With the news that the Frys.com Open is changing venues next year, from CordeValle in southern Santa Clara County to the Silverado Resort in the Napa Valley, the 2013 tournament may be the last chance that South Bay golf fans have to see PGA Tour stars in action right in our own backyard for a few years. The good news is that among the forty-two players, to date, who have committed to the 2013 Frys are some well-known names in the game.
Best-known among the early commits isVijay Singh, who is coming back to the Frys.com Open one year after his first appearance in the tournament. Singh put together four rounds under par in the 2012 event, three of those in the 60s, for a T-4 finish.
Other notable names who will be in the field include three Masters champions – Angel Cabrera (2009), Trevor Immelman (2008), and Mike Weir (2003). Defending Frys.com champion Jonas Blixt and 2011 champion Bryce Molder have also committed to the 2013 event. Molder and Blixt must have good memories of this event and the current venue – both men notched up their first PGA Tour wins in the Frys.com Open at CordeValle.
Some of the young guns on the PGA Tour have committed to the 2014 Frys. Patrick Cantlay, who wowed the golf world with a round of 60 in the second round of the 2011 Traveler’s Championship as an amateur, is in the field, as is former Alabama star Bud Cauley, whose 2012 appearance at CordeValle was one of his stepping stones to playing his way onto the Tour without going through Q-School. Former Texas standout Jordan Spieth, another amateur sensation who cut his academic career short to jump into the pro ranks, has also signed up for the 2013 Frys.
Local hero James Hahn, a Cal grad out of Alameda, will be in the field, as will Derek Ernst, of Clovis. Hahn got his first year on the PGA Tour off to a hot start with a T-4 finish at the Humana Challenge and a T-3 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am after sharing the lead with eventual winner Brandt Snedeker, but he has struggled of late, with 10 missed cuts in his last 14 starts. Ernst, 23, is a former UNLV Running Rebel who took his first steps onto the PGA Tour scene here at the Frys.com Open last year.
Ernst played his way into the field at the 2012 Frys, advancing through two rounds of local qualifying tournaments. He shot a 65 to end the first day tied for second, made the cut and finished with a fourth-round 68 for a T-41 finish – and his first PGA Tour paycheck. The young man from the Central Valley has increased his visibility this year, in his first full season as a PGA Tour pro, with a stunning victory at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. In addition to the big paycheck – $1,206,000 – the win solidified his position on the Tour with fully-exempt status for two years, guaranteeing him entry to any tournament on the schedule.
Stepping aside from certainty into speculation, it is rumored that Tiger Woods will make his second Frys.com Open appearance (he played the event in 2011) in this year’s event. Two facts fuel the rumors: 1) Woods is one of eight Tour members who played a guaranteed-money event in Turkey last year, the same week as the Frys event, under an agreement with PGA Tour President Tim Finchem that required them to play the Frys.com Open within the next three years, and 2) Tiger’s foundation is staging a major fundraiser, a tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links at which he will be present, October 14 through 16th – immediately following the Frys.com Open. So, he has agreed to play the Frys sometime within the next three years, and he will be in the area anyway – why not kill two birds with one stone?
Another reason for Tiger making 2013 the year he takes care of his commitment? In 2014 the Frys event will move to the Silverado Resort in Napa Valley, and will be played there for two or possibly three years. Silverado is co-owned by former PGA Tour great and current CBS golf commentator Johnny Miller, who has been critical of Tiger in the past – and Tiger doesn’t react well to criticism. It’s easy to see Tiger playing the Frys this year, honoring his commitment to Tim Finchem without having to play at Johnny’s Napa Valley resort.
