Round 1: Champions Tour
April 20 2012
1:58 pm
Rd. 1 update: Two teams at 10 under
Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran had always wanted to play together on the Champions Tour, and they’re making the most of their wish at the Liberty Mutual Insurance Legends of Golf.
The Kentuckians shot 10-under 62 in the better-ball format, joining the team of Michael Allen and David Frost atop the leaderboard as Round 1 continued Friday.
Perry played with Scott Hoch a year ago, losing in a playoff to David Eger and Mark McNulty. Hoch is out this year after wrist surgery, which opened the door for Cochran, of Paducah, Ky., to play with the pride of Franklin, Ky.
Allen and Frost, which finished one shot out of last year’s playoff, birdied the first five holes at Savannah Harbor Golf Resort in a front-nine 29.
Old Ohio State teammates John Cook and Joey Sindelar are among a group one shot back at 9 under. Cook eagled the par-4 18th hole, sinking a 6-iron from 178 yards out.
11:18 am
Allen/Frost lead early at Liberty Mutual
Michael Allen got a long-awaited second win on the Champions Tour last week at the Encompass Insurance Pro-Am of Tampa Bay, ending a two-year drought. He may not have to wait nearly as long for win No. 3.
Allen and partner David Frost are 7 under through nine holes in the first round of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Legends of Golf, a two-man better-ball team competition. Allen and Frost tied for third at Savannah Harbor Golf Resort last year, one shot out of a playoff.
Two shots back at 5 under is the Kentucky duo of Kenny Perry and Russ Cochran, and the team of old Ohio State teammates Joey Sindelar and John Cook. Sindelar and Cook were second in Savannah in 2010, then were derailed last year when Sindelar withdrew after four holes in Round 1 with back pain and Cook opted not to play alone for the final two rounds.
The Legends Division awards official money and Charles Schwab Cup points, while the Raphael Division does not and plays two rounds on Friday and Saturday. Thirteen teams are playing in the Raphael and start their first round after the Legends teams. Mark James and Des Smyth are the defending champions.
News: Champions Tour
December 21 2011
3:24 pm
Champions Tour 2012 schedule released
On the heels of the release of the 2012 PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour schedules, the Champions Tour joined the party Wednesday with its new schedule.
Seven new venues are on the schedule, including four of the five Champions Tour major championships. The Constellation Senior Players is shifting up a few weeks to midsummer and moving to Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh, Pa., a classic Seth Raynor design.
The Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, on the other hand, is moving back in the schedule from June to August to allow En-Joie Golf Course as much time as possible to recover from tropical storm flooding sustained in 2011.
The Charles Schwab Cup Championship is also different from 2012, moving from San Francisco to Scottsdale, Ariz., and the Jack Nicklaus-designed Desert Mountain Cochise Course. The course hosted the Champions Tour from 1989-2001. The CSCC is the last event of the season, and the Schwab Cup will be awarded there on Nov. 4.
Still yet to be determined on the schedule are Asian dates in September.
Read more here.
News: Champions Tour
December 14 2011
5:48 pm
Lehman: ‘Culmination of a journey’
In the closing weeks of the Champions Tour season, Tom Lehman at times downplayed the feat of a Player of the Year trifecta.
Never before had a player won such honors on all three Tours operated by the PGA TOUR. Lehman, who won the award on the then-Hogan Tour (now Nationwide Tour) in 1991 and the PGA TOUR in 1996, knew he was fortunate to be in such a position by age as much as accomplishment. No other former Hogan/Nationwide Tour Player of the Year is toiling regularly on the 50-and-over circuit.
But Wednesday, upon officially being named Champions Tour Player of the Year, thus completing the triple play, Lehman could fully appreciate the accomplishment and come clean a little bit about just how much he wanted it.
“I think it’s every bit as significant simply because it’s a goal that I set,” Lehman said. “I think anytime you set a goal that’s a lofty goal, and this one was lofty because no one had done it before. I was aware of that.
“Because of that reason, it’s significant. It’s the culmination of a journey. It’s a journey that’s been a lot of fun. There’s no guarantees. There were no promises that I could achieve that. It took a lot of good playing and also some good fortune for me to win.”
Lehman was strong all year on the Champions Tour, having won three times including a major title. He took over the Schwab Cup points lead after the season’s second event and never looked back, though the points race did tighten up at the season finale as Mark Calcavecchia bid to win the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and take the $1 million season prize. Calc came up short, and Lehman had the Schwab Cup.
“There’s a lot of things happened this past year that went in my favor. John Cook lost in two playoffs. Calc almost came back and won the Schwab Cup,” Lehman said. “Those guys had great years, played great golf, but things kind of tipped my way.
“When you work so hard and you want it so badly, you chase that dream, then the dream does come true, it’s significant. I was very, very aware over the last couple years I had a chance to do something that no one’s done before, at least to this point.”
MORE: Lehman wins POY, Kenny Perry and Chip Beck also honored | Lehman’s 2011 results
Round 4: Champions Tour
November 6 2011
9:26 pm
Blake bags second win in five starts
By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM
SAN FRANCISCO – A little more than two months ago, Jay Don Blake was a Champions Tour journeyman.
Now he’s a multiple-event winner.
Blake won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship Sunday, the first to win the Tour’s season finale in his first appearance since Mark McNulty in 2004. He took a two-shot lead into the final round and never relinquished it, winning by two over Michael Allen, Mark Calcavecchia, Jay Haas and Loren Roberts.
Add that to his win five starts ago at the Songdo IBD Championship in Korea, where he won a four-man playoff, and Blake ends 2011 as one of four multiple winners on Tour, joining Schwab Cup winner Tom Lehman, John Cook and Fred Couples.
“How can you pass up having a chance to play on the Champions Tour?” said Blake, who rose to fourth in Schwab Cup points and will take $200,000 from that prize pool in addition to his $440,000 share of the winner’s purse from TPC Harding Park. “I wanted to be healthy and ready if I could play out here and perform like I was able to play.”
Blake, 53, won once on the PGA TOUR, in 1991 at Torrey Pines. He cut his PGA TOUR career short of age 50 due to back pain, and for three years worked on stretching and tweaking enough to give the Champions Tour a shot.
He pieced together schedules with his partial status, qualifying for some events and relying on sponsor’s exemptions at times. What he never lost was his drive and, just as importantly, a silky putting stroke.
“He’s always been a great putter his whole life,” Allen said. “When we played in college, he was a great putter, and that’s been his game.
“You go out to dinner with someone, you want to go out to dinner with a good putter, because they’re always happy.”
Blake isn’t the type for overt displays of emotion, happy or not, but the satisfaction was clear on his face late Sunday afternoon, especially with some 20 family members and friends around to share in his win. The next stop will be the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, a winners-only event.
An event for Jay Don Blake.
“I just kept knocking at the door and I felt like sometime down the road it was going to happen,” he said.
It’s now wide open.
7:56 pm
Calc falls just short in late Schwab run
By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM
SAN FRANCISCO – Mark Calcavecchia turned the Schwab Cup race into an exciting battle Sunday afternoon, one that required watching several players other than him.
But in the end it was a result he’s all too familiar with – second.
At the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Calcavecchia needed to win or finish no worse than two-way tie for second to steal the Cup from Tom Lehman, the points leader since the second tournament of the season.
He started the final round in a tie for sixth, but on a windy day at TPC Harding Park he made a late run with a 2-under 69.
When Calcavecchia birdied the 15th hole and Jay Haas bogeyed the 13th, there was a three-way tie for second. Minutes later, Loren Roberts made it a four-way tie at 6 under with a birdie at 15. (Jay Don Blake was well in front, so winning the event wasn’t a possibility.)
Haas and Roberts continued to pour in pars, Haas making a solid save off a bad drive at 15, Roberts saving par on the par-3 17th after missing the green.
Calcavecchia’s key moment was on 18, when he hit a great drive and only had 134 yards left to the par-4. He was in between a wedge and 9-iron in switching winds, and his 9-iron ended up pin high but well right of the hole.
“I had the right distance but I never swung at it. Wind just got it,” Calcavecchia said. “If I had to do it again I’d hit a hard wedge and take my chances. I would have hit a better shot, put it that way.”
He two-putted to post 6 under, and Roberts did the same from the next group. Calcavecchia couldn’t afford another finisher at that number, but local favorite Michael Allen hit a chip close at 18 that nearly went in for birdie. In or out, Calcavecchia’s fate was sealed.
He finished second in points, 74 behind Lehman.
“It’s kind of the story of my whole career, I’ve had a lot of seconds in my day and a lot of close calls,” said Calcavecchia, who had 13 wins on the PGA TOUR and 27 seconds. On the Champions Tour, he has one win and four seconds.
“It could have been a lot better but on the other hand I had a great year. Just rattled off more top-10s than anybody.”
True – Calcavecchia had 15 top-10s to Lehman’s 12, in one more tournament. But second place Sunday was just too crowded of a place for his Schwab Cup hopes.
6:45 pm
Lehman wins Cup; Blake wins event
SAN FRANCISCO – Tom Lehman survived a game effort from Mark Calcavecchia to win the Schwab Cup while Jay Don Blake won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship Sunday.
Blake won for the second time in two months on the Champions Tour, shooting a final-round 71 at TPC Harding Park to win by two shots.
In the season-long points race, Lehman finished T18 in the finale to open the door for Calcavecchia. But Calc needed a win or a two-way tie for second, and there turned out to be a four-way tie for second with Calc, Loren Roberts, Michael Allen and Jay Haas.
5:45 pm
Schwab Cup update: Calc still alive
SAN FRANCISCO – Mark Calcavecchia can still win the Schwab Cup.
Points leader Tom Lehman finished tied for 18th, leaving the door open for Calcavecchia, who came to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship second in points. He needs a win or a two-way tie for second, and though a win seems unlikely with Jay Don Blake holding a four-shot lead, second place is up for grabs.
Calcavecchia birdied the 15th to get to 6 under and Jay Haas bogeyed 13 to fall to 6 under. Michael Allen is also there at 6 under. But a three-way tie is no good for Calc.
Stay tuned.
5:11 pm
Cook’s three-peat bid falls short
By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM
SAN FRANCISCO – John Cook’s bid to become the first three-peat winner of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship was essentially over before it started.
Cook had four bogeys total in his previous two wins, last year at TPC Harding Park and the year prior at Sonoma Golf Club. In Round 1, he had four bogeys in his first six holes.
“Just a tough start, the weather got bad and I didn’t really do much,” Cook said. “Next thing you knew, I was 4 over after six and I hadn’t really done anything wrong. It was just catch-up after that.”
He shot 73 that first day, tied for 17th, and was never a factor from that point. He duplicated the 73 in Round 2, a tough day for scoring, then shot 70-71 over the weekend. He was tied for 20th when he signed his scorecard Sunday.
Cook came to TPC Harding Park as a longshot contender for the Schwab Cup at fourth in points, but needed to win the event and hope Tom Lehman finished T5 or worse. His season had plenty of highs, including wins at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am and the Montreal Championship, but he lost in a playoff in a bid for his first major at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.
Cook also had two finishes of 50th or worse later in the season, when Schwab Cup points for top-10s was what he dearly needed.
“I had really, really good weeks, and some weeks that were very mediocre,” Cook said. “(Lehman) had tons of top-10s and wins and winning majors, and that’s what you have to do.”
4:57 pm
Leaderboard update: Blake up by two
SAN FRANCISCO – Jay Don Blake is taking a two-shot lead into the back nine of the Champions Tour finale.
The Utah native shot 1 under on the front at TPC Harding Park to get to 9 under and leads Kenny Perry and David Frost at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Perry is 4 under on the day after three consecutive birdies at Nos. 9-12. That’s the low round on the course along with Fred Couples, 4 under through 14.
In the Schwab Cup race, Mark Calcavecchia needs to get going quickly. He’s 1 under for his round through 11 and 5 under through the tournament, tied for seventh. But he needs to get into the top two to have a chance at the $1 million annuity. Tom Lehman is tied for 18th but safe as long as Calcavecchia doesn’t make a big move.
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