BILOXI — The Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic (MGRC) announced that Jose Maria Olazabal has committed to the 2017 tournament (March 30-April 2) at Fallen Oak.

Jose Marie Olazabal

Olazabal is a two-time Masters Champion, in 1994 and 1999, and was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009. He captained the victorious European Ryder Cup team in 2012. He is making his first trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after joining the PGA TOUR Champions this season.

He joins fellow Hall of Famer and former European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie in the field. The European Ryder Cup captain before Olazabal, Montgomerie was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. He has four PGA TOUR Champion victories, including three majors. He won the Senior PGA Championship in 2014 and 2015, in addition to the 2014 U.S. Senior Open.

Tickets for the MGRC are $15 and may be purchased online at www.2017MGRC.com or by calling the tournament office at (228) 896-6365. Children 16 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult and all active and retired military and their families are admitted free with a military issued identification card.

This will be the eighth year that the Mississippi Gulf Coast will host the best players on the PGA TOUR Champions. For the seventh consecutive year, the tournament will be broadcast live on the Golf Channel, with Saturday and Sunday’s rounds being aired to over 85 million households throughout the United States.


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Rick Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s in journalism, Rick has worked for the Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger. He was sports editor of Hattiesburg American, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers.
Rick has been recognized 13 times as Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year, and is recipient of multiple awards and honors for his reporting and writing.