishes in nine events last year. Lehman is a three-time United States Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup selection and captained the 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Azinger is a 12-time PGA TOUR winner and holder of the 1993 PGA Championship and 1992 TOUR Championship. He was named the PGA and “Golf World” Player of the Year in 1987 after winning three times. Three more wins, including his lone major championship, in 1993 highlighted his career year before he was diagnosed with lymphoma in his right shoulder blade in December.
Azinger was named the PGA TOUR’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2000, a year in which he enjoyed his most lucrative year in PGA TOUR earnings and his first million-dollar year on the circuit since his recovery from cancer. In 2008, he captained the United States Ryder Cup team that he played for on five previous occasions (1989, 1991, 1993, 2002, 2008) and was a 2000 U.S. Presidents Cup pick.
In the 2010 Toshiba Classic, Fred Couples shot an impressive 18-under-par 195 in his Classic debut, and his third Champions Tour start, to win by four shots. His Toshiba Classic triumph stood out in a year where Couples won four events, set the Champions Tour’s new scoring average record (67.96), finished second to 2008 Toshiba Classic champion Bernhard Langer on the Champions Tour’s 2010 money list and Charles Schwab Cup points standings, and was named Champions Tour Rookie of the Year.
The Toshiba Classic’s lead charity and operator is Hoag Hospital Foundation and the 2011 tournament will benefit the Mary and Dick Allen Diabetes Center at Hoag. During the last 13 years, the Toshiba Classic generated more than $13 million for charity, the most on the Champions Tour. Hoag Hospital Foundation also received the inaugural PGA Champions Tour Charity of the Year Award in 1998.