Puerto Rico welcomes PGA Tour for new event

2008-03-19

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RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico (Ticker) -- The first full-field sanctioned PGA Tour event ever held in Puerto Rico, the PuertoRico Open, starts Thursday at Trump International Golf Club.

Tom Kite designed the 36 holes at Coco Beach Golf & CountryClub, and a portion of all four nines will be used to composethe 7,569-yard, par-72 layout for the $3.5 million event.

A former U.S. Open champion and World Golf Hall of Famer, Kiteis playing this week on a sponsor exemption and will be makinghis first PGA Tour start since the 2006 Booz Allen Classic.

Most of the world's top players will be about 1,000 miles awayin Miami at the WGC-CA Championship, but there are some inPuerto Rico who are playing well and will be top contenders forthe $630,000 first prize.

Brian Gay will tee it up this week with hopes of pulling off aunique double. Gay won the first event of the season heldoutside the United States, the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico,and goes for international win No. 2 this week.

Joe Durant is in the field and has recorded four top-20 finishesin seven starts. Alex Cejka also comes into the event on aroll with a pair of top 10s in his last three events.

The field also includes eight major champions, with Mark Brooks,Ben Curtis, Lee Janzen, Kite, Tom Lehman, Shaun Micheel, LarryMize and Bob Tway all competing this week.