Apr. 23, 2009
THE FORMAT: Legends Division -- Official 54-hole two-man, best-ball competition with no cut. Raphael Division (50-69 years old) -- Unofficial 36-hole, two-man best-ball competition on Friday/Saturday. Demaret Division (70-plus years old) -- Unofficial, 36-hole two-man best-ball competition on Monday/Tuesday. All players compete in one division only. Prize money for Raphael and Demaret Divisions is unofficial. The winners of the Legends Team Division will earn exempt status for 12 months from the win into Champions Tour open and invitational events. This excludes Champions Tour major championships.
PURSE: Overall Purse -- $3,400,000; Legends Division -- $2,600,000 (1st Place - $225,000/each player); Raphael Division -- $428,000 (1st Place - $60,000 each player); Demaret Division -- $372,000 (1st Place - $40,000 each player).
2008 CHAMPIONS: Legends Division: Andy North/Tom Watson (59-62-64 -- 185/-31); defeated Jeff Sluman/Craig Stadler by one stroke; Raphael Division: Gary Koch/Roger Maltbie (68-60 --128/-16) defeated Bob Charles/Stewart Ginn by one stroke; Demaret Division: Al Geiberger/Jimmy Powell (64-62 126/-18) defeated Butch Baird/Bobby Nichols by five strokes.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY: This year will be the 32nd Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf and the 30th anniversary for Liberty Mutual as the title sponsor of the event, the longest-running on the Champions Tour. This tournament is also the second oldest in senior golf with only the 70-year-old Senior PGA Championship exceeding it in longevity.
The first Legends of Golf event was contested at Onion Creek Country Club in 1978 -- two years before the start of the Champions Tour -- as an unofficial team event and two years prior to Liberty Mutual's title sponsorship of the tournament. This event is credited with helping spawn what is now known as the Champions Tour. Its $400,000 purse in 1978 was the largest in professional golf at the time.
The winners of the first event were Sam Snead and Gardner Dickinson, who prevailed by a stroke over Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle in the team better-ball format. In the 1979 Legends event, people started talking when Art Wall and Tommy Bolt made five birdies in a playoff only to be matched by five birdies from the team of Julius Boros and Roberto DeVicenzo. Boros and De Vicenzo finally prevailed that year by making birdie on the sixth extra hole.
The real winner, however, was the formation of the Senior PGA Tour, now known as the Champions Tour. The Legends Division remained an unofficial team event through 2001, with the exception of 1993 when it was contested as a stroke-play event. However, in 2002, the Legends Division became an official stroke-play tournament and was played under that format through 2007.
In 2008, the Legends Division reverted back to a team better-ball format but with official money for the first time. The tournament added a Legendary Division in 1987 (later changed to the Raphael Division in 2002) and a Demaret Division in 1993 (players 70-plus). Both of those remain unofficial events and award unofficial money.
| Weather forecast for the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf |
FRIDAY, Rd. 1
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SATURDAY, Rd. 2
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SUNDAY, Rd. 3
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Isolated T-Storms
Temp: 85 high/63 low |
Partly cloudy
Temp: 82 high/60 low |
Mostly sunny
Temp: 80 high/60 low |
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| Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf snippets |
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Hall of Fame game: A total of 14 members of the World Golf Hall of Fame will play in the three different divisions, including Billy Casper, Bob Charles, Ben Crenshaw, Hubert Green, Tony Jacklin, Tom Kite, Gene Littler, Bernhard Langer, Larry Nelson, Greg Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. |
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Interesting pairings: In addition to former college teammates Joey Sindelar and John Cook and Bruce Lietzke and Bill Rogers teaming up, other pairings include brothers Bobby and Lanny Wadkins and brothers-in-law Gary Player and Bob Charles. |
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Lehman's debut: "Turning 50 has its ups and downs and one of the true bright spots is being able to have a chance to come out here on the Champions Tour and participate and play golf out here." To read Lehman's interview from Savannah, click here. |
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