Colonial field includes 15 tour winners from this season, led by Scott

The field is set for the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, which will feature 11 of the world’s top 30 golfers in Thursday’s opening round at Colonial Country Club.

Fresh tweaks for the event, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary as a PGA Tour stop, include a new title sponsor and the debut of the Prince Street display area off the ninth fairway. Inside is a replica of a Dean & DeLuca retail outlet where fans can sample and purchase goods from the specialty-food provider.

Dean & DeLuca has expansion plans for the Dallas-Fort Worth market and hopes to have a retail outlet operational in the Metroplex within a year.

As for the golf, many familiar names with histories of past success in Fort Worth will be part of the mix to claim the 2016 title. The last seven Colonial winners, including defending champion Chris Kirk, will compete. So will several players with plans to represent their countries in the 2016 Olympics, where golf will return to the Summer Games for the first time since 1904. Among that group is Dallas resident Jordan Spieth, the No. 2 player in the world golf rankings and the highest-ranked player in the Colonial field.

The first tournament-related activity is the Nike Youth Clinic, set for 2 p.m. Sunday in Frost Park. The clinic is free and fans can park for free at Farrington Field, beginning at 12:30 p.m., with a complimentary shuttle to Colonial. Practice rounds for professional golfers begin Monday in anticipation of Thursday’s opening round, with pro-am rounds scheduled Monday and Wednesday.

In terms of a potential champion for the $6.7 million event, here are five storylines worth tracking during tournament week:

1 Field features 15 of this year’s tournament winners: Among the Colonial participants, 15 golfers already have won a PGA Tour event this season, which began in October. Adam Scott, the No. 7 player in the world golf rankings and the 2014 Colonial champ, has won twice (Honda Classic, WGC-Cadillac Championship). Others with tour titles this season are Spieth, Emiliano Grillo, Smylie Kaufman, Peter Malnati, Kevin Kisner, Fabian Gomez, Jason Dufner, Brandt Snedeker, Vaughn Taylor, Charl Schwartzel, Tony Finau, Jim Herman, Charley Hoffman and Fort Worth resident Brian Stuard.

2 Lots of local knowledge: Seven players with Tarrant County addresses, including two Colonial rookies who live in Fort Worth, are entered. The first-time Colonial competitors are Fort Worth residents Martin Piller and Tom Hoge. Other Fort Worth residents in the field are Franklin Corpening, J.J. Henry and Stuard, who collected his first PGA Tour triumph earlier this month at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Colleyville residents Chad Campbell and Ryan Palmer also are entered. Fort Worth resident Rory Sabbatini, who won the 2007 Colonial title, is not competing because of recent neck surgery. No timetable has been given for Sabbatini’s return to tour competition.

3 Two reigning major champions: Spieth, the U.S. Open champion, joins Zach Johnson, a two-time Colonial champ who won last year’s British Open title, as reigning major champions in this week’s field. Spieth is No. 2 in the world golf rankings. Johnson is No. 18.

4 Regular contenders: Three of the top 12 money winners on this year’s PGA Tour head to Colonial in search of their first victory of the season. The list includes Kevin Chappell (fourth, $2,960,977), Patrick Reed (10th, $2,606,491) and Kevin Na (12th, $2,366,916). Reed, a Spring resident, leads the tour in top-10 finishes (8). Chappell and Na have five.

5 Hogan Award recipients: Kirk, the defending champ, became the first professional golfer to win at Colonial after being honored in college as the recipient of the Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the nation’s top college golfer as part of tournament-week activities. Kirk, the 2007 recipient, is joined in this week’s field by five fellow Hogan Award honorees from yesteryear: Ricky Barnes (2003 co-winner), Hunter Mahan (2003 co-winner), Bill Haas (2004), Kyle Stanley (2009) and Nick Taylor (2010).

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Colonial field includes 15 tour winners from this season, led by Scott."