By Greg Robertson
ESPN Golf Online
Sunday, November 12

Details
When	Friday-Sunday
Course	Hyatt Dorado Beach (East course), Dorado, Puerto Rico
Par/Yardage	Par 72; 6,900 yards
Purse	$720,000 (Winner: $240,000)
1999 champion	Larry Nelson
Tournament record	None
Television	None

The tournament

	Hole by hole
	Hole	Par	Yards
	1	5	520
	2	3	205
	3	4	390
	4	5	525
	5	3	205
	6	4	405
	7	4	430
	8	4	420
	9	4	410
	Out	36	3510
	10	4	360
	11	5	535
	12	3	180
	13	4	380
	14	5	560
	15	4	360
	16	4	400
	17	3	180
	18	4	435
	In	36	3390
	Total	72	6900

No longer is the Silly Season limited to the PGA Tour.

One week after the Senior Tour Championship, the 50-plus circuit begins its offseason with the Senior Match Play Challenge, a 16-player, single-elimination match-play event in Puerto Rico.

Larry Nelson, who just completed the best season on the Senior Tour this year, heads the field. Nelson is the defending champion, and is coming off a year highlighted by six victories and the money title at more than $2.7 million.

But the next three finishers on the money list have bypassed the chance to play in Puerto Rico. Bruce Fleisher, Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan are not in the field. Irwin won the first Match Play Challenge in 1998, defeating Morgan in the final.

Last year, Nelson beat Tom Jenkins 3 and 2 in the final to claim the $240,000 first prize during a tournament hampered by bad weather.

Nelson is the top seed this year, and he'll face Vicente Fernandez in the opening match. Other top seeds include Dana Quigley, Jim Thorpe and Allen Doyle.

All of the matches will be contested over 18 holes at the Hyatt Dorado Beach, a challenging course which begins with a difficult stretch of five holes. Two par-5s and two par-3s are in that five-hole stretch, and shot-making is at a premium early in the match.