The Big Break VI: Trump National

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Official website
The Big Break VI: Trump National

Season run	September 26, 2006 – December 19, 2006
Filming dates	June 2006 –
No. of episodes	10
Hosts	Vince Cellini; Stephanie Sparks
Location(s)	Trump National Golf Club, Los Angeles, California
Tour exemptions	LPGA Tour, Champions Tour
Tournament exemptions	2007 Turtle Bay Championship, 2007 Bank of America Championship; 2007 SBS Open at Turtle Bay, 2007 Longs Drugs Challenge
Winner(s)	Denny Hepler, Briana Vega
Contestants' tour status	Kristy McPherson (2007 exempt), Sarah Lynn Sargent (2007 exempt)
Season chronology
The Big Break V: Hawaii	The Big Break VII: Reunion at Reunion

The Big Break VI: Trump National was the sixth edition of The Golf Channel's popular reality television series, The Big Break. The show awards exemptions into selected events on major professional golf tours.

This is the first time the show was held at a course in California: Donald Trump's Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles. Trump made a cameo appearance in the season premiere, in addition to appearing periodically throughout the show. This is also the first mixed-gender edition of the show. Nine men and nine women competed for exemptions onto the Champions Tour and LPGA Tour, respectively. The two Champions Tour events the men competed to qualify for were the Turtle Bay Championship and the Bank of America Championship, while the two LPGA events the women competed for entry into were the SBS Open at Turtle Bay and the Longs Drugs Challenge. [1]

The show was taped in June and July 2006, and premiered on September 26, 2006 with the matchplay final broadcast on December 19, 2006.

[edit] Contestants

Women:

Rachel Bailey, age 25, Faulconbridge, New South Wales, Australia. FUTURES Tour player.
Bridget Dwyer, age 25, Kailua, Hawaii. FUTURES Tour player.
Ashley Gomes, age 23, Pleasanton, California. 2004 Western Athletic Conference individual champion for San Jose State University. FUTURES Tour player.
Sarah Lynn Johnston, age 24, St. Charles, Illinois. FUTURES Tour player. Qualified for 2007 LPGA Tour exempt status after filming of The Big Break VI.
Laura London, age 25, Scottsdale, Arizona. Played on FUTURES Tour from 1999 to 2001.
Annie Mallory, age 23, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. FUTURES Tour player.
Kristy McPherson, age 25, Conway, South Carolina. FUTURES Tour player. Qualified for 2007 LPGA Tour exempt status after filming of The Big Break VI.
Karyn Stordahl-Utecht, age 25, Prior Lake, Minnesota. Former player for the University of Minnesota; Miss Minnesota in 2005.
Briana Vega, age 23, North Andover, Massachusetts. FUTURES Tour player. Winner of 2004 Women's Golf Association of Massachusetts Amateur Championship.

Men:

Sid Corliss, age 56, Cumming, Georgia. Sun Belt Senior Tour player.
Albert Crews, age 54, Homer, Louisiana. Qualified for 2005 U.S. Senior Open.
Charlie Gibson, age 52, Windsor, California. Former All-American at Arizona State University.
Denny Hepler, age 50, Warsaw, Indiana. Former Malaysian Open winner.
Jeff Mitchell, age 51, Frisco, Texas. 1980 Phoenix Open winner. 1980 first round co-leader at The Masters.
Kelly Murray, age 50, Reston, Virginia. Holds world record for longest recorded drive (684.8 yards).
Gary Ostrega, age 52, Westfield, New Jersey. Played on the PGA Tour from 1977 to 1979.
Rocky Rockett, age 54, Gastonia, North Carolina. Sun Belt Senior Tour all-time leading money winner.
Gavin Slabbert, age 51, Orange Park, Florida. Heartland Tour player.

Ages are as of the time The Big Break VI was filmed in July 2006.

[edit] Winners' exemption performances

Denny Hepler competed in the 2007 Turtle Bay Championship, played on the Palmer Course at the Turtle Bay Resort, Kahuku, Hawai'i, January 22-28. He finished tied for 72nd place, with a score of 222 (+6). [2]

Briana Vega competed on her first sponsor's exemption in the 2007 SBS Open at Turtle Bay. She missed the cut and finished last, with a score of 161 (+17). Fellow BBVI competitors and 2007 LPGA exempt rookies Kristy McPherson and Sarah Lynn Sargent also played in the tournament; McPherson missed the cut and finished with a +5 150, while Sargent made the cut and finished tied for 73rd place with a score of 225 (+9).