1/19/2012
Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa will compete in the Transitions Championship® for the fourth straight year.
Ishikawa, only 20 years old and already a two-time member of the International Team in the Presidents Cup competition, has received an exemption. A nine-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, he finished in the top 30 last year in both the Masters and U.S. Open. He made his first cut on the PGA TOUR at the 2009 Transitions Championship.
Ishikawa donated all of his 2011 on-course earnings, plus $1,000 per birdie, to Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief – an amount in excess of $1.5 million.
1/5/2012
The 2012 PGA TOUR season gets underway on Maui this week. The Transitions Championship (March 11-18) is the 11th stop.
Of the 28 players in the elite field of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, 22 played in the 2011 Transitions Championship - including Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson and Scott Stallings who finished 1-2-3 on the Copperhead last March. 1/4/2012With the start of the PGA TOUR season, the Transitions Championship is just more than two months away – so we are firing up The Blog. Check here for the latest news on the tournament or follow us on Twitter (@TransChamp). As the field forms, as the special events are announced, as the excitement of tournament week draws closer – we pledge to keep you up-to-date. 3/15/2011
It’s finally here! The 2011 Transitions Championship® has arrived. This year we’re not only featuring one of the best fields in the Championship’s history, but we also have once again expanded the spectator experience. As the title sponsor, we are excited about kicking off what looks to be another fantastic event with our partners at Innisbrook Resort, The Copperheads and, of course, the PGA TOUR®.
As with years past, we have seven exciting days of activities planned for spectators and families and, that doesn’t even include the only PGA TOUR event teeing off in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area on Thursday. We once again kicked off the event Sunday afternoon with the Think About Your Eyes Family Walk to raise money for the Florida Chapter of Prevent Blindness of America and continued the fun as 1,000 local students joined us Monday for the first of two Essilor Vision Foundation Youth Wellness Days as well as the Shelton Quarles Celebrity Pro-Am on Monday afternoon.
Throughout the week, we invite you to bring your friends and families to check out the Healthy Sight Village, which includes the Think About Your Eyes Pavilion, LensCrafters Kids’ Zone, Callaway Experience, and the Competitive Advantage Experience (courtesy of Nike Vision, Transitions, and VSP® Vision Care). During the Championship, spectators will be encouraged to think about their eyes and learn from the experts about how they can maintain an active, healthy lifestyle and, get tips and try products designed to help improve/enhance their vision as well as their game. Want more? See below for a list of themed days that will take place this week.
Monday – Youth Wellness Day brought to you by Transitions Optical and the Essilor Vision Foundation; Shelton Quarles Celebrity Pro-Am
Tuesday – Professional Practice Rounds
Wednesday – Youth Wellness Day brought to you by Transitions Optical and the Essilor Vision Foundation; Transitions Championship Pro-Am
Thursday – Ladies Day; Round 1 Tournament Play
Friday – Improve Your Vision, Improve Your Game Day; Round 2 Tournament Play
Saturday – Protect Your Skin, Protect Your Sight Day; Round 3 Tournament Play
Sunday – Healthy Lifestyles in Sight Day; Final Round Tournament Play
All this, plus a fantastic week of golf with many of the world’s top players – Kaymer, Furyk, Garcia, Casey, Harrington and our own Healthy Sight ambassadors Kenny Perry and Trevor Immelman! We are also thrilled to announce that the two highest-ranked players in the world under the age of 20, Italy’s Matteo Manassero and Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa will compete this week on the Copperhead Course.
We’re looking forward to seeing you all at the Transitions Championship this week!
Connie Falvo, Transitions Optical 3/10/2011
The PGA TOUR® less than a week away from its annual visit to St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook is ready for the Transitions Championship®.
“We are extremely pleased with the condition of the course at this time,” says Keith Einwag, Director of Agronomy at Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf & Spa Resort. “Mother Nature has been kind to us and I’m confident this will be one of the best setups we’ve had.”
The PGA TOUR pros love playing the Copperhead and another strong field is forming. Paul Casey, the #7 player in the Official World Golf Rankings, Justin Rose, Bill Haas, Steve Elkington, Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia and Boo Weekley are some of the players who have joined the field in the last week. At the moment, 26 of the top 60 players in the OWGR are expected to participate.
“Our staff has done a great job getting everything in place,” says Bob Banks, General Chairman of the Copperheads, the charitable group that organizes the tournament. “The area around the 18th green looks spectacular with the new entrance and a number of new venues. We also have an expanded Tampabay.com/things-to-do Zone near the 9th tee, the Wine Garden at the 12th green/13th green and a new Bright House Sports Network Pavilion at the 10th tee. I really think there is something for everyone to have a great time.”
“We are looking forward to a great week,” says Dave Cole of Transitions Optical. “In addition to the championship golf, this will be a great opportunity for the entire optical industry to emphasize the importance of healthy sight for everyone. In addition to our messages in the broadcasts, we have an expanded Healthy Sight Village at 18 that has been designed to engage spectators in interactive experiences around the impact of healthy sight on athletic performance.”
The main attraction, the Think About Your Eyes Pavilion, will feature highly engaging interactive vision and swing simulators. These vision experiences are the results of a unique collaboration among optical industry partners, such as the Foundation for Eye Health Awareness, the Essilor Vision Foundation, the American Optometric Association, VSP, LensCrafters, Essilor, Carl Zeiss Vision, VisionWorks, OneSight and Optos. Fans will have an opportunity to demo Oakley Transitions® SOLFXTM sunwear products and Callaway Neox Transitions SOLFX products, along with the latest Callaway RAZR driver. They’ll even get putting makeovers in the Competitive Advantage tent, provided by Nike, Transitions and VSP. And back for 2011 are the LensCrafters Kids’ Zone, the Military Chalet for active and retired military personnel, VSP/Transitions “Eyenstein” Mobile Eyecare Clinic, and more!
3/3/2011
Paul Casey, currently ranked seventh in the Official World Golf Rankings, is now expected to play in the 2011 Transitions Championship in two weeks on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf & Spa Resort.
Casey, an English-born pro who attended Arizona State, has known success on both the PGA TOUR and European Tour. In 2009, he won the Shell Houston Open and he owns 11 victories in Europe. The 2006 European Tour Player of the Year, he has risen as high to #3 in the Official World Golf Rankings and has consistently ranked in the top 10 for the last several years.
Earlier this year, he won the Volvo Golf Champions event by one shot over Peter Hanson, also a recent addition to the Transitions Championship field, in Bahrain.
This will be Casey’s second appearance on the Copperhead, having played in the 2008 event. 2/25/2011
As announced during last week’s Transitions Championship Media Day by Dave Cole, COO, Transitions Optical – “Through Transitions’ association with the PGA TOUR® both as title sponsor and as the Official Eyewear of the PGA TOUR, together with our optical industry partners we have made great strides here in the Tampa Bay area and around the world to deliver on our commitment to raise awareness about the importance of healthy, quality sight and its connection to optimal sports performance and an overall healthy lifestyle.”
This year, Transitions in conjunction with the Foundation for Eye Health Awareness which is an optical industry-wide coalition developed to elevate awareness of the need for eye care, has set out to make the Transitions Championship the leading consumer education event focused on eye health and wellness in the industry. The “Think About Your Eyes” theme will be carried throughout the week and will kick off Sunday, March 13th with the Think About Your Eyes Family Walk benefitting Prevent Blindness Florida during which participants of all ages are invited to walk the course the pros play, enjoy a family BBQ and entertainment by Radio Disney. During the week, Transitions and many of its optical industry partners will welcome families to a series of unique spectator experiences, including hands-on demonstrations, meet and greets with the pros, and health and wellness screenings behind the 18th green in the Healthy Sight Village.
In addition to daily activities and experiences located within the “Think About Your Eyes” Pavilion, spectator experience areas will also include:
- The “LensCrafters Kids Zone” – kids will receive complimentary vision screenings and can participate in games and activities, including a Power Wheels track.
- The “Competitive Advantage” area brought to you by Nike, Transitions Optical and VSP – attendees will gain a competitive advantage in their golf game by learning how vision impacts athletic performance with a putting experience and demonstrations on the impact general fitness has on your swing with a certified kinesiologist, Tyler Parsons, and how the latest eyewear technology innovations can help you perform – and look – your best.
- “Eyenstein Mobile Vision Clinic” – brought to you by Transitions Optical and VSP – tour the “Eyenstein” mobile vision clinic to learn about how to protect and maintain healthy sight for a lifetime. As part of this experience, Transitions through its partnership with “Bess the Book Bus” will be on hand hosting read-aloud sessions and will offer information and giveaways for the kids as part of Transitions’ “Eye Didn’t Know That!” eye health awareness program – all in an effort to raise awareness about the connection between healthy, quality sight and the ability to read and learn.
Additionally, Transitions® SOLFXTM performance sunwear continues to grow in prominence on TOUR, so look for a number of product demonstrations including Oakley’s “Rolling O” golf experience. Oakley will also host an Oakley Pro-Am for local club professionals on Tuesday of tournament week on the Island Course. And, for the first time, Callaway will have a presence and will offer a demo experience featuring Callaway® NEOX® SOLFXTM eyewear with the new RAZR (razor) driver.
For area youth, Transitions and the Essilor Vision Foundation will again host “Youth Days” on Monday and Wednesday and nearly 2,000-area elementary and middle school students will receive eye screenings, watch the Pro-Ams and will participate in a number of activities, including a golf clinic.
Stay tuned for additional events and activities that members of the entire family should be sure not to miss! 2/19/2011The Callaway Hole In One Challenge is a new grass roots initiative that will reward those who achieve golf’s greatest thrill – a hole in one – between February 19 and March 4.
With the help of the West Central Florida Chapter of the PGA, any amateur golfer who makes a hole in one on one of 99 participating Tampa Bay area course during this time frame will be eligible to compete for $1 million on Saturday, March 19, at the Transitions Championship.
Every amateur golfer who scores a hole in one in that time span will be the tournament’s guest on Saturday, March 19. There will be a competition on the Osprey driving range to reduce the number of players to 15 finalists. Each will get a chance to duplicate their hole in one at the 17th hole on the Copperhead in front of the crowd in the Hooters Owl’s Nest.
The first hole in one will win the million dollars. If no one makes a hole in one, they will still walk away with great prizes and memories.
Check with your local pro for more details.
2/15/2011
Three of the most exciting players on the European Tour – Martin Kaymer, Alvaro Quiros and Matteo Manassero – will be in the Transitions Championship field next month.
Kaymer, from Germany, is the number two ranked player in the world having won four times since August, including the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. The 26-year-old will be making his debut on the Copperhead and, if he maintains that ranking, is the highest-ranked player ever to participate in the Transitions Championship. A winner of 17 tournaments worldwide, including nine on the European Tour, he finished in the top 10 in each of the last three Major Championships in 2010.
Quiros, from Spain, has leaped to 21st in the current Official World Golf Rankings after his dramatic win last week at the Dubai Desert Classic. Quiros, one of the longest hitters in the world, has now won five times on the European Tour. Last year, he finished 11th in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He returns to the Copperhead after making the cut in the 2009 Transitions Championship.
Manassero, only 17 years of age, became the youngest winner in the history of the European Tour with his victory last October at the Castello Masters Costa Azahar. Manassero was also named the 2010 Sir Henry Cotton European Tour Rookie of the Year. Ranked 57th in the world, he is scheduled to compete in next week’s WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.
The combination of Manassero with Ryo Ishikawa of Japan, previously announced in the field, gives the Transitions Championship field the two highest-ranked players in the world under the age of 20. 1/12/2011
SEEN AND HEARD ON THE PGA TOUR
Jim Furyk, the 2010 PGA TOUR® Player of the Year, recently had this to say about the importance of winning the 2010 Transitions Championship:
When I got to the Transitions Championship, I had not won on the PGA TOUR in two and a half years. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself, I wasn’t having the fun competing that I used to. I was upset and frustrated that I couldn’t get over the hump and get a win.
If you look at my face when I made the last putt, if you go back and watch the tape, it doesn’t look like I’m happy, it doesn’t look like I’m overjoyed, it looks more like relief. And I think it was. That initial reaction was relief and it allowed me to relax. Getting over the hump at The Transitions, I relaxed. I played a little bit more free the rest of the year and it gave me confidence knowing that “I’ve done it.” When I got in contention again, I felt like I could build on it. When you play freer, you’re going to play better.”
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The first winner on the PGA TOUR, Jonathan Byrd who captured the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, is a familiar figure at the Transitions Championship. He holds the tournament record with five finishes on the Copperhead in the top 20, including four of the last five years. His best finish was a 4th in 2006, and he also has a pair of 8th-place finishes, including last year.
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Tickets for the 2011 Transitions Championship, March 14-20 on the Copperhead Course of Innisbrook, a Salamander Golf Resort & Spa, are now on sale at Publix or by logging on to TransitionsChampionship.com.
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