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By Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator

HAVEN, Wisc. -- With all eyes in the golfing and entertainment world on new dad Tiger Woods, he's supplanted Kevin Federline as the most talked-about father in the country.

Whether Sam Alexis grows up to be a famous golfer like her daddy is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile, the Champions Tour currently has no shortage of fathers whose children have already grown up and followed them into the golf world, such as Jay Haas with son Bill, Craig Stadler with son Kevin, D.A. Weibring with son Matt and even Tom Watson, who said Wednesday at the U.S. Senior Open that finishing second in the pro-am at the 2007 AT&T National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach with son Michael "doesn't seem like a lot...but it was a great deal for the father and son to perform well" and was a highlight of his year.

In addition to those notable father-son duos, though, there's another fellow in the field at the U.S. Senior Open at Whistling Straits who is not so well known. When asked if he could sit down for an interview, the 60-year-old amateur replied humbly, "I'm just Kyle's dad."

Kyle would be Kyle Reifers, known for winning the first Nationwide Tour event he Monday qualified for shortly after graduating from college and, a little over five months later, earning his PGA TOUR card through the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament. But his dad Randy is a solid player in his own right and will tee it up in the Senior Open as an amateur again in 2007 after being the only amateur last year to make the cut. Reifers was even as high as 19th after the first round in 2006 before falling into a tie for 47th at the tournament's end.

"Maybe I'm less known (than the other professional golfer dads) out here, so I can fly under the radar a bit," said Reifers, who played on the same golf team at DePauw University with former Vice President Dan Quayle and TV golf analyst Mark Rolfing. "But I feel like I'm a student of the game and the game has been good to me. If I can keep my health, I'll keep playing. It's an honor to be here -- last year was really nice and I was the only amateur to make the cut, so I got invited back."

As for this year's tournament, Reifers knows the course will be a tough test, but he's gotten in some quality practice, playing a round on Wednesday with Watson, Thomas Sutter, Mike Rice and was even later joined by Stadler.

"In some respects, the course is good for my game, but bottom line is, this a very hard golf course, period. It's a hard golf course for the seniors, not like the PGA Championship in 2004 where those guys hit it a lot harder," said Reifers. "I'm not as long a hitter as the long senior players are, but I'll try to keep my ball in play and that will definitely count for something."

Though the manufacturers representative from Columbus, Ohio doesn't play professionally, he's had a successful amateur career, winning several amateur tournaments in Ohio to earn an induction into the Ohio Golf Hall of Fame in 2003. Though he turned pro for about six months -- a time he "doesn't even talk about...because I'm a dyed in the wool amateur" -- the silkscreen never dried on his bag before he regained his amateur status.

"I don't play as much as I would like because I'm still working and it's hard to play at a high level unless you can play a lot, but somehow I've managed to do it. My short game is pretty good, I manage the course well and I enjoy the competition."

Haas, whose son Bill went to school at Wake Forest University with Kyle, added his input on Reifers' game.

"He's a nice player. He's played all of his life, he's a beautiful putter and a nice guy who's fun-loving with a lot of energy," said Haas, who met Randy when Kyle caddied for Jay at Muirfield Village Golf Club about five years back.

All of Randy's most memorable golf moments involve Kyle, whether it was watching Kyle shoot a 61 in the final round to win the 2006 Chattanooga Classic, seeing him compete at the 2005 Walker Cup or playing with Kyle and Arnold Palmer at Latrobe Country Club. But, even during those special moments, Reifers found that it's not an easy task to be a spectator dad.

"My blessing was that he was willing to listen to me coming up and it was heartwarming to see that. Sometimes you don't have that with father and son relationship, especially when the dad is a good player," said Reifers, whose wife Alison is also a good amateur player.

"But it's much harder watching as a dad than playing on my own. It's hard to describe but it's just much, much harder."