Senior Match Play Challenge breakdown



By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, November 12

Details
When Friday-Sunday
Course Hyatt Dorado Beach (East course), Dorado, Puerto Rico
Par/Yardage Par 72; 6,900 yards
Purse $720,000 (Winner: $240,000)
1999 champion Larry Nelson
Tournament record None
Television None

The tournament
  Hole by hole
  Hole Par Yards
  1 5 520
  2 3 205
  3 4 390
  4 5 525
  5 3 205
  6 4 405
  7 4 430
  8 4 420
  9 4 410
  Out 36 3510
  10 4 360
  11 5 535
  12 3 180
  13 4 380
  14 5 560
  15 4 360
  16 4 400
  17 3 180
  18 4 435
  In 36 3390
  Total 72 6900
No longer is the Silly Season limited to the PGA Tour.

One week after the Senior Tour Championship, the 50-plus circuit begins its offseason with the Senior Match Play Challenge, a 16-player, single-elimination match-play event in Puerto Rico.

Larry Nelson, who just completed the best season on the Senior Tour this year, heads the field. Nelson is the defending champion, and is coming off a year highlighted by six victories and the money title at more than $2.7 million.

But the next three finishers on the money list have bypassed the chance to play in Puerto Rico. Bruce Fleisher, Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan are not in the field. Irwin won the first Match Play Challenge in 1998, defeating Morgan in the final.

Last year, Nelson beat Tom Jenkins 3 and 2 in the final to claim the $240,000 first prize during a tournament hampered by bad weather.

Nelson is the top seed this year, and he'll face Vicente Fernandez in the opening match. Other top seeds include Dana Quigley, Jim Thorpe and Allen Doyle.

All of the matches will be contested over 18 holes at the Hyatt Dorado Beach, a challenging course which begins with a difficult stretch of five holes. Two par-5s and two par-3s are in that five-hole stretch, and shot-making is at a premium early in the match.

ALSO SEE
Fernandez completes run at Senior Match Play

Fernandez wins again, advances to Senior Match Play semis

Fernandez ousts Nelson at Senior Match Play Challenge

Senior Match Play Challenge bracket

Senior Match Play Challenge field

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