Champions Tour weekly e-notes When the final round of the 2006 FedEx Kinko's Classic began, Jay Haas found himself three strokes behind Bruce Fleisher. Looking for his second win in as many starts, Haas fired a 7-under 65, the low round of the day, by birdieing three of the final four holes to take a two-stroke win from Mark James and Tom Kite. Ironically, Kite and James tied for second and third two weeks ago at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, won by Haas. The 2006 Charles Schwab Cup champion and Player of the Year is doing nothing to stop people from thinking he'll win both honors again this year. Haas has played nine events, winning twice. He also finds himself atop the Charles Schwab Cup race and the money list. Haas' first win of 2007 was the Toshiba Classic, followed by his Legends of Golf victory. The Champions Tour will make the first of three stops in Texas this week at the FedEx Kinko's Classic in Austin. No native Texan has won a event in the state since John Mahaffey took home the title at the 1999 AT&T Championship in San Antonio. If Jay Haas successfully defends his title this week at the FedEx Kinko's Classic, he will join Hale Irwin as the only players in Champions Tour history to win the same two tournaments back-to-back in consecutive seasons. Haas completed the first half of the feat when he won his second straight Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf title recently. Irwin won the 1997 Senior PGA Championship and Las Vegas Senior Classics in consecutive events and won the same two titles in consecutive weeks the following season. Two-time PGA TOUR winner Donnie Hammond is the latest player to reach age 50 and he will make his Champions Tour debut this week in Austin. His last TOUR victory came at the 1989 Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. |