SIOUX FALLS — Two major champions will beef up the star power of the Sanford International, but the inaugural champion of the Sioux Falls stop on the tour featuring the world’s best golfers over the age of 50 will not return.
Forty-time PGA Champions Tour winner and 2-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer has committed to the second annual event at Minnehaha Country Club, as has former PGA Champion and 2016 Ryder Cup captain Davis Love. Neither played in the inaugural event last autumn.
However, defending Sanford champ Steve Stricker, the recent U.S. Senior Open winner, says he will not be in the field from Sept. 20-22 because of a previously planned elk hunting trip. Stricker, who won 12 times on the PGA Tour and five times in less than two seasons on the Champions Tour, did promise to play in the 2020 event a couple weeks ahead of the Ryder Cup
The announcements were made at Monday’s tourney media day.
The event also announced many additions for the fans in its second year, including a new “party deck grandstand on the 16th hole and a covered main entrance to protect spectators from the elements while they wait in line to get in.
Langer, who is from Anhausen, Germany, has 113 professional wins during his 45-year career including the 1985 and 1993 Masters. He is one of the most dominant golfers to ever play on the PGA TOUR Champions, winning 40 tournaments including a record 11 senior major championships. Langer recently won the Senior Open with a five-shot victory at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Course. He has also won five Charles Schwab Cups, the most recent in 2018.
“There’s not a better combination of person and golfer on the TOUR than Bernhard Langer,” said Greg Conrad, tournament director of the Sanford International. “Bernhard’s humanitarianism and integrity are second to none, and we are excited to welcome him to Sioux Falls to play in the Sanford International this fall.”
In 2018, Langer won the Payne Stewart Award. The award is given annually in honor of Payne Stewart to a player whose values align with the character, charity and sportsmanship that Stewart showed.
1997 PGA Championship winner and two-time Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III will also play in the 2019 Sanford International. Love III, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, has 21 career PGA TOUR wins and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.
For the most up-to-date Sanford International player commitment list, visit sanfordinternational.com.
