The PGA Tour moves to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the next two tournaments. The HP Byron Nelson Championship honors the memory of one of the great gentlemen in the game of golf, Lord Byron Nelson.
From 1937 to 1945 Nelson won five major championships. He holds a record that will never be broken. In 1945 he won 11 consecutive PGA Tour events and a total of 18 titles.
The HP Byron Nelson Championship began in 1944 and Nelson won that inaugural event. Sam Snead won in 1945 and Ben Hogan collected the title in 1946. These were the three greatest golfers of the time and all won the first three years the event was held.
Over the years Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Phil Mickleson and Tiger Woods have won this event.
The field will include 152 hopeful golfers will hit the first tee on Thursday morning. The HP Byron Nelson comes at a difficult time in the PGA Tour schedule. Coming the week after the Players Championship and two weeks before the Memorial Tournament the big names skip the Nelson.
Jeff Maggert, who performed so well at the Players Championship, is in the field this week. Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day, Jason Dufner, Martin Kaymer, Charl Schwartzel and Vijay Singh are the most familiar name players in the field.
The HP Byron Nelson Championship offers a total purse of $6.5 million with $1.1 million to the winner.
Since 2008 it has been played on the TPC Four Seasons Resort Course in Irving, Texas. At 7,166 yards, it is a par-70. Look for low scores to be the norm this weekend.
The first two rounds will be aired on the Golf Channel Thursday, May 16, and Friday, May 17, 3:00-6:00 PM EDT. Golf Channel will also provide early coverage on the weekend 1:00-2:30 PM EDT prior to CBS providing coverage 3:00-6:00 PM EDT on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19.