Dublin Native Kyle Reifers and Two-time Major Champion John Daly Head Memorial Tournament Exemption List

Reifers and Billy Andrade to host Junior Golf Clinic

The 2007 Memorial will mark John Daly's 15th appearance at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (AFP/Goh Chai Hin )

Dublin, Ohio - May 8, 2007 - Tournament officials announced today that Dublin native and PGA TOUR rookie Kyle Reifers will join former British Open champion and fan favorite John Daly as members of the 2007 Memorial Tournament field.

Reifers won his first two events as a professional, including the 2006 Chattanooga Classic on the Nationwide Tour where he carded a final round 61 after Monday qualifying. He earned fully exempt status on the 2007 PGA TOUR in his first attempt by finishing tied for 29th at 8-under-par 424 in the TOUR's sixday qualifying tournament at PGA West in La Quinta, California. The PGA TOUR rookie posted a careerbest T12 finish at the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational, followed by a T24 finish at the Zurich Classic where he fired a course record 8-under-par 64 for a two shot lead during the first round.

A native of Dublin Ohio, Reifers caddied at Muirfield Village Golf Club while attending Bishop Watterson High School. He was the 2004 Ohio Amateur Champion and ended his collegiate career at Wake Forest in June of 2006 as the No. 1 Ranked Amateur in the United States.

"Playing in the Memorial has been a life long dream," said Reifer. "I caddied at Muirfield growing up and had a chance to caddy for Jay Haas in the Memorial. Both experiences left me with the desire to be a professional golfer and to compete against the best on the PGA TOUR."

"Growing up and learning about Jack Nicklaus from my parents, meeting him and Mrs. Nicklaus, and now playing in his tournament is the ultimate. He is the greatest to have ever played and for me to receive an exemption into his Tournament is truly special."

In addition, two-time major championship winner John Daly joins a strong contingent of exempted players committed to play in this year's Memorial Tournament. Daly has five career PGA TOUR victories to his credit including two majors, the 1991 PGA Championship and the 1995 British Open Championship. The 2007 Memorial will mark his 15th appearance at Muirfield Village Golf Club. He finished a personal tournament best T11 in 2004.

Player eligibility for the Memorial Tournament is broken down into 18 categories. The exemption process allows for up to 13 players to be chosen from two of these 18 categories, Category 12 and Category 13. Within Category 12, up to three players are invited from among the money leaders on the European Tour, Asian PGA Tour, Australasian Tour, Southern Africa Tour and PGA Tour of Japan official money lists. For 2007, exempted players from Category 12 include: PGA European Tour member Johan Edfors; Southern Africa Tour member Charl Schwartzel and Asian PGA Tour member Jeev Milkha Singh. Edfors was one of the most improved players of 2006 on the PGA European Tour. He won three times during the season with victories in the TCL Classic in China, The Quinn Direct British Masters and the Barclays Scottish Open. He finished the year tenth on the Order of Merit. Schwartzel was ranked by Golf Digest as the No. 1 Amateur in South Africa in 2002, and in 2003 at the age of 18 became the second youngest South African to qualify for a European Tour card. He has won the Southern Africa Tour Order of Merit for three straight years and recorded his second career victory at the 2006 Vodacom Tour Championship. Schwartzel is currently ranked No. 5 in Official World Golf Ranking in Africa. Singh enjoyed an outstanding year in 2006, winning four times across the world and leaping to 37th place on the Official World Golf Ranking.

The remaining 10 players in the exemption process come from Category 13, Sponsor Exemptions, which is divided into three sub-categories. The first sub-category is reserved for two players from among the current year's PGA TOUR membership. The players from this first sub-category selected for the 2007 Memorial Tournament are PGA TOUR veteran and four-time TOUR winner Billy Andrade who together with Kyle Reifers will host the Junior Golf Clinic, to be held Wednesday, May 31 at 5:30 p.m. at the Country Club at Muirfield; and Brad Faxon, who has eight PGA TOUR victories and four top-10 finishes at the Memorial Tournament to his credit.

Sub-category two is reserved for two players from among the 2006 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament's top-35 finishers and ties, and from among the first through 20th finishers from the 2006 Official NATIONWIDE TOUR Money List. The players selected from sub-category two are previously mentioned Kyle Reifers and fellow TOUR rookie George McNeill. McNeill earned medalist honors at the 2006 Qualifying Tournament and his five-stroke margin (23-under-par total) was largest since Scott Verplank topped Blaine McCallister by six in 1997.

The third and final sub-category in the exemption process allows for six unrestricted sponsor invitations. For 2007 five of the six players have been selected thus far, they are Jason Gore, Craig Kanada, Shigeki Maruyama, Yong Eun Yang and previously mentioned John Daly. Gore became a firsttime PGA TOUR winner at the 84 LUMBER Classic in 2005 and was the first Nationwide Tour player to be promoted to the PGA TOUR via three Nationwide Tour wins. Kanada was a three-time letter winner at the Ohio State University and will be playing in his first Memorial Tournament. He has three top-25 finishes on the PGA TOUR so far in 2007 including a T10 at the Sony Open. Maruyama has three PGA TOUR and 10 international victories to his credit. He was a member of the 1998 and 2000 Presidents Cup teams and has recorded two top-10 finishes at the Memorial. Yang has five international victories on his resume and bested Tiger Woods by two shots at the HSBC Champions Tournament on the European Tour. He ranks No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking in Asia.

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