By KEVIN HARRIS
A Southern Indiana golfing tradition will continue the next two days as the Magnolia Health Systems Wolf Challenge starts today with the pro-celebrity tournament at Covered Bridge Golf Club in Sellersburg.
The main event will be on Monday with the Wolf Challenge foursome competition, which includes tournament host Fuzzy Zoeller, John Daly, Boo Weekley and Rocco Mediate.
Below are biographical capsules on this year’s Wolf participants:
FUZZY ZOELLER
The New Albany native and PGA Champions Tour professional is hosting the Wolf for the 13th consecutive year at Covered Bridge.
During the Wolf’s 13-year existence, several of golf’s all-time greats has played in Zoeller’s charity golf tournament like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino. A few entertainers have competed in the Wolf as well like Kevin Costner, Bill Murray, George Lopez and Alice Cooper.
Zoeller’s tournament has raised more than $1.6 million for Fuzzy’s Charities For Kids.
In his 36-year professional career, Zoeller has won 10 PGA Tour events, including two major titles, and two Champions Tour tournaments.
Zoeller won the Masters in his first attempt for the coveted Green Jacket in 1979 and then won the U.S. Open in an 18-hole playoff with Greg Norman in 1984.
Zoeller also captured a major championship on the Champions Tour in 2002, winning the Senior PGA Championship. In April, Zoeller played in his final Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, as he failed to make the second-round cut.
JOHN DALY
Playing in the Wolf has been a common occurrence for Daly over the past 13 years. Monday will be his sixth appearance in the charity tournament.
Daly’s breakout professional victory came in 1991 when he shocked the golf world by winning the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel. Daly entered the tournament as the ninth and final alternate.
In 1995, Daly captured his second major championship by beating Italy’s Costantino Rocca in a four-hole playoff in the British Open at legendary St. Andrews. The British Open crown happened when Daly was 29 years old, making him the youngest active golfer to win two majors on the PGA Tour at the time.
Daly has five PGA Tour victories in his career, but he has not won since February 2004 when he beat Luke Donald and Chris Riley in a playoff in the Buick Invitational.
BOO WEEKLEY
Weekley is best known for his inspirational play in the United States’ surprising victory over Europe in last year’s Ryder Cup at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. He helped the U.S. claim its first Ryder Cup championship since 1999.
The Milton, Fla., native was a crowd favorite during the Ryder Cup. Weekley celebrated critical putts with emphatic fist pumps, which drew the ire of a few European players like Lee Westwood, and at one point rode his driver like a horse. Fans expressed their appreciation for Weekley at Valhalla by shouting out a sustained “Boo.”
Weekley first joined the PGA Tour in 2002. He then played on the Nationwide Tour from 2003-06 before returning to the PGA in 2007.
Weekley has two victories in his career, both coming in the Verizon Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C., in 2007 and 2008.
ROCCO MEDIATE
A member of the PGA Tour since 1985, the Greensburg, Pa., native has won five PGA Tour events in his career.
Mediate’s first PGA Tour triumph came in the Doral-Ryder Open in 1991, followed by victories in the 1993 K-Mart Greater Greensboro Open, the 1999 Phoenix Open and the 2000 Buick Open.
Mediate has not won a tournament since 2002, when he claimed the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic.
But Mediate is most famous for his runner-up finish in last year’s dramatic U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, Calif.
Mediate battled the world’s No. 1 player, Tiger Woods, tooth-and-nail in the third and fourth rounds and during a 19-hole playoff. Woods won by one stroke.
WOLF CHALLENGE SCHEDULE
• TODAY: Pro-am breakfast, 7:30 a.m.; Fuzzy’s Revue, 9 a.m.; Pro-celebrity tournament, 10:30 a.m.; Dinner and auction with professionals and celebrities at Galt House in Louisville, 7 p.m.
• MONDAY: Wolf breakfast, 8 a.m.; Fuzzy’s Revue, 9:30 a.m.; Wolf Challenge foursome competition, 10:30 a.m.; Fuzzy’s Party in the Tent, 2 p.m.
PRO-CELEBRITY PARTICIPANTS
• PGA CHAMPIONS TOUR PLAYERS: Fulton Allem, Chip Beck, Jay Don Blake, Jim Chancey, Allen Doyle, R.W. Eaks, David Eger, Mike Goodes, Hubert Green, Gary Hallberg, John Jacobs, Gene Jones, Mark Lye, James Mason, Tom McKnight, John Morse, David Ogrin, Dana Quigley, Dave Rummells, Javier Sanchez, Jim Thorpe, Bruce Vaughan.
• CELEBRITIES: Dante Basco, Cornelius Bennett, Junior Bridgeman, Tyler Christopher, Ray Donaldson, Brian Evans, Rick George, Jon Hand, Cris Judd, Richard Karn, Bob Kevoian, Kristi Lee, Jimmy “Mad Dog” Matis, Walter McCarty, Oliver Miller, Jack Newman, Scott Padgett, Mel Purcell, Dave Ragone, Jed Rhein, Jeff Walz, Chris Weinke, Byron Williams, John York.
