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Tournament and Major Winners Top Early Colonial Commitment List

February 22, 2010
(FORT WORTH) -- Nearly half the field for the 2010 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial is set, and many top PGA TOUR champions will be chasing the tournament’s Leonard Trophy and $6.2 million purse. World #2 and defending champion Steve Stricker heads the list, and will face 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink and 2009 U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, among many others.

Already committing early to the tradition-rich championship are 2010 winners Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Ben Crane and Ryan Palmer. 2009 tournament winners and other top players already in the field include: Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, Sean O’Hair, Kenny Perry, Rory Sabbatini, Hunter Mahan, Nathan Green, David Toms, John Rollins and Brian Gay. Colonial expects another sizable group of European and International Presidents Cup team members to compete in Fort Worth this year. Young rising stars Rickie Fowler and Michael Sim are also scheduled to compete. About 120 total players are expected to play in the event.

Steve Stricker won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in 2009 after a dramatic chip-in birdie on the 71st hole that propelled him into a sudden-death playoff, which he won on the second hole. It was his fifth career win at the time, but he has won three times since, including this year’s Northern Trust Open. He finished second on the 2009 money list, and is currently second in this year’s FedExCup standings.

Perry and Sabbatini have both won at Colonial in recent years, while Leonard, Furyk, Toms and Gay have all finished second here. Furyk was in a three-man sudden-death playoff in 2007 with Sabbatini and Bernhard Langer, and has finished in the top 10 five other times, including second place in 1998. Leonard placed second in 2003, including a course record-tying 61, and has four other top ten finishes at Colonial.

The full list of 53 current commitments:

*U.S. Amateur champion

Saints WIN Super Bowl XLIV 31 to 17

Miami FL- The world was watching the New Orleans Saints in the very first Super Bowl appearance since their existence from 1967. We are talking about a team for many years that could win their own division. A team that had to relocate to San Antonio, Texas after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. However this season Coach Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints found themselves on the platform hold the “Vince Lombardi Trophy” as World Champions.

The Saints matched the mark by the Washington Redskins, who came from 10-0 down to beat Denver 42-10 in Super Bowl XXII. The Saints outscored the Colts 31-7 after the first quarter to win Super Bowl on this past Sunday night at Sun Life Stadium.

Drew Brees, completed 32-of-39 passes for 288 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 31-17 victory. He was the only choice for the Most Valuable Player Award presented by another former Boilermaker quarterback, Len Dawson. Brees didn't start the game well, but he finished with enough completions to tie the Super Bowl record set by Tom Brady.

After four incompletions on the first two series, Brees completed 30 of 33 the rest of the way. One of those passes was dropped, another spiked to the ground to stop the clock on the final drive of the first half. The Colts never came close to picking off one of Brees' throws, and the only time he picked himself off the turf was on Dwight Freeney's sack. Otherwise, perfect.

And diverse. Eight Saints caught his passes, five catching at least three. Pierre Thomas had a 16-yard catch-and-run for the third-quarter score ignited by the onside kick. Jeremy Shockey also had a score, a 2-yarder to give the Saints the lead for good. Marques Colston caught a team-high seven passes, including a first-quarter drop that cost New Orleans at least a field goal. Meanwhile, the key play of the game was called "Ambush," an onside kick coach Sean Payton told his players at halftime they would use to start the second half of Sunday's Super Bowl. The Saints recovered and scored a touchdown, turning the momentum of Super Bowl XLIV away from the Indianapolis Colts.

It was the first onside kick before the fourth quarter in Super Bowl history."At that point in the game, I did not expect them to do anything like that," Colts offensive tackle Ryan Diem said. "The element of surprise got us. This play was the spark that gave the Saints the confidence that they could win the game.

In closing many Saints Fans had trouble believing the Saints' Super Bowl victory, the first in their 43-year history - it was, after all, just their ninth winning season. Disbelief did not prevent them from throwing a huge "Lombardi Party," however. The team's big season came four years after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 per cent of the city and destroyed thousands of homes and small businesses.
Long-suffering fans throughout the city shot off fireworks, danced in the streets and second-lined down the St. Charles Avenue streetcar tracks.

The victory came a day after New Orleans elected a new mayor and several other city officials. But in the area newspapers there was little besides the Saints

Many of the Katrina survivors are living in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex and you could see the various flags on their cars and trucks. So congratulations to the 2010 Super Bowl XLIV Champions “The New Orleans Saints”. Who Dat, Who Dat talking about those Saints?

- Cedric Bailey