• COURSE: The Tour returns to “Little” DeBell after last visiting in 2013. John Frost and Patrick Bird were the last winners at DeBell.
• CHECK IN TIME: 8:15am
• FIELD WATCH: 6 teams are scheduled to play; Teams: Grigorian/Bird, E. Quiroz/Frost, W. Vargas/Vaughan, D. Vargas/Crump, Witt/Moawad, T. Joe/S. Joe
• RECORD FOR MOST POINTS: 38, Grigorian/Bird (2016); DeBell record: 30, Frost/Bird, W.Vargas/Gordon
• LAST YEAR: 13 years after first being paired together, Armen Grigorian and Patrick Bird re-teamed at Arroyo Seco to win Grigorian’s record-tying 4th and Bird’s 3rd Hooters, defeating defending champions Frost/Moawad by 2 points. The duo set a new record for points (38) in the process.
• STORYLINES: 5 of the 6 teams in this year’s field feature first-time pairings. History has not been kind to defending champions. Grigorian/Bird will attempt to be only the 2nd champions in the tournament’s 14-year history to ever successfully defend their title.
• SHORT CHIPS: Patrick Bird will be making his tournament record 14th consecutive start. Armen Grigorian and Patrick Bird have 7 Hooters wins between them, the most of any team in the field, followed by the team of Martin Witt and Chris Moawad with 6. A 5th victory by either Armen Grigorian, Martin Witt, or John Frost would place one #1 on the all-time Hooters wins list. Walter Vargas has missed the Hooters the last 2 years but has finished 2nd in his last 3 Hooters starts. Though he has a Hooters title to his name, Clint Crump has never won the tournament in its current format. Crump won the inaugural edition which was played under a match play format. Sunday will mark the 90th career start for Gerry Vaughan and Walter Vargas, and 80th for Tour charter member Martin Witt. It was 10 years ago on this course that Gerry Vaughan and Chris Moawad each collected their first Hooters win. Playing on separate teams this year, will one mark the occasion with another victory?
PAST CHAMPIONS:
2016: Armen Grigorian / Patrick Bird
2015: John Frost / Chris Mowad
2014: Armen Grigorian / Travois Gordón
2013: John Frost / Patrick Bird
2012: Martin Witt / Doug Vargas
2011: Martin Witt / Doug Vargas
2010: John Frost / Gil Ferro
2009: Martin Witt / Armen Grigorian
2008: John Frost / Doug Vargas
2007: Chris Moawad / Gerry Vaughan
2006: Patrick Bird / Walter Vargas
2005: Armen Grigorian / Cary Sachs
2004: no tournament
2003: Martin Witt / Clint Crump (match play format)
Tournament Format:
Hole-In-One will earn 10 points
Birdie (2), 6 points
Par (3), 3 points
Bogey (4), 1 point
Double Bogey (5), 0 points
Triple Bogey (6), -1 points
Quadruple bogey (7) or higher, -3 points