GREENSBORO, N.C. – Ernie Els and Jordan Spieth highlight some late additions to the 2013 Wyndham Championship field, the tournament announced tonight. The 74th annual Wyndham Championship begins Monday.
These players join a field that includes defending champion Sergio Garcia, reigning FedExCup champion and 2007 Wyndham winner Brandt Snedeker, 2011 FedExCup champion Bill Haas, 2011 Wyndham winner and 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Wyndham winners Davis Love III, Carl Pettersson and K.J. Choi as well as major winners Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson, David Toms, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink and Mike Weir, Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama and European stars Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer, Nicolas Colsaerts and Paul Casey.
A member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, Els is a four-time Major Championship winner; he won the 1994 U.S. Open, the 1997 U.S. Open, the 2002 Open Championship and the 2012 Open Championship. He is 14th in the Official World Golf Rankings and 85th in the current FedExCup point standings. He is a 19-time PGA TOUR winner and a 47-time winner in International competition. He has two previous Wyndham Championship appearances. He finished tied for ninth in 1997 and tied for 30th in 2011. A native of South Africa, Els lives in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Spieth is 15th in the current FedExCup Point standings and 53rd in the Official World Golf Rankings. When he won the John Deere Classic in July, he qualified for the 2013 Open Championship the next week and earned full PGA TOUR membership status. When he won at 19 years, 11 months and 18 days old, he became the youngest PGA TOUR winner since Ralph Guldahl, the 1939 Wyndham Championship winner, won the Santa Monica Open in California in 1931. He is just the fourth player in PGA TOUR history to win before turning 20 years old.
Spieth has extensive experience at Sedgefield Country Club. He played the AJGA FJ Invitational at Sedgefield in 2008 and ’09; he finished tied for sixth and fourth respectively and was the AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year in 2009. He won the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2009 and ’11 joining Tiger Woods as the only other multiple winner of that event. He turned professional midway through his sophomore year at the University of Texas.
“Today was a pretty good day for the Wyndham Championship,” tournament director Mark Brazil said. “We added a hall of famer in Ernie Els and quite possibly the best young player in the world in Jordan Spieth to a field that was already very strong. I really like the mix of American and International players we have in the field this year led by Sergio Garcia, Webb Simpson, Brandt Snedeker, Zach Johnson, Bill Haas, Padraig Harrington, Martin Kaymer and Hideki Matsuyama – I really like the mix. I think we have more big-name players this year than we’ve had in about 20 years.”
Other players joining the Wyndham field include 1997 British Open Championship winner Justin Leonard and 2006 U.S. Open Champion Geoff Ogilvy. The full field is listed below.
Contested annually on the Donald Ross-designed course at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., the Wyndham Championship was founded in 1938 and is the seventh-oldest event on the PGA TOUR. Two-for-one good-any-day tickets are available for purchase at Piedmont Triad Harris Teeter locations with a VIC Card; other tickets are available at www.wyndhamchampionship.com or through the tournament office. The tournament thanks title sponsor Wyndham Worldwide, presenting sponsor BB&T and Premier Partners, Cadillac, Harris Teeter, McConnell Golf, Sunbrella®, Technology Concepts & Design, Inc. and VF Corporation for their continued support. Additional tournament information, including ticket packages and sponsorship information, is available at www.wyndhamchampionship.com or through the tournament office at (336) 379-1570. For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com. Stay connected with the Wyndham Championship through its social media channels, including the Wyndham Championship Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Flickr and YouTube.