Tournament Field To Include Pga Tour Veterans Dimarco, Faxon, Funk And Parnevik

Chris DiMarco, Brad Faxon, Fred Funk and Jesper Parnevik have committed to play in this year's U.S. Bank Championship, Tournament Director Dan Croak announced today.

Chris DiMarco is a three-time winner on the PGA TOUR, victorious at the 2000 SEI Pennsylvania Classic, the 2001 Buick Challenge and the 2002 Phoenix Open. In addition, he won the 2006 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in the United Arab Emirates on the European Tour with his wife, Amy, on the bag. Later that year, Chris finished 2nd to Tiger Woods at the British Open. He set the Royal Liverpool course record during that event with a 7-under-par 65 in the second round. DiMarco was a member of the 2003 and 2005 Presidents Cup Teams and the 2004 and 2006 Ryder Cup Teams. His most notable performance on those squads came in 2005 when he posted a 4-0-1 record and clinched the matches with a 13-foot birdie putt to win 1-up over Stewart Appleby in Singles. A professional since 1990 and a member of the PGA TOUR since 1994, Chris will be making his second consecutive and fifth overall start at the U.S. Bank Championship.

Brad Faxon is an eight-time winner on the PGA TOUR, most recently at the 2005 Buick Championship. Brad will be making his thirteenth U.S. Bank Championship start. Faxon's best finish at the tournament came in 1984 when he tied for 6th. A two-time member of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, in 1995 and 1997, Brad has finished among the top-125 money winners on the PGA TOUR in 22 of his 25 years on the circuit dating back to 1984. Hampered by injury recently, he underwent ACL and microfracture surgery on his right leg in December of 2007. Brad has played 14 times this season after making only three starts last year. Along with Billy Andrade, Faxon serves as host for the CVS/Caremark Charity Classic which is being played this week at the Rhode Island Country Club.

Fred Funk is an eight-time winner on the PGA TOUR and a four-time winner on the Champions Tour. He has exempt status on both the PGA TOUR and the Champions Tour in 2009, the third consecutive year in which he has done so. Fred, in 2005, captured THE PLAYERS Championship, besting Tom Lehman, Scott Verplank and Luke Donald by a stroke after having to play 33 holes on Monday due to bad weather during the event. In 2007, Funk joined Raymond Floyd and Craig Stadler as the only players to win in the same season on both the PGA TOUR and the Champions Tour. In his second Champions Tour appearance of the season, he won by a record 11 strokes at the Turtle Bay Championship. Weeks later, in his fourth start of the year, at the age of 50 years, 8 months and 12 days, Funk notched a victory at the inaugural Mayakoba Golf Classic. In doing so, Fred became the fifth-oldest champion in PGA TOUR history and the oldest since Art Wall won the 1975 Greater Milwaukee Open at the age of 51 years, 7 months and 10 days.

A professional since 1981, Fred was the golf coach at the University of Maryland from 1982 to 1988. Funk was a member of the 2004 Ryder Cup Team and the 2003 and 2005 President's Cup Teams. He has made four starts on the PGA TOUR this season, making two cuts, at THE PLAYERS Championship and at last week's U.S. Open. He has made eight starts on the Champions Tour in 2009, finishing among the top-25 in each of those events. He has five top-10 finishes. Fred will be making his thirteenth start in Milwaukee. His best finish at the tournament came in 2004 when he tied for 2nd.

Jesper Parnevik is a five-time winner on the PGA TOUR and a nine-time winner in international competition. A member of the circuit since 1994, Jesper has finished among the top-125 on the money list in fourteen of his fifteen years on TOUR. He finished 8th in 2000, a year in which he won twice, at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and the GTE Byron Nelson Classic. Parnevik is a three-time member of the international Ryder Cup Team, playing for the Europeans in 1997, 1999 and 2002. A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Jesper will be making his third consecutive and fourth overall start at the U.S. Bank Championship. He earned a tie for 3rd in his first appearance in 1996, carding rounds of 65-66-63-72, and finished just one stroke out of the playoff with Loren Roberts and Jerry Kelly. Roberts went on to beat Kelly in sudden death with a birdie on the first extra hole. Parnevik tied for 28th in 2007, carding three sub-par rounds, 66-69-68, before shooting a closing round 74 on Sunday.