Champions Tour Insider: Preview of the 2009 season

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Jan. 22, 2009
By Vartan Kupelian, PGATOUR.COM contributor

Editor's note: This year, PGATOUR.COM not only will offer our readers a weekly PGA TOUR Insider, but we will also provide Insider columns focusing on the Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour and European Tour. PGATOUR.COM contributor Vartan Kupelian is our Champions Tour Insider. This is his first installment.

Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer will begin Friday where they left off at the end of the 2008 Champions Tour season.

They'll be right next to each other.

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Haas and Langer will tee it up in the final pairing at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and the rivalry will commence anew.

Langer claimed Player of the Year honors by topping the money list and finishing third in the Charles Schwab Cup points list. The two-time Masters winner posted 14 top 10 finishes in 20 starts, including three victories. He was the only Champions Tour player to crack the $2 million barrier.

Haas was No. 2 on the money list but No. 1 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list for the second time in three years. Haas is accustomed to fast starts and excellent finishes. He had top 10s in the first four outings last year and four more in the final six starts.

For the third straight year, Haas finished second in scoring average (69.66). Get this: He was .01 behind Langer in the scoring average category.

That's how close the two men are at the start of the 2009 campaign. It's a rivalry that will be a central plot throughout the year.

Another storyline will be which of the pursuers will make a move to displace Haas and Langer at the top. Several are poised to make a challenge after splendid '08 campaigns, among them Fred Funk, Eduardo Romero, John Cook, Jeff Sluman, Loren Roberts and Nick Price.

Here's a preview of the 2009 Champions Tour season.

Catch 'Em if you can (Player of the Year top contenders - again)

	Jay Haas - Just keeps winning titles, the Charles Schwab Cup and money. The Champion Tour's gold standard since his arrival five years ago.
	Bernhard Langer - Ended Haas' two-year reign as Player of the Year and a solid choice to start his own streak.
	Fred Funk - One of only two players -- the other is Langer -- to average more than $100,000 a start in 2008.

Ready for a major championship breakthrough

	Bernhard Langer - Just a matter of time, right?
	John Cook - Came close to a major win three times during a very big year in '08.
	Nick Price - OK, so he's been blanked on the Champions Tour. But there's no question he's going to win -- may as well be a major.

Rookies to watch

	Fred Couples - Is there any question which rookie will garner much of the attention in 2009? There shouldn't be. It's Couples. He's always been a fan favorite and his arrival on the Champions Tour soon after he leads the United States' Presidents Cup team in October will be widely anticipated.
	David Frost - The South African still has plenty of game, as he exhibited last year while playing regularly on the European Tour. Frost won 10 times on the PGA TOUR in a 10-year span beginning 1988. In that decade, he was ranked in the top 25 in the Official World Golf Ranking every year except one.
	Robert Thompson - The 51-year-old Texan won medalist honors at the Champions Tour Qualifying Tournament. He's been there before. Thompson, who made 161 career starts on the PGA TOUR, was the medalist at the PGA TOUR Q-School 27 years before. There's a fascination with golfers who finish at the top of the q-school class so he'll be watched closely.

The Champions Tour majors

Defending	champion	Event	Date	Location
	Jay Haas	Senior PGA Championship	May 21-24	Canterbury Country Club, Beachwood, Ohio
	Bruce Vaughan	The Senior Open Championship	July 23-26	Sunningdale Old Course, Berkshire, England
	Eduardo Romero	U.S. Senior Open	July 30-August 2	Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Ind.
	Fred Funk	JELD-WEN Tradition	August 20-23	Crosswater Club at Sunriver (Oregon)
	D.A. Weibring	Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship	October 1-4	Baltimore Country Club, Timonium, Md

Iron Men

	Bob Gilder - He hasn't missed an event since the Greater Hickory Classic in 2004. He started this season with 122 consecutive appearances and played in all 29 events last year. By the way, he's 4-0 in career playoffs (including 3-0 on the Champions Tour).
	Tom Kite - Still a grinder, Kite plays a lot (28 starts in '08) and plays well -- he has qualified for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship for nine straight years, the longest streak on Tour in that category.
	Keith Fergus - He may be superstitious but it doesn't prevent him from playing a lot of tournaments - he teed it up in 28 events.

In the Driver's Seat (Best driver)

	Jay Haas - He tops the Total Driving statistic so there's no sense in quarreling with the obvious. Haas puts a twist on the adage - he drives for dough.
	Bernhard Langer - Yes, there is a correlation between driving and winning on the Champions Tour. Tied for third in total driving last year.
	Tom Purtzer - The long ball champ. Give the distance king (295.5 yards) some props.

Roll Your Rock (Best putters)

	Loren Roberts - The Boss of the Moss reputation is on target.
	Ben Crenshaw - Still silky smooth after all these years. Proof once again that a man who can putt is a match for anyone.
	Joe Ozaki - Gets a slight statistical nod over Phil Blackmar.