NEWS

E-Notes: Week of July 23, 2007
 
Jul. 24, 2007
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  • There will be double Charles Schwab Cup points available this week. The last time double points were available at the U.S. Senior Open, Brad Bryant leaped from third place all the way to the top spot with his victory. Bryant still holds down the number one position by a slim 112 points over Jay Haas.

  • This week's 144-man field for the Senior British Open Championship at Muirfield is certainly an international one. Players from 20 different countries are represented in the Champions Tour's third major championship. The list includes the following countries: Zimbabwe, Italy, England, Japan, South Africa, USA, Scotland, Jamaica, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, The Netherlands, Chile, Spain, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Thailand, France, and Canada.

  • This week's field includes seven players who competed in the 2002 British Open Championship at Muirfield. Scott Hoch posted the best finish among those players, a tie for eighth which included a final-round 66. In addition to Hoch, Mark O'Meara tied for 22nd, Loren Roberts and Des Smyth tied for 28th, while Nick Faldo tied for 59th. Tom Watson and Eduardo Romero missed the cut.

  • Nick Faldo, who turned 50 on July 18, will make his Champions Tour debut at Muirfield. A three-time British Open champion (1987, 1990, 1992) and a three-time Masters winner (1989-90, 1996), Faldo won nine times on the PGA TOUR and also owns more than 30 other titles worldwide. He'll be joined in the field by Australian Wayne Grady, who will also be making his first Champions Tour appearance. Grady turns 50 on Thursday, July 26. He won the 1990 PGA Championship and the 1989 Manufacturer's Hanover Classic on the PGA TOUR.

  • Tom Watson will be seeking his third Senior British Open title, which would tie him with Gary Player for most victories in the event. Player won this event at Turnberry in 1988 and 1990 and at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland in 1997.

  • Playoffs have become the norm since the Senior British Open became an official event in 2003. Three of the last four tournaments have been decided in extra holes, with Tom Watson winning two of those (2003, 2005) and Loren Roberts claiming the other last year. Overall, there have been seven playoffs in the 20-year history of the tournament.

  • When he prevailed by one stroke over Tom Kite and Eduardo Romero at Royal Portrush in 2004, American Pete Oakley became just the 10th open qualifier in Champions Tour history to win an event and the second consecutive qualifier to win a major championship when he triumphed at the 2004 Senior British Open at Royal Portrush. Oakley shot an even-par 72 at Portstewart on Tuesday of tournament week to qualify for the event. Before Oakley, Don Pooley went through qualifying to get into the 2002 U.S. Senior Open at Caves Valley Golf Club and went on to win, defeating Tom Watson in a dramatic five-hole playoff.

  • Jay Haas comes into this event with a string of six consecutive top-10 finishes on the Champions Tour. Haas, the Tour's leading money winner with $1,874,573, started his string with a tie for ninth at the Senior PGA Championship.

  • Tom Watson is the only player in tournament history to win this event with four consecutive rounds in the 60s when he won in 2003. Besides Watson, only Brian Huggett (1998), Christy O'Connor, Jr. (2000) and Ian Stanley (2001) have won this event after posting four consecutive sub-par rounds.

  • Three players have won the British Open and the Senior British Open -- Gary Player, Bob Charles and Tom Watson.