Submitted by Admin on February 14, 2011 - 10:19
The field for the PGA Northern Trust Open, Feb. 15-20, has been finalized and will include some of the biggest names on the PGA TOUR. Defending champion Steve Strickler comes to Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California with hopes of becoming the third player since 2003 to win back-to-back titles at the event.
Also in the field and hoping to join the ranks of former greats, will be two-time Northern Trust Open champion Phil Mickelson, who claimed consecutive titles at Riviera in 2008-09. Mickelson, the No. 4 ranked player in the world, will be making his 13th career appearance at the Northern Trust Open and another win would put him in the company of Ben Hogan (3), Arnold Palmer (3), Lloyd Mangrum (4) and MacDonald Smith (4) as the only players to win the tournament three or more times.
Joining Strickler and Mickelson is 1999 Northern Trust Open champion Ernie Els, the No. 11 ranked player in the world and 18-time PGA TOUR winner. Fan favorite and two-time champion (1990, 1992) Fred Couples returns to Riviera to play his 29th Northern Trust Open. Couples has accumulated an astonishing record at the tournament, which includes 26 made cuts, 19 top-25 finishes and 13 top-10 finishes. In his first season on the Champions Tour in 2010, Couples won four times and was named Rookie of the Year.
Japan's Ryo Ishikawa returns to the site of his first PGA TOUR start and will compete in the Northern Trust Open after receiving a Commissioner's Foreign Exemption for the third-consecutive year. A member of the 2009 International Presidents Cup Team, Ishikawa missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open in 2009 and finished T32 in 2010. He has won nine times on the Japan Golf Tour and posted his first top 10 on the PGA TOUR at the 2010 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship (T9).
Other notable players in the field include 2010 FedExCup champion Jim Furyk, defending British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, former No. 1 Vijay Singh, FedExCup leader Mark Wilson and PGA TOUR rookie Jhonattan Vegas.
The 2011 Northern Trust Open field includes 23 major championship winners with 34 major titles. There are 10 former Northern Trust Open Champions in the field. With a purse of 6.5 million dollars and the winner receiving $1,170,000 this will be an exciting tournament to watch.