NGA Hooters Tour Well Represented At British Open

North Myrtle Beach, SC… Ben Curtis, winner of the 2003 British Open, and John Daly, winner of the 1995 British Open Championship at St. Andrews, are two of twelve former Hooters Tour players to gain exempt status for the 2005 British Open Championship, scheduled from July 14-17 at The Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.

This impressive list includes 1996 British Open Champion Tom Lehman, 2003 PGA Champion Shaun Micheel, 2003 US Open champion Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink, Steve Flesch, Zach Johnson, Chad Campbell, Jerry Kelly and David Toms.

While these players were exempt from International Qualifying into the Championship based on their PGA performances and world rankings, a group of current and former Hooters Tour members fought through Qualifiers to gain one of the remaining spots.

In Melbourne, Australia at Kingston Heath GC current member Nick Flanagan, the 2003 U.S. Amateur Champion, defeated current member and fellow Australian Andrew Tschudin in a three-way playoff to earn one of four spots to St. Andrews. Meanwhile, in Summit, New Jersey at Canoe Brook GC, current member Wilhelm Schauman (Sweden) and former member Scott Gutchewski (Omaha, NE) took two of the fourteen possible spots to earn their birth in the Open Championship.

In all told, 15 current or former Hooters Tour players will be in the field for the British Open Championship, July 14-17, 2005 at The Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Jim Furyk                        Chad Campbell               Wilhelm Schaumen
Ben Curtis                       Tom Lehman                  Scott Gutchewski
Shaun Micheel                 Zach Johnson                  Nick Flanagan
Joe Durant                      David Toms                    John Daly
Jerry Kelly                      Steve Flesch                  Stewart Cink