Hall of Fame wide receiver Jerry Rice has been named to the field for the inaugural “Big Break Invitational Reynolds Lake Oconee.”
The milestone event – a 72-hole tournament featuring a select field that encompasses past Big Break champions - including some now playing on the world’s top professional tours as well as the series’ most memorable competitors from the past 21 seasons – is to be played on Reynolds Lake Oconee’s award-winning Jack Nicklaus-designed Great Waters course Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, 2014.
Rice was part of the winning team on “Big Break NFL Puerto Rico” last year and will have his two winning teammates – journeyman mini-tour pro Isaac “Sasquatch” Sanchez and Symetra Tour pro Emily Talley – as fellow competitors at Reynolds Lake Oconee.
Popular with sports fans both for his football career and appearance on “Dancing with the Stars,” Rice should be a major attraction for golf fans – who for the first time will be allowed the gallery to see live action at Golf Channel’s popular show at the Big Break Invitational.
Reynolds Lake Oconee is providing complimentary tickets for those who want to be in the gallery. Up to four tickets can be requested at the tournament website, www.reynoldslakeoconee.com/big-break-invitational, while groups larger than four should contact info@reynoldslakeoconee.com.
Big Break Invitational Reynolds Lake Oconee will air live on Golf Channel, with some of the most memorable competitors from the past 21 seasons in the field of 40 men and women, all with their eyes on a share of a $300,000 total purse.
The first two rounds will feature a modified Stableford format (players earning points for birdie and higher and negative points for bogey and lower) with the 10 men and 10 women earning the most points making the 36-hole cut. Thursday’s third round will feature match play (five men vs. five men, and five women vs. five women) with 10 match-play winners advancing to Friday’s final round of 18-holes of stroke play.
Established in 1992, Great Waters is one of Reynolds Lake Oconee’s five award-winning courses. A par 72, the course underwent a renovation in 2009 that included a conversion of its greens from the original Penncross Bentgrass to Miniverde Bermudagrass and a restoration of all of its bunkers – a project that was overseen by Nicklaus. The golf course is ranked among the best in Georgia, this year No. 3 on the Golfweek list of best in the state.
Great Waters has hosted elite competition in the past, including the 2008 PGA Professional National Championship. From 1995 to 1997, Great Waters was the site for the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf (now the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship). It also is the home of the prestigious Linger Longer Invitational, an annual men’s intercollegiate tournament, and the annual Chick-fil-A Bowl Challenge, a charity golf event featuring the country’s premier head coaches, celebrities and former athletes from the same universities competing against their rivals.
