The Club at Rawls Creek

Memorial volunteers on cell hunt – ESPN

calvin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:36 +0000

DUBLIN, Ohio — There isn’t a pro golfer who doesn’t have a story about a “Play That Funky Music” ringtone coming from the gallery during a backswing, or the time a tourist with a flip phone was snapping photos in the middle of a critical putt.The Memorial is the latest tournament to try to do something about it.The event, which tees off next week, allows fans to carry cell phones on the course if they are put on vibrate. For the first time, a cadre of volunteers will follow the most popular groups, hoping to alleviate spectators’ loud rings and the efforts of amateur photographers.Jack Nicklaus, founder and host of the Memorial, applauds (but not during a shot) the steps taken.”The tournament has achieved the balance between giving patrons the ability to use their mobile devices in the appropriate and permitted areas, while giving the players in the field the ability to compete without disturbance, distraction or interruption,” he said.Areas will be set aside to make and take calls. The patrolling volunteers will try to clamp down on any abuses everywhere else.A year ago at the Memorial, Phil Mickelson cited “mental fatigue” for withdrawing after the first round at Muirfield Village. Most believe the real reason was his frustration with a flood of distractions from outside the ropes involving cell phones.”It took Phil out of his game,” said Bubba Watson, who joined Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in that rock-star grouping. “Phil’s a great player and a great champion and it just took him out of his game. It’s sad. It’s sad that cell phones can make or break a championship.”As a result, the Memorial is trying to stave off a repeat.”That group last year made us realize that we had work to do in improving our mobile-device policy,” said Dan Sullivan, the Memorial’s executive director. “It wasn’t isolated to that group.”Nothing is isolated about the problem; it’s everywhere.Se Ri Pak was hitting a tee shot on the fourth hole of the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open when a cell phone rang in the stands. During the Web.com tour event in Panama a couple of years ago, the phone of Alastair Presnell’s caddie went off five times in seven holes. Presnell finally asked his caddie to throw the thing into a bush, which he did.The PGA Tour and others are trying to meet people halfway. Bay Hill and The Players Championship also have volunteers who scour the crowds looking for possible problems.At last year’s PGA Championship, marshals would stop someone who was using their phone improperly and put a red check mark on the back of their ticket. If there was already a check mark there, meaning they had already been warned, the phone was taken away until the spectator claimed it upon leaving the course.The Open Championship allowed cell phones for the first time last year but observers said there were continual abuses of fans using cameras during play. Adding to the confusion, The Open even offers tournament updates to mobile devices for those walking the course.At the Masters, you must leave your phone at the gate. The prevailing opinion is that Augusta National will never, ever permit cell phones for spectators.Just as cell phones have become a part of daily life, they’ve become a necessary evil for players.Tiger Woods has won 14 major championships and is the defending champ at the Memorial, where he’s won five times. He’s grown accustomed to the snaps, clicks and rings — although many of his playing partners have not.”When they’ve played with me on the weekend rounds, they’re not quite used to the amount of movement and … well, now the new thing is the cell phones going off,” he said last year. “It costs them a shot here and there, and that’s what it’s done to me in most of the tournaments I’ve played.”Some places are worse than others for distractions. But not even the world’s No. 1 player has an answer for how to combat them.At Woods’ own AT&T National last year, the crowds were large and particularly loud. Marshals regularly had to collect cell phones from fans caught taking pictures during the tournament.Watson, the 2012 Masters champion, says the situation can be almost unbearable for players.”When they make these marquee pairings, more people are going to follow them and more people want to take pictures. So it makes it very difficult,” Watson said after Mickelson’s upsetting round last year. “Ever since they made that rule that cell phones are allowed, it’s just not fun playing.”It’s an odd predicament for golf’s ruling bodies. After all, the sport’s financial lifeblood is large corporations which buy the most ad time and gobble up tournament sponsorships. Those are institutions run by businesspeople who need to be linked to their office by a cell phone. Yet most governing bodies disdain anyone having cell phones on the course during tournament play.Irony of all ironies, the USGA offers its book of rules as an app for Android devices or iPhones — an app that can’t be used during the U.S. Open by fans because the USGA prohibits phones on the course during the tournament.”We put competition first and foremost,” USGA executive director Mike Davis said in 2011. “We’re focused on fans, but if we were totally focused on fans you’d have the rope lines closer to play. We’re more focused on the competition itself. And until we, as an organization, are convinced that we can conduct a U.S. Open, a Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur, Girls’ Junior, with spectators using cell phones, we’re going to continue to prohibit them.”On the other hand, most public events are a feeding frenzy for those with cameras on their cell phones. Been to a concert lately? Odds are, arrayed in front of you were hundreds of tiny screens all taking video or photos as the music plays.It’s just like that on the PGA Tour, except the players hate loud or sudden noises while plying their trade. They can mentally blot out the sounds of blimps overhead, birds chirping and roars elsewhere on the course but they jump 3 feet when a phone clicks somewhere on the other side of the ropes.”The thing is, everyone thinks the players can’t play with noise,” said Peter Senior, who competes on the The Champions Tour. “They can. But when it’s really quiet and you hear it, that’s the problem. If there’s constant noise — even yahooing — the guys can play as long as it’s constant. But when it’s dead quiet and then something happens, the guys get upset.”In another fitting irony, after Mickelson was angered by all of the cell phone distractions during his first-round 79 a year ago at the Memorial, what did he do? He whipped out his own phone on the sixth fairway and texted a message to PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem about all the distractions on the course provided by … well, cell phones like the one he had in his hand.Even Woods has used his cell phone — during a pro-am, not a tournament — to call one of his representatives to get his 3 wood regripped at Quail Hollow in 2009.So it’s not just parents checking on the babysitter who think that it’s handy to have a cell phone at all times.Muirfield Village hosts the Presidents Cup in October, a team competition pitting the U.S. vs. an International side. Even such major events are immune from cell phone distractions.At the 2009 Presidents Cup in San Francisco, a marshal’s cell phone rang twice while the International team’s Geoff Ogilvy was standing over a putt.Maybe the PGA Tour needs to provide more education about cell phones, informing fans that they want them to stay connected in this digital age. But they also cannot permit the golfers to be bothered.Maybe there should be a spokesman.A recommendation: former PGA Championship winner Rich Beem.Before he won a major or made a living at golf, he used to sell car-stereo equipment and cell phones.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

Kingston leads BMW PGA Championship – MiamiHerald.com

calvin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:34 +0000

VIRGINIA WATER, England —
South Africa’s James Kingston shot a 6-under 66 on Thursday at Wentworth to take the lead during the suspended first round of the BMW PGA Championship.Afternoon play was delayed for about 90 minutes because of the threat of lightning and five groups were still on the course when the round was suspended for the day because of darkness.Finland’s Mikko Ilonen opened with a 67, and Scotland’s Scott Henry and Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano shot 68. Austria’s Martin Wiegele also was 4 under with five holes left.

Sergio Garcia, the Spanish player whose verbal sparring with Tiger Woods turned ugly this week when he said he would “serve fried chicken” if he had dinner with Woods, opened with a 72.Second-ranked Rory McIlroy bogeyed five of the last six holes for a 74, and playing partner Graeme McDowell, coming off a victory Sunday in Bulgaria in the Volvo World Match Play, also had a 74.McIlroy had 33 putts.”I feel as though I am playing well enough, but it is just not being reflected on my scorecard,” McIlroy said. “I played the first 12 holes really not missing a shot, but I just feel at the minute I am not getting that much out of my rounds. … I’m not sure what the problem is because, as I said, the first 12 holes was really good golf and very solid, but I just got on a run of bogeys and couldn’t get off it.”Ian Poulter finished with a 76, and two-time defending champion Luke Donald had a 78.”It is disappointing to be this far back after one round, but then that’s just golf, again,” Donald said. “Today was quite different to how the course has played in the past, but I just didn’t do very well in adjusting.”The 47-year-old Kingston got into the field through a sponsor invite after losing his European Tour card at the end of last season.”I never felt like I played poorly enough to lose my card and that’s what makes it even more frustrating,” said Kingston, who won the 2009 Mercedes Benz Championship for the last his two tour titles. “I felt like I played half decent throughout the whole season, but just never managed to put a score on the board. It does make it a little harder to accept. Getting an invite into this event, what a great feeling to be back here. I think I’ve made the most of it today.”There also was a brief hail shower.”It was pretty nippy when we started and stayed that way,” Ilonen said. “All day I was thinking, ‘Can I get these waterproof trousers off?’ and never managed it. We even had hail on the ninth tee. I said to a friend last night it was going to snow today and she laughed at me. It’s British summer and we have proof of that.”

Haas, Waldorf open with 66s at Senior PGA Championship – CBSSports.com

calvin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:32 +0000

Seeking his first victory on the seniors circuit, Duffy Waldorf gets off to a good start. (USATSI) ST. LOUIS — Jay Haas’ familiarity with Bellerive Country Club was plain to see as he shot a 5-under 66 on Thursday to take a share of the lead in the Senior PGA Championship. Haas, who grew up in nearby Belleville, Illinois, and Duffy Waldorf shared after a round played in breezy, cool conditions. The 59-year-old Haas, the winner of the major championship in 2006 and 2008, had a bogey-free round. The 50-year-old Waldorf had six birdies and one bogey. “I didn’t expect it going out,” Haas said about shooting a low round. “I wasn’t very sharp today, but managed to … my misses were in the correct spots and I took advantage of a few good iron shots and just kind of kept it between the ditches, I guess you would say. But I’m very, very pleased.” Haas has 16 Champions Tour victories after winning nine times on the PGA Tour. Waldorf is winless in 11 career starts on the 50-and-over tour after winning four times on the PGA Tour. “Tee to green, it was a very good day,” Waldorf said. “All in all, I hit the ball really well. I really liked my iron play. I had quite a few birdie putts. I didn’t make them all so I feel like I still had some more out there.” Sonny Skinner was a stroke back along with Japan’s Kiyoshi Murota. “I’m not going to adjust my goals because I did have a good day today,” Skinner said. “My main goal coming into this tournament was to just try to stay within each shot and each moment. A lot of times when you’re on the outside looking into a big stage like the Champions Tour, it’s real easy to get excited and your eyes wandering all over the place at how wonderful it is. “You lose sight of the fact that, ‘Hey, I got to play golf.’ ” Australia’s Peter Senior and Taiwan’s Chien-Soon Lu shot 68, and Tom Watson, a two-time Senior PGA champion, was another stroke back in a 12-player group that included Kenny Perry, Fred Funk, Rocco Mediate, Russ Cochran, Dan Forsman, Gil Morgan and Bill Glasson. Defending champion Roger Chapman opened with a 72. Peter Jacobsen, the 2004 U.S. Senior Open winner at Bellerive, had a 75. Haas finished third in the 2004 U.S. Senior Open at Bellerive. He said he has played about 30 rounds at the country club. “I’m certainly very excited about shooting 5 under here,” Haas said. “Probably my lowest score ever at Bellerive, no matter what age I was.” His uncle, Bob Goalby, the 1968 Masters winner who stills lives in Belleville, followed him on the back nine holes. “He was happy for me,” said Haas, who was going to have dinner with Goalby and other family members. “He’ll try and get over when he can. The last time he walked nine holes, I don’t know when that was.”

Garcia hopes to talk to Woods at U.S. Open – CBSSports.com

calvin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:29 +0000

VIRGINIA WATER, England — Sergio Garcia is yet to speak to Tiger Woods after making an inappropriate remark about the world No. 1-ranked golfer, though he would certainly take an opportunity to open some direct dialogue at the U.S. Open if he gets a chance next month. Garcia sparked controversy this week by saying he would serve fried chicken if they were to have dinner together at the U.S. Open. That kind of stereotype has been used for at least a century to denigrate African-Americans. Along with making a public apology for the remark, Garcia on Thursday said he had made contact with Mark Steinberg, who handles Woods’ business affairs. Asked at the BMW PGA Championship if he had spoken to Woods, Garcia said: “Unfortunately not, though I have spoken to Mark Steinberg and he said that they are moving forward. And if I manage to talk to Tiger then I will do that definitely when I see him at the U.S. Open.” The Spanish golfer said he didn’t sense any animosity from the crowd during his opening round. “It was OK out there today and it’s been a tough week, but for the most part it’s been OK,” he said. “And I felt the warmth of the people and they were very supportive of myself and my playing colleagues. “That really helped a lot and, like I have always said, I am very, very fortunate because I feel like the people support me everywhere I go, and not just in Europe. So I am very thankful for that and to get a welcome like I did.” Woods and Garcia have exchanged barbs over the past two weeks, dating to the third round of The Players Championship when Garcia implied that Woods purposely stirred up the gallery as the Spaniard was playing a shot. Woods responded on Wednesday to Garcia’s remark with a series of tweets that said: “The comment that was made wasn’t silly. It was wrong, hurtful and clearly inappropriate. I’m confident that there is real regret the remark was made. The Players [Championship] ended nearly two weeks ago and it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf.” However, the controversy took a further twist on Thursday when the head of the European Tour had to apologize for using the term “colored” during a live television interview in which he was commenting on the spat between Garcia and Woods. In the interview, European Tour CEO George O’Grady said that “most of Sergio’s friends are colored athletes in the United States.” The word “colored” is considered an antiquated and offensive term in some countries when referring to black people. “I deeply regret using an inappropriate word in a live interview for Sky Sports for which I unreservedly apologize,” O’Grady said in a statement. It was a sentiment shared by Garcia. “I didn’t hear about the comments as I was playing today but I have since been told about it … I think it unfortunate,” Garcia said. The U.S. Open will be played June 13-16 at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa.

Colonial member Palmer grabs first-round lead with 62 – CBSSports.com

calvin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:26 +0000

FORT WORTH, Texas — Ryan Palmer was standing in the fairway on his last hole Thursday when his longtime caddie and fellow Colonial member issued a challenge. James Edmondson, who won his third Colonial club championship last year, told Palmer that a birdie would match the caddie’s low round at Hogan’s Alley. “What do you do when you get that thrown at you,” Palmer said. Palmer hit his approach to 5 feet at the 388-yard ninth hole for an 8-under 62 that matched the lowest PGA Tour first round at Colonial. That put him a stroke ahead of John Rollins, who had his best round this season. For all the rounds Palmer has played at Colonial, where he has been a full dues-paying member since 2010, he had never had such a low score. He generally plays there two or three times a week during the offseason and once or twice during weeks he’s not playing the PGA Tour. “These old men here make me grind because I have to give them so many shots. Maybe that helps,” Palmer said, smiling. “Usually in a practice round, I don’t think I’ve shot below 65. You just don’t grind a lot. In this situation, you grind a little harder. You are able to focus more. When I’m out here with the guys, I mean half the time I might grab a few [beers] for the back nine.” Graham DeLaet, wearing pants with a plaid design similar to the jacket Colonial winners get, matched Morgan Hoffmann, David Hearn and John Peterson at 64. Matt Kuchar, No. 13 in the world ranking and the highest-ranked player in the 136-man invitational field, was in a group of six players at 65. Rollins, who like Palmer lives in nearby Colleyville, has playing privileges at Colonial like other PGA Tour players though he doesn’t play the 7,204-yard layout nearly as much as Palmer. “He’s a pretty permanent fixture in the men’s group and everything that goes on out here,” Rollins said. Palmer, the former Texas A&M player who has three PGA Tour victories, had a bogey-free round, hitting 12 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation, with his first birdie putt being his longest. He was still even par until his 17-footer on his fifth hole, the 442-yard 14th, that started his stretch of four consecutive birdies. The only other birdie over 10 feet was a 14-footer at the 391-yard sixth hole. “It’s pretty neat. A lot of fun,” Palmer said. “Being a member here, we played it so many times, James and I. I felt comfortable over every tee shot. I hit driver almost everywhere that I could. I drove it perfectly today I felt. I hit it close a lot and made a lot of putts from about 5 or 6 feet. … [Playing partner] Brian Stuard’s caddie even made a comment on how comfortable I was because I’ve done it so many times.” In his nine previous PGA Tour appearances at Colonial, Palmer’s only top 10 was a tie for fifth last year. He missed the cut in 2010, the same year he became a full member. Now he finally leads at Colonial after matching his best-ever round on the PGA Tour. “This is what I dream about when I play here every year,” Palmer said. “This is the one tournament I gear up for the most.” David Toms had an opening 62 when winning at Colonial two years ago. He was tied for the first-round lead that year with Chez Reavie. The only other opening 62 was Patrick Sheehan’s in 2005. The course record of 61 is shared by six players, the last Chad Campbell in 2004. Rollins’ only bogey came after his drive at the 431-yard 12th landed in a fairway bunker. But he quickly got that shot back at the 193-yard 13th hole when he hit his tee shot within 7 feet of the cup. Kuchar’s only bogey came at the 241-yard, par-3 fourth, the middle hole of Colonial’s famed “horrible horseshoe” because of the layout of a three-hole stretch where that par 3 is sandwiched by the two longest par 4s on the course. But he came right back with a 10-foot birdie at the 472-yard fifth to get to 5 under. Colonial is one of Kuchar’s favorite courses. Plus, the PGA Tour’s two-week visit to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the Byron Nelson Championship and the Colonial provides extra time for him to work with his Dallas-based swing coach. “I feel like I start coming along maybe the end of this week,” Kuchar said. “Things get really clicking.” Defending Colonial champion Zach Johnson shot 69, the 16th time in his last 17 rounds under par at Colonial. The lone exception in that five-year span, when he also won in 2010, was last year’s closing 72 that included a two-stroke penalty on the final hole. He had four bogeys and three birdies. “I think overall more positives than negatives. I’m not going to dwell on too much here,” Johnson said. “It’s a fairly solid day, a day I didn’t shoot myself out of it. I would have liked to have a couple of more birdies.”

At the Senior PGA, Skinner keeps his focus – Golfweek.com

calvin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:19 +0000

TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo. — As a player who had his PGA Tour card for three years in the 1990s but never managed to win enough money to keep his playing privileges for the following season, Sonny Skinner knows how easy it is for a player to be overly demanding of himself.

But time has softened some of those hard edges and Skinner, now 52, is content with his status as an instructor and top-level player among club professionals.

“I definitely know that’s been an issue with me,” Skinner said on Thursday after a 4-under-par 67 in the first round of the 74th Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club. “I think it is for everybody that plays golf and can break par. You push yourself real hard and you tend to get on yourself tremendously hard. You don’t need anybody else to get on you; we get on ourselves enough and to a fault.

“So as I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed that I need to be a little easier with myself. As I started teaching golf the last eight years, I started with the attitude that, ‘Why don’t I treat myself the same way I treat these students that aren’t hitting the best shots? I’m very calm and kind and encouraging to them. Why don’t I treat myself that way?’ ”

Skinner, a teaching professional at River Pointe Golf Club in Albany, Ga., was twice the runner-up in the premier national event for club and teaching pros, the PGA Professional National Championship. He hit all 14 fairways in Thursday’s round. But he was most proud of keeping his emotions from extreme swings, even after holing a 15-foot birdie putt at the 18th, his ninth hole of the day, that finally put him under par.

“I was feeling pretty good and then I started trying to pat myself on the back as I was walking over to No. 1,” he explained, “but I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t get ahead of yourself.’ That was my main goal coming in here this week — to try to play each shot with the same amount of intention. . . . That’s the hard part, I think, for any of us that play the game — not letting our mind wander.”

The highlight of Skinner’s opening round might have been the par he made at Bellerive’s great par-3 sixth hole.

Instead of taking a minute to clean his glasses in one of the day’s brief spells of rain, he pulled a 4-iron into the left bunker, where the ball plugged and left him trying to get it out while standing a good 2 feet above the ball. He thinned it over the green with his next shot but then holed a 40-yard pitch for an unexpected par.

“Six is probably the hardest hole on the course,” said Skinner. “I was just trying to get it out of the bunker without shanking it, just trying to make a 4. So that helped out quite a bit.”

Skinner added three more birdies on his incoming nine to finish the day in a share of second place, just one stroke behind leaders Jay Haas and Duffy Waldorf. But that won’t change he way he looks at what he wanted to accomplish at Bellerive. On a 12-hour drive to St. Louis, he had plenty of time for contemplation.

“I’m not going to adjust my goals because I did have a good day today,” he said. “I’m going to stick with my goals; they served me well today. . . . When you’re outside, looking into a big stage like the Tour and the Champions Tour, it’s real easy to get excited and your eyes wandering all over the place at how wonderful it is. You lose sight of the fact that, ‘Hey, I’ve got to play golf.’ ”

Tim Clark sees his golf future uncertain if PGA Tour follows USGA, R&A ban on … – Fox News

calvin — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:00:15 +0000

FORT WORTH, Texas – Tim Clark considers his future in golf uncertain now that the game’s two governing bodies have outlawed the anchored putting stroke. While the PGA Tour hasn’t yet ruled on the change, Clark said Wednesday the expected decision made this week by the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club means the issue “is getting really serious now.” Clark, who won the 2010 Players Championship, says professionals who use the anchored stroke just want a “fair and just decision” in what will affect their careers and futures in the game. The PGA Tour says it will now consider if the ban on anchored putting will be implemented in competitions and, if so, how it would be implemented. The ban begins in 2016.

Tim Clark golf future uncertain if PGA Tour follows USGA, R&A ban on anchored … – Washington Post

calvin — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:00:46 +0000

FORT WORTH, Texas — Tim Clark considers his future in golf uncertain now that the game’s two governing bodies have outlawed the anchored putting stroke.
“Man, this is getting really serious now,” Clark said Wednesday from the Colonial. “You kind of deal with it and suddenly it’s made, and you’re like ‘Wow.’ It’s tough.”
The next step is whether the PGA Tour will accept the decision made this week by the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. The anchored ban, which had been expected, begins in 2016. “Obviously, now I guess, our tactics have to change,” Clark, the 2010 Players Championship winner, told The Associated Press. “We had that 90-day so-called comment period, which really at the end of the day we figured was kind of bogus any way. … We obviously during that period tried to reason with the USGA and the R&A and come to some sort of a favorable decision for ourselves. We’re just trying to come to a fair and just decision that obviously has a great affect a lot on our careers and futures in the game.”The PGA Tour and PGA of America contended before the decision that the stroke commonly used for long putters wasn’t hurting the game and there was no statistical proof that it was an advantage. The ban would apply only to the anchored stroke, not the use of long putters.Four of the last six major champions used the anchored putting stroke.The PGA Tour acknowledged in a statement the USGA’s adoption of the ban and said the tour would now begin the process of determining whether “various provisions” of the rule would be implemented in competition and, if so, how. The tour said it would have discussions with the player advisory council and policy board members over the next month. “I would want them to go against it, not necessarily because I use the belly putter,” 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson said on SiriusXM radio. “I thought this whole time, if I didn’t use the belly putter, how unfair I feel like it is. Because they’ve had a chance in the last 40 years to ban it, and all of a sudden a few guys — myself included — win a major. And I feel like it’s a panic reaction.”Simpson made it clear that he was “not in favor of going against the USGA and the R&A and what they represent. I’m in favor of them going against their opinion on banning the putter.”PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said in February the USGA and R&A would be “making a mistake” to adopt the rule, though he also has stressed in just about every interview that it was critical for golf to play under one set of rules like it has for 600 years.Four-time major champion Ernie Els, who won last year’s British Open with a belly putter, said from the BMW PGA Championship in England, that the PGA Tour should accept the decision by golf’s ruling bodies. “They are looking out for the best interests of the game in the long run,” Els said. “The argument forever will be they could have done it 25 or 30 years ago, so why now? But it is what it is and we are where we are, and they have made a decision so I think we are going to have to play ball.”

Corey Pavin, Tom Lehman Pick Colonial Over Senior PGA Championship – Golf Channel

calvin — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:00:43 +0000

FORT WORTH, Texas – Among the field at this week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial are two familiar names, although their start this week at Hogan’s Alley may prompt some unfamiliar questions.
Corey Pavin, 53, and Tom Lehman, 54, are both in this week’s field, which is played opposite the Senior PGA Championship, the Champions Tour’s first major of 2013. Pavin finished tied for eighth at the Senior PGA in 2011 and Lehman won the event in 2010.
Crowne Plaza Invitational: Articles, videos and photos
That both players have also served as U.S. Ryder Cup captains, an event run by the PGA of America, is also reason to second-guess the decision. For Pavin, however, it was an easy choice.
“There was a thought process. It wasn’t a very long process,” said Pavin, a two-time winner at Colonial who is making his 30th consecutive start in Fort Worth. “I love being here, and I would rather play here . . . I feel like I can compete on this golf course. It is one of the few on the Tour that I feel like I can, so that’s why I’m here.”

Lehman won in 1995 at Colonial and is making his 17th start at the event.

Despite several key absences, Senior PGA Championship still stands out – GolfDigest.com (blog)

calvin — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:00:40 +0000

By Bill Fields

TOWN AND COUNTRY, Mo. — The Senior PGA Championship will always stand out in 50-and-over golf because it is by far the oldest of the senior majors, having begun in 1937 at Augusta National GC.

This year, though, for the 74th renewal, a portion of the older set has chosen to compete about 700 miles from Bellerive CC, in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, where they are past champions. Tom Lehman — who has won the Champions Tour’s Charles Schwab Cup the past two seasons — David Frost, Corey Pavin and Keith Clearwater are teeing it up at Colonial CC in the PGA Tour stop this week.

Hale Irwin is a sentimental choice to win this week. (Photo: Getty Images)Combined with the absences of Fred Couples, who withdrew Monday citing his back, and John Cook, who will speak at mentor Ken Venturi’s Thursday service, four of the top 15 players on the 2013 Champions Tour money list won’t be playing outside St. Louis. Another missing player is Nick Price, victorious in the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive, who is still on the mend from arm surgery.

Those golfers who are at Bellerive will encounter a course with which they are familiar — although one that was adjusted by architect Rees Jones following the 2004 U.S. Senior Open won by Peter Jacobsen. It is a formidable, par-71 design whose first turn in the national spotlight was when it hosted the 1965 U.S. Open won by Gary Player.

An 11-year-old St. Louis boy, Jay Haas, was a spectator that summer out with his uncle, Bob Goalby, a prominent tour pro. As Haas recalled Wednesday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “I kind of remember being here and being near the 18th green when Jack Nicklaus walked off. There was a lot of people around him, and I remember my Uncle Bob saying, ‘Get that guy’s autograph. He’s going to be a star.’ ”

Haas got Nicklaus’ signature and, if not Nicklausian, eventually fashioned an endurable and solid decades-long career of his own, which is still going well at age 59. If that would seem too old to win the Senior PGA, consider that in 2011 Tom Watson, 61, became the oldest winner of the championship since the advent of the Champions Tour. Hale Irwin was just shy of his 59th birthday when he won in 2004, and John Jacobs was also 58 when he won in 2003.

Irwin, who will turn 68 on June 3 and lived in St. Louis for many years, would be the ultimate, sentimental, golden oldie longshot this week. But consider that he is coming off two years in which he finished fourth and third in the event of which he is a four-time champion. And Irwin was second to Jacobsen in the 2004 U.S. Senior Open, just ahead of Haas and Tom Kite.

A more logical pick would be Bernhard Langer, the only multiple winner on the Champions Tour this season with two titles, and 18 in his career. Kenny Perry, a past Colonial winner who chose to play with his age group this week, will be another golfer to watch. Perry, 52, only has one career senior win, but has great memories from the final round of the 2012 Senior PGA, when he closed with a record 10-under 62 at the GC at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Mich.

Regardless of who prevails at the end of 72 holes, they will join a who’s who of former champions, including Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Julius Boros, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd. Even without getting presented the huge Alfred S. Bourne Trophy, all of 36 pounds, a winner knows he has achieved a weighty accomplishment.

Follow @BillFields1