Teams Complete for Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge

The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge, now in its 17th season benefiting adoption, is the only professional golf tournament that pits three players from the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours in a head-to-head competition for bragging rights and a share of the $1 million purse.

The event will be held November 7-11 at Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson, Nev. The 7,318-yard, par-72 course occupies 240 acres in the foothills of the Black Mountain Range and is located 15 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. The Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge will be broadcast December 13 and 14.

The event benefits the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a nonprofit public charity dedicated to dramatically increasing the adoptions of the more than 150,000 children in North America's foster care systems waiting to be adopted. Created by Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas, who was adopted as a child, the foundation leads programs such as Wendy's Wonderful Kids, placing adoption recruiters throughout the U.S. and Canada to find permanent, loving families for children in the foster care system, and Adoption-Friendly Workplace, encouraging employers to offer adoption benefits to their employees. The Foundation also works with adoption advocates and officials to streamline the adoption process and make adoption more affordable for families. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.DaveThomasFoundationforAdoption.org.

General admission to the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge is free. For information regarding golf and social event packages, visit www.wendys3tour.com.

The Teams

The LPGA Tour will be represented by Sweden's Helen Alfredsson and Americans Natalie Gulbis and Cristie Kerr.

Alfredsson is enjoying one of the best seasons of her career. So far in 2008 she has posted three top-10 finishes, including her sixth career LPGA victory at the Evian Masters. With just under $1.1 million in earnings this season she is ranked No. 6 on the LPGA Official Money List and No. 9 in the World Golf Rankings. Alfredsson was the 1992 LPGA Rookie of the Year and has been a member of eight European Solheim Cup Teams, including 2007 when she was the team's captain. This will be Alfredsson's first Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge appearance.

Gulbis will be making her third straight appearance in the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge. In 2007 season, she recorded five top-10 finishes, including her first-career LPGA victory at the Evian Masters. In 2008 Gulbis has posted one top-10 finish, a T9 at the Ricoh Women's British Open. She was a member of the victorious 2005 and '07 United States Solheim Cup Teams and, together with Kerr and Morgan Pressel, helped lead the LPGA Team to its fourth-career Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge victory in 2007. To date Gulbis has more than $3.6 million in career earnings.

Kerr is one of the LPGA's stars. The 12-year veteran added her 11th career victory at this year's Safeway Classic by defeating Alfredsson and Sophie Gustafson in a one-hole, sudden death playoff. Kerr won the first major championship of her career at the 2007 U.S. Women's Open and is currently ranked No. 6 in the World Golf Rankings and No. 9 on the LPGA Official Money List. She has seven top-10 finishes in 2008 and will be making her fifth straight appearance at the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge. Kerr has been a member of four U.S. Solheim Cup teams (2002, '03, '05 and '07) and played in all five rounds for the victorious 2007 U.S. team.

The Champions Tour will be represented by Fred Funk, Jay Haas and Nick Price.

Funk is one of the most popular personalities in golf. He has recorded 12-career victories, including eight on the PGA Tour and four on the Champions Tour, in his 20-year career. He became eligible to participate on the Champions Tour in July 2006 and won in just his third start at the AT&T Championship. Funk continues to play, and win, on both tours. In 2008 he entered 14 events on the PGA Tour and recorded one top-10 finish. Funk has posted nine top-10 finishes on the Champions Tour this year and recorded his third and fourth-career Champions Tour victories at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai and Jeld-Wen Tradition. He has been a member of two President's Cup teams (2003 and '05) and one Ryder Cup team (2004). This will be Funk's second consecutive Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge appearance.

Haas will be making his fifth straight appearance at the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge. He has been a model of consistency over his more than 30-year professional career, recording nine PGA Tour victories while never losing his tour card. Since becoming a member of the Champions Tour in 2005, Haas has missed only one cut in 78 starts, recorded 12 victories, and won the 2006 Charles Schwab Cup. He has posted at least two wins in each of his four seasons on the over-50 circuit and was the top money winner in both 2006 and '07. Haas has been a member of three Ryder Cup teams (1983, 1995 and 2004) and two Presidents Cup teams (1994 and 2003).

A member of golf's Hall of Fame, Price has recorded 18 PGA Tour and 24 international victories since turning professional in 1977. He won three major championships (the 1992 and 1994 PGA Championship and the 1994 British Open Championship) and was the PGA Tour Player of the Year and leading money winner in 1993 and '94. In 2005 he received the Bob Jones Award from the USGA, the highest honor given by the association in recognition of his distinguished sportsmanship in golf. He has been a member of five Presidents Cup teams (1994, '96, '98, 2000 and '03). In his second year on the Champions Tour in 2008, Price recorded 11 top-10 finishes in 17 events, including two second-place and two third-place finishes. This will mark Price's second appearance in a row at the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge.

The PGA Tour will be represented by Stewart Cink, Rocco Mediate and Kenny Perry.

Cink will be making his second appearance at the Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge. During his first stop in 2006, with teammates Zach Johnson and Scott Verplank, he was a member of the most recent PGA Tour squad to win the made-for-television event. Cink is enjoying a career year in 2008 with seven top-10 finishes, including two runner-ups and two third place showings, and his fifth career PGA Tour victory at the Travelers Championship. He is ranked No. 14 in the Official World Golf Rankings and No. 9 on the PGA Tour money list with more than $3.9 million. Cink has been a member of three Presidents Cup teams (2000, '05 and '07) and this year was a member of his fourth straight Ryder Cup team as the United States beat team Europe for the first time since 1999.

Mediate is coming off his best season since 2003, with a runner-up and three top-10 finishes in 2007. A fan favorite, Mediate bounced back from chronic back problems that limited him to just 18 events in 2006. In 2008 Mediate has recorded two top-10 finishes, including a memorable second place to Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open Championship at Torrey Pines. In a bid to become the oldest U.S. Open champion at age 45, Mediate and Woods finished regulation all square to force an 18-hole playoff. Both players shot even-par 71s and for just the third time in U.S. Open history sudden death was needed. Woods made par to Mediate's bogey on the first hole of sudden death to claim the victory. Mediate will be competing in his second Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge; in 2000 he was a member of the winning PGA Tour team with Notah Begay III and Phil Mickelson.

Perry is also enjoying one of the best seasons of his 20-plus-year professional career. In 2008 he has posted seven top-10 finishes, including one second place and one third as well as victories in the Memorial Tournament, Buick Open and John Deere Classic. Perry is ranked No. 5 on the PGA Tour money list with a career-best $4.6 million in earnings and is now No. 9 on the career money list with just over $26 million. Perry has represented the United States as a member of three Presidents Cup Teams (1996, 2003 and '05), and in his second Ryder Cup appearance in 2008 helped lead the U.S. to victory at Valhalla Golf Club in his home state of Kentucky. This will be Perry's first Wendy's 3-Tour Challenge appearance.

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