Warner Robins in the middle of Georgia is the host city for the event. The previous event this season, in early April and also in Georgia, was cancelled due to the bad weather that has plagued much of the eastern part of the USA in recent weeks.
This year will see 22 Hooters Tour events being played across mainly Eastern USA for purses ranging from US$140,000 to US$250,000 and will finish up in late September with their Tour Championship.
The tour is funded, in the main, by those participating with each player in each event paying US$850 per event to play plus an initial membership fee of US$2000. It is, therefore, not the sort of tour on which a golfer can make a living as such but it has proven over the years to be the breeding ground for many a player who has gone onto bigger things at either Nationwide or PGA Tour level. Current PGA Tour players who have played the Hooters Tour on their way to the higher level include John Daly, David Toms, Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel, Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, Chad Campbell and Vaughn Taylor.
The field sizes in each event are 168 and such events are played over 72 holes. The typical purse for each event is around the US$140,000 mark. First prize in most events ranges from US$22,000 to the US$68,000 available for the Tour Championship late in the season. Last year Elliott Gealey earned US$137,000 as the leading player on the 2004 NGA Hooters Tour money list.
Australians have made their presence felt in recent years with Andrew Tschudin winning an event last year and going on to finish 9th on the money list with $US65,000. Tschudin also qualified for the 2004 US Open at Shinnecock Hills after several events on the Hooters Tour, highlighting the benefit of playing competitively on a regular basis. Tschudin recorded seven top tens in 17 starts. In 2002 another Australian, Jamie Rogers, who attended the University of Nebraska, won twice and last year Queenslander Simon Nash, won an event and would go on this year to finish third at the co-sanctioned New Zealand Open. Nash played his collegiate golf at the University of Minnesota.
Queenslander Ben Lammi, who recently turned professional, and Tschudin have already been placed third this season and both will line up this week. Also playing are Simon Nash and New South Wales' Peter Welden.
