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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR and Grupo Puntacana, which owns and operates Puntacana Resort & Club in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, today announced a four-year extension for the Corales Puntacana Championship, the first-ever PGA TOUR event in the Dominican Republic. Formerly known as the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship, the event has been renamed the Corales Puntacana Championship starting with the 2022 playing. The 2022 Corales Puntacana Championship will be held March 21-27 with live broadcast coverage on Golf Channel. The event features 300 FedExCup points to the winner and will continue to be held the same week as the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. “The PGA TOUR and our members are thrilled to return to Puntacana Resort & Club,” said PGA TOUR President and EVP Tyler Dennis. “Having been elevated to a PGA TOUR event in 2018 after a successful stint with the Korn Ferry Tour, the tournament continues to grow and thrive in making a lasting impact in the community. We look forward to many more years of great competition and showcasing the beauty of the Dominican Republic to our fans throughout the world.” Grupo Puntacana will continue as the host organization and the Tom Fazio-designed Corales Golf Course will remain the tournament course. The Corales Golf Course, which opened in 2010, plays along the cliffs, bays and coves of the Caribbean Sea and the inland lakes and coralina quarries. Six holes play along the ocean including the final three, known as the “Devil’s Elbow.” The 18th hole includes a forced carry over the cliff-lined Bay of Corales. “Through the Corales Puntacana Championship we can continue, for four more years, promoting the best of Dominican Republic and Punta Cana as one of the leading golf tourist destinations in the Caribbean; but most important, this partnership helps us develop our dream to empower and grow the community through our social and environmental programs,” said Frank Elías Rainieri, President and CEO of Grupo Puntacana. Proceeds from the Corales Puntacana Championship benefit the Grupo Puntacana Foundation, formed to improve the health and wellbeing of the local Punta Cana communities in basic areas of human development. In the last 10 years, Grupo Puntacana has contributed millions of dollars for social and community devolvement projects. In each district of the province, you can find a sponsored community project developed by the company. Funds donated through the tournament, have helped Grupo Puntacana develop initiatives for the community, translating to more than 150,000 people receiving medical assistance and more than 7,000 high school students and technicians graduating from educational centers. Last year, Joel Dahmen claimed his first PGA TOUR victory at the Corales Puntacana Championship edging Sam Ryder and Rafa Campos by one shot. Other past champions include Brice Garnett (2018), Graeme McDowell (2019) and Hudson Swafford (2020). Prior to 2018, the tournament had a two-year stint on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule where the winners were Dominic Bozzelli in 2016 and Nate Lashley in 2017.

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Elton John is on a farewell tour in 2019. So is rocker Bob Seger. And don’t forget golfer Kenny Perry. He may not be selling t-shirts to tournament attendees, but he is the midst of one last go-around, too.  Perry, 58, firmly established as a force on the Champions Tour (where he has won 10 times, including the 2017 U.S. Senior Open), decided to use his career top-50 earnings exemption this season to go back and compete at some of his favorite PGA TOUR spots. Innisbrook’s Copperhead is one of those tracks he loves, with Perry having played here 10 times since 2000. Friday, he was inside the cutline at the Valspar Championship with two holes to play before a double-bogey at the par-3 eighth (his 17th) would send him home early once again.  For those keeping track, that’s five starts and no made cuts this season for Perry, who a decade ago on the PGA TOUR still was a cash machine.  You know what? He may be 0-for-5, but Perry nonetheless is managing to enjoy himself.  When Jim Furyk, soon to be 49, talked earlier this week about staying competitive on the regular tour beyond his 50th birthday, he pointed to Perry, with a heaping of respect and a dash of amazement. “When I think back,� Furyk said, “Kenny Perry was a stud at 48, 49. He was playing on Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams and not only playing on those teams, he was one of our best players on those teams.� But Perry said Friday at Valspar that competing against the young guns on lengthy PGA TOUR layouts – Innisbrook’s Copperhead this week is a par 71 measuring 7,340 yards – is something he doesn’t possess the firepower to do any longer.  “My results tell me that I can’t play out here,� Perry, a 14-time winner who has made 648 PGA TOUR starts and has more than $32 million in career earnings, said after a second-round 72 left him at 3-over 145. “I don’t hit it far enough and I don’t spin the ball enough. I mean, I’m playing with Louis Oosthuizen, and his ball is spinning and dancing all over the place out there.� When Perry won the U.S. Senior Open two years ago, he talked about struggling to find the motivation needed to get him playing good golf again. Asked if competing against the best players in the world was motivating him, he said, “Honestly, it probably works the other way for me. It just tells me that I can’t play out here. That’s OK. I love being out here, and love watching friends of mine like Scott Stallings and Justin Thomas compete. I’ve almost become a fan. I’m 58, and I still love to compete.� Perry will return to the Champions Tour next week when it visits Biloxi, Miss., but he’ll soon be back for more action on the PGA TOUR. He wants to play Colonial, where he’s won, and Memorial, where he’s won, and possibly Hilton Head.  “I’m definitely playing the 3M, too,� he said, referencing the first-year PGA TOUR event in Minneapolis at TPC Twin Cities, which has undergone some significant changes to better challenge PGA TOUR professionals. “I’ve won that event three times on the Champions Tour – though it won’t on the same golf course.�

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