The PGA Rapiscan Systems Classic returns to the Coast. What to know about tournament.
The 11th Rapiscan Systems Classic returns to the Mississippi Gulf Coast this weekend with a 54-hole, three-day competition at Grand Bear Golf Club in Saucier.
The non-profit event brought the PGA Champions Tour to South Mississippi every year from 2010 to 2019 until the global pandemic caused the event to cancel in each of the last two years.
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s event.
When will it happen and how to watch?
The competition begins Friday, April 1 ,and runs through Sunday. The gates open at 10 a.m. with the first swing from tee expected at 11 a.m.
The gates open earlier on Saturday at 8 a.m. with starting tee coming at 9 a.m. Sunday is military appreciation day at the course and the gates will open at the same time as Saturday.
Active military members, as well as veterans, and first responders can get in free with credentials or identification.
Proceeds from the event go to local charities on the Coast, including Back Bay Mission and Friends of the Animal Shelter in Hancock County, among several others.
The competition has raised over $5 million for charities since 2010.
Those who can’t make it can watch the nationally televised event from home. All three days will be broadcast on The Golf Channel.
Friday’s action will be tape delayed and aired at 9 p.m., but the following two days will be a live broadcast beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Who is playing and what’s at stake?
Thanks to The Golf Channel’s broadcast, the total purse for this year’s event will be $1.6 million with the winner taking home $240,000.
A total of 78 players will take on the course, including four-time major champion Ernie Els, two-time major champion John Daly and 2013 US Open champion Jim Furyk.
Kevin Sutherland won in Saucier in 2019 on his way to a top five finish in average score in the Champions Tour that year.
This year, Miguel Angel Jimenez is leading the pack with $699,829 earned and two victories through four events. Jimenez won the Rapiscan System Classic in 2016 and 2017.
The Saucier event is the fifth of 29 in the PGA Champions Tour.
Storyline to watch
A total of 21 different golfers have won the Champions Tour since its inception in 1980. Of those 21, none have won more than German-born Bernhard Langer.
The 64-year-old has won the Charles Schwab Cup a record six times, has the highest career tour earnings at $30,216,062 and is second all-time in the tour in event wins with 42.
Before taking on the senior tour, Langer won the Master’s Tournament twice and became one of only five golfers to ever win an event on each of the six golf-playing continents.
There’s still one event Langer has yet to conquer: the Rapiscan Systems Classic.
The closest Langer has come is a second-place, one stroke back finish in 2013. Langer was even tied for the lead late on the final day, but a bogey on the 16th cost him the first place purse.
Langer is looking to have a bounce back performance after posting a season-worst five-under par at the Hoag Classic in early March. There, Langer had season lows in driving accuracy and greens in regulation.
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 5:50 AM.
