Walt Disney World Resort Classic

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The Walt Disney World Resort Classic is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. The tournament is played on the Palm and Magnolia courses at the Walt Disney World Resort. The event is part of the PGA Tour's Fall Finish as of 2006. The tournament is one of the player's favorites because of the location in Orlando, Florida and being able to take their families to the parks while not playing. The tournament will be featured in the FedEx Cup during the 2007 PGA Tour season.

The 2006 purse was $4,600,000, with $864,000 going to the winner. The tournament was founded in 1971 as the Walt Disney World Open Invitational. From 1974 to 1981, the tournament was played as a two-man team event with a better-ball format.

1 2005 FUNAI Classic
2 2006 FUNAI Classic
3 Courses
4 Winners
5 References
6 External link

[edit] 2005 FUNAI Classic

The 2005 FUNAI Classic was won by tour rookie Lucas Glover after he "holed" out a shot from a green-side bunker on Sunday. Prior to the bunker shot, Glover made a 40 foot putt on the 17th green. Tom Pernice Jr. would miss his birdie putt which could have forced a play-off with Glover giver Glover his first tour win in dramatic fashion. Glover's victory was the third first-time winner on the PGA Tour in four years at the Disney Classic. Other drama continued on Sunday at Disney World as 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy fell apart on the back nine to lose his share of the lead as Glover holed his bunker shot getting an unlucky bounce off of a rock on the 18th green. Ogilvy told reporters after the round about seeing Glover's shot, "I knew I was tied when I made the putt," Ogilvy said. "And I knew I was one behind before I hit my next tee shot."^[1] The final rounds had been stripped of much potential press coverage due to the early departure of Tiger Woods, his second missed cut of the season, both coming within ten events.

[edit] 2006 FUNAI Classic

The 2006 FUNAI Classic at WDW featured great media attention leading up to the event, as the decision of Tiger Woods to play or not play would determine whether or not he would be eligible for the Vardon Trophy. Woods needed a total of 60 official PGA Tour rounds to be eligible to win the Vardon Trophy for lowest scoring average, but chose not to play thus forfeiting his chance at winning the award. Despite no longer being eligible for the Vardon Trophy, Woods still won the Byron Nelson Award for lowest scoring average, which requires a total of fifty or more rounds. The 2006 event featured a purse of $4.6 million dollars with $826,000 going to the winner.^[2]

[edit] Courses

The Magnolia Course at Walt Disney World is known as more "tour"-style then its sister Palm Course. The Magnolia has grown to 7,516 yards to battle the usual low scores during the tournament's history.