The Woodlands Welcomes Golf Legends For Its Free Admission Insperity Invitational — Seeing Hall Of Famers

The PGA Champions Tour rolls into The Woodlands this weekend on the heels of the LPGA’s Chevron Championship, with seven World Golf Hall of Famers along with 17 PGA Tour Major winners in the 78 player Insperity Invitational field that plays through Sunday at The Woodlands Country Club’s Tournament Course. And lets everyone in the free.

The lineup for this year’s Insperity Invitational is headlined by World Golf Hall of Famers Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie and José María Olazábal.

“I’m thrilled to be back,” Langer says. “I love the tournament. I think it is one of the best on our Tour. It is run by wonderful people. Insperity is a great sponsor, they have great leadership, and I love the golf course on top of it.  This course has very fast greens here which I enjoy.

“There are a lot of water hazards so you need to be very precise, can’t afford to miss a lot of shots. And I think that is part of the reason I have been reasonably successful around here.”

The 67-year-old Langer is the all-time leader in Champions Tour wins with 47 – four of them coming at The Woodlands’ own Insperity Invitational. He just played in his last Masters.

John Daly, Mark Calcavecchia, David Duval, Vijay Singh, Tom Lehman, David Toms and Fred Funk, who is making his 1,000th career start on the PGA and Champions Tour, add more star power to this field.

“This legendary lineup of players are the best of professional golf,”  Insperity Invitational’s executive director Bryan Naugle says, who notes this year’s field has combined to win 11 British Opens, five U.S. Opens, six PGA Championships and seven Masters. “Sport is entertainment, and these guys are exactly who the fans want to come out and see.

“They are extremely talented. They still play incredible golf and are great ambassadors for the game through their play and willingness to interact with our loyal fan base.”

Legends In The Fold

With Friday’s first round suspended due to the storms that rolled through the region, Insperity Invitational play will resume at 7:40 am Saturday morning, The second round is scheduled to begin at 9 am. At 1:30 pm, the Folds of Honor Greats of Golf Competition will begin  This 20 player exhibition will include four teams of five legends each playing a scramble format.

Golf’s legendary lineup will tee off the 10th hole (at approximately 2 pm) after the last group in the official Champions Tour competition makes the turn onto the back nine. Each group will feature one of the greatest women’s golfers to ever play the game. 

Links legends Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Annika Sorenstam will once again be the featured group in the Folds of Honor Greats of Golf event. The legends are bringing a handful of new World Golf Hall of Famers — Nick Faldo, Curtis Strange and Mark O’Meara — with them for the 10th edition of the Folds of Honor Greats of Golf.

The world class group showcases eight players who have won four or more major championships in Jack Nicklaus (that all-time record 18), Annika Sorenstam (10), Gary Player (nine), Tom Watson (eight), Juli Inkster (seven) and Pat Bradley, Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo (six each).

Fans are encouraged to wear red, white and blue during Folds of Honor Saturday as an outward display of unity and an inward commitment to meeting sacrifice with hope for the families of America’s fallen or disabled military and first responders. An impactful opening ceremony will be held at 1:30 pm on the driving range that will include a Patriot Parachute Team flag jump, the National Anthem and a presentation of colors.

Free parking with shuttle service will be available all weekend, at Woodloch Parking Garage, 10201 Woodloch Forest Drive. As always, admission to this tournament is free.