Four PGA TOUR Winners Commit to Playing in the 2017 Pacific Links

August 10, 2017

Four PGA TOUR Winners Commit to Playing in the 2017 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship

MEDIA KIT

Tom Lehman, Mark O’Meara, Jerry Kelly and Rocco Mediate all commit to competing in Victoria

VICTORIA, B.C. (August 10, 2017) – Tournament Organizers announced today that four golf stars have committed to playing in the 2017 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship; Tom Lehman, Mark O’Meara, Jerry Kelly and Rocco Mediate will all be joining the famed field. The event will take place at Bear Mountain Golf Resort in Victoria, British Columbia the week of September 11-17, 2017.

Tom Lehman, who currently sits ninth on the Charles Schwab Cup money list, is the only golfer in history to have been awarded Player of the Year honours on all three tours operated by the PGA: the PGA TOUR, Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR Champions. Lehman captured his first major title by winning the 1996 Open Championship at Royal Lytham. He broke the Links course record with a 64 in the third round. In 2009, Lehman became the 13th player to win his PGA TOUR Champions debut tournament. He teamed up with Bernhard Langer to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in a playoff over Jeff Sluman and Craig Stadler. The Austin, Minnesota native has spent the last seven years on the PGA TOUR Champions, winning 10 tournaments.

Mark O’Meara has spent nearly 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking from their debut in 1986 to 2000. In a late finale to his PGA TOUR career, O’Meara won two majors in 1998, The Masters and the Open Championship. In the same year, he also won the Cisco World Match Play Championship and reached a career best of second on the Official World Golf Ranking. In 2007, O’Meara began play on the PGA TOUR Champions and had numerous top-10 finishes in his first three seasons including several runner-up finishes. In 2010, he broke through with a win in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with Nick Price, followed by his first senior major victory in the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2014 and was inducted in July 2015.  O’Meara has begun to develop a golf course design practice and is currently a brand ambassador of Pacific Links International.

Jerry Kelly is in his first year on the PGA TOUR Champions and currently sits at 24th on the Charles Schwab Cup money list. The Madison, Wisconsin native has won three PGA TOUR events in his career, with the most recent coming in 2009 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Kelly made his PGA TOUR Champions debut at the 2017 Chubb Classic, where he finished T3.

Rocco Mediate has won six times on the PGA TOUR and three times on PGA TOUR Champions. Mediate’s most notable moment of his career came in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines where he finished runner-up after losing the first sudden death hole after an 18-hole playoff to Tiger Woods. Mediate joined PGA TOUR Champions in 2013 and won in his debut at the Allianz Championship, the 16th PGA TOUR Champions player to do so. After shooting a 61 in the second round, he claimed victory over Bernhard Langer and Tom Pernice, Jr. with a birdie on the last hole. He won his second PGA TOUR Champions tournament that September, at the Shaw Charity Classic. In 2016, Mediate won his first senior major championship at the Senior PGA Championship, with a three stroke victory over the defending champion, Colin Montgomerie.

Tickets for the event can be purchased at www.pacificlinkschampionship.comthrough the BUY TICKETS tab. Fans can choose from the following ticket options:

• WEEKLY PASS – WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY: $99 (INCLUDES FREE PARKING & OFFICIAL PROGRAM)
• DAILY PASS – FRIDAY, SATURDAY OR SUNDAY: $40
• PRO-AM DAILY PASS – WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY: $25
• CHAMPIONS CLUBHOUSE VIP PASS – FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: $200
• TRAVEL TICKETS – ROUNDTRIP AIRFARE ON PACIFIC COASTAL AIRLINES FROM VANCOUVER, KELOWNA, OR PRINCE GEORGE TO VICTORIA – VALID ON ANY TICKET: Starting at $175

To register as a volunteer, visit the tournament website at http://www.pacificlinkschampionship.com/ and click the REGISTER TO VOLUNTEER tab.

About Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship

The Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship is an official event on PGA TOUR Champions featuring the world’s premier golfers aged 50 and older competing for a US $1.8 million purse. Tournament play at the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship will be held on the Jack and Steve Nicklaus Co-Design Mountain Course at Bear Mountain Golf Resort in Victoria, British Columbia, from September 11-17, 2017.

Tournament week in Victoria will begin with the Official Pro-Ams on Wednesday and Thursday, followed by 54 holes of championship play from Friday through Sunday, with no cut.

Website: www.PacificLinksChampionship.com

Twitter: @PacificLinksVic

Instagram:@pacificlinksvic

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pacificlinkschampionship/

About Help Fill a Dream (Official Charity Partner)

Help Fill a Dream inspires hope, healing and happiness in children with life-threatening conditions. Help Fill A Dream makes dreams come true, improves the quality of life of sick children and assists families with care and financial support. Since 1986, Help Fill A Dream has touched the lives of 2,245 Vancouver Island and Gulf Islands’ children and their families.

Website: http://www.helpfilladream.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelpFillADream

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelpFillADream/

About Pacific Links International

Pacific Links was founded in 2009 to provide members with a premium golf experience through an innovative international membership structure focused on the Chinese golfer. Pacific Links offers them access to the finest collection of high quality golf clubs in the world. Since 2012, the Pacific Links Network of Affiliated and Reciprocal clubs now stands at over 600 properties located in 27 countries around the world. With a strong membership base continuing to grow in China, the planned expansion into other parts of Asia and the aggregated population of members from all the participating clubs, Pacific Links is now expanding the brand platform to encompass more than just golf. We are positioning Pacific Links International to be the preeminent Lifestyle portal for China’s HNW customer providing high demand travel itineraries inspired by golf but encompassing concierge services, flights, accommodations, local tourism experience and travel butler assistance. The main feature of a Pacific Links membership is reciprocal access. In the next 10-15 years, PLI will further expand its international affiliate network to over 1,000 clubs in North America, Europe, Australia, Japan and the entire Southeast Asia. www.pacificlinks.com

About Bear Mountain Golf Resort

Located on southern Vancouver Island  a region known for its year round golf climate, stellar fishing opportunities and strong local food movement – Bear Mountain Resort offers two outstanding golf courses that combined represent the only 36-hole Nicklaus Design golf experience in Canada. The Mountain Course, a Jack and Steve Nicklaus Co-Design, features impressive landscape and dramatic terrain that lead to breathtaking 180 degree views of nearby Victoria, the Pacific Ocean and the Olympic Mountains of Washington State. The course, a par 70 playing at 6,900 yards, sets atop a 1,100-foot mountain and has been assigned a slope rating of 142 from the back tees. The 18-hole, par 71 Nicklaus Design Valley Course, a spectacular golf setting that is nestled in a pristine natural 102 acres of mature forests, measures just under 7,000 yards. Surrounded by 3,000 acres of parks and natural setting so close to a capital city. More than a resort and an incredible community, Bear Mountain is also home to Golf Canada’s National Development team, the high performance training centre of Canada’s National Mountain Bike team, and the construction of western Canada’s largest indoor/outdoor clay court tennis facility supported by Tennis Canada and Tennis BC is underway. The newly renovated Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort and Spa rounds out the amenities offering guests a luxurious getaway with outstanding fine dining options, the award-winning Sante Spa, and the Bear Mountain Golf Academy. www.bearmountain.ca

About PGA TOUR Champions

PGA TOUR Champions is a membership organization of golf’s most recognizable and accomplished players, age 50 and older, including 32 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. The Tour’s mission 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 and generate significant charitable and economic impact in tournament communities. In 2017, the PGA TOUR Champions schedule includes 26 tournaments in 18 states, Japan, Wales and Canada, with purses totaling more than $55 million. The Charles Schwab Cup, which includes the Regular Season and the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, is used to determine the season-long champion. All events are televised in the United States, with most receiving complete coverage on Golf Channel, the exclusive cable-television partner of PGA TOUR Champions. Internationally, telecasts air live, tape-delayed or in a highlights-package format in excess of 190 countries and territories, reaching more than 330 million potential households. The PGA TOUR’s web site is PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Follow PGA TOUR Champions at facebook.com/PGATOURChampions, on Twitter @ChampionsTour and on Instagram @pgatourchampions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Matt Bontorin
Public Relations Manager
Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship
P: (647) 381-1463
E: mbontorin@sportboxgroup.com