E-notes: Past champions will challenge Nielsen's defense

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• MORE E-NOTES: PGA TOUR | Nationwide Tour

The 72-year old Gary Player matched his age last Saturday in the second round of the Bank of America Championship. It's the 21st time he has shot his age or better in his Champions Tour career.

Sluman

Jeff Sluman's victory last week was his first in his Champions Tour career and just about two months shy of the 20th anniversary of his first PGA TOUR win, the 1988 PGA Championship.

More on Sluman: His win made him the first player to win an individual stroke-play event for the first time on the Champions Tour this season. Andy North won his first Champions Tour title earlier this year when he teamed with Tom Watson to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf.

John Cook has the most top-10 finishes on the Champions Tour this year with nine, while Loren Roberts is tied for second in that category with eight. It comes as a surprise, then, that neither has won yet this year. Roberts has three runner-up finishes to his credit, while Cook has finished in the top five on five occasions.

Nielsen

Lonnie Nielsen will try to become the fifth player (sixth time) to successfully defend a Commerce Bank Championship title. George Archer did it twice when he won three straight times on Long Island from 1990 to 1992. Lee Trevino won back-to-back titles at The Meadow Brook Club in 1994 and 1995. Bruce Fleisher won in consecutive years in 1999 and 2000, while Jim Thorpe won two in a row at Eisenhower Park in 2003 and 2004.

In addition to Lonnie Nielsen defending his title this week, four other past champions are committed to play in this event. They are Dana Quigley (1997), Bobby Wadkins (2001), Ron Streck (2005) and John Harris (2006).

There have been six first-time winners in Commerce Bank Championship history, one short of the mark established by the AT&T Champions Classic in 2005 for most in Champions Tour history. The six first-time winners on Long Island are Don Bies (1988), Dana Quigley (1997), Bobby Wadkins (2001), Ron Streck (2005), John Harris (2006) and Lonnie Nielsen (2007).

Torrance

There have been 11 holes-in-one in tournament history, including an amazing seven in the last five years on the Red Course at Eisenhower Park. Sam Torrance made the last ace in this event, holing his tee shot on No. 5 in the opening round of last year's tournament. It was Torrance's first career ace on the Champions Tour.

Jim Albus, the former head professional at the Piping Rock Club on Long Island and a longtime Metropolitan PGA section standout turned Champions Tour player, will make his 19th appearance in the Commerce Bank Championship this year. Albus has played in this event more times than any other professional, and he finished second in 1992 at The Meadow Brook Club, two strokes back of George Archer. This year's Commerce Bank Championship will be Albus' 497th Champions Tour event.