NEWS

Champions Tour E-Notes: Week of Sept. 10, 2007
 
Sep. 11, 2007
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  • Jeff Sluman makes his Champions Tour debut this week at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. Sluman won six times on the PGA TOUR, including the 1988 PGA Championship. He'll serve as Jack Nicklaus' Captain's Assistant for the third time in the upcoming Presidents Cup matches.

  • There are 240 Charles Schwab Cup points available this week to the winner, which means that Jay Haas' lead is safe for at least another week. Haas has a 258-point lead over Brad Bryant and a 437-point lead over Loren Roberts as the season winds down.

  • The last two winners of the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn ended long winless streaks. Jay Haas won the 2005 event for his first win in a TOUR-sponsored event since 1993, and Andy Bean won last year's tournament for his first win since 1986.

  • Last year, R.W. Eaks made 19 birdies in the event, one short of the record established by Jim Thorpe and Tom Kite in 2003 and later matched by Jay Haas in the 2005 event.

  • Of the players who have made more than two appearances at Rock Barn, both Dana Quigley and Craig Stadler boast the best scoring average (69.08). Both players come into this week's event having reeled off seven consecutive sub-par rounds on the Jones Course. Stadler won the inaugural event in 2003, while Quigley has finished second and fourth in his last two trips to Hickory. Jerry Pate might be another player to watch for this week. Pate missed last year's tournament due to a shoulder injury but finished fourth at Rock Barn in both 2004 and 2005.

  • Gil Morgan, the Champions Tour's most recent winner (Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach) has a streak of 10 consecutive sub-par rounds in this event. He also has the only ace in tournament history. In 2005, Morgan made an ace on the ninth hole in the final round. Morgan used a 4-iron.

  • In its four-year history, Andy Bean is the only second-round leader to go on and win and did so last year only after prevailing in a playoff. Second-round leaders in the three years prior to 2006 were not able to hold off challenges to win the title. In 2003, Larry Nelson led by one stroke over Joe Inman and Bob Gilder before Craig Stadler came from two strokes back to win. The following year, Bruce Fleisher led Doug Tewell and Mark Lye by three strokes before Tewell closed with an 8-under-par 64 to nip Fleisher by one stroke. In 2005, Dana Quigley led Loren Roberts by a stroke and Jay Haas by two strokes after 36 holes. However, Haas closed with a 7-under 65 to defeat Quigley by two strokes.