Champions Tour Insider: Stevens happy with first year

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The Champions Tour is closing in on the major championship phase of the 2009 season and President Mike Stevens can't wait.

"The great part about the major season is that they're all nationally televised on network television," Stevens said.

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"It allows us to really showcase and capture the talent that we have. I'm not taking anything away from Golf Channel but there's just something special, since we're not on that much, to be on network television. It's a really special experience for us."

Following this week's Regions Charity Classic, the first of the Champions Tour's five majors will crank up next week -- the 70th Senior PGA Championship at Canterbury Country Club in suburban Cleveland, where Jay Haas will defend the title. It will be the first of four majors scheduled in the next eight events. The fifth and final major is the Senior Players Championship in October.

There is another watershed occasion coming up for Stevens. He is closing in on his first anniversary as president of the Champions Tour.

In April, 2008, it was announced that Stevens would take over from Rick George as president. The appointment was effective June 1.

Stevens is delighted by how the first year of his administration has unfolded. That's not to say there haven't been some difficult challenges, most notably the economy.

"When I transitioned over to the Champions Tour, almost three years ago now, it was a good step, working under Rick," he said.

"I'd known Rick when he was tournament director over at New Orleans. He and I got along really well. To be chief operating office gave me the ability to get my hands around it, knowing what the plan was. It just happened sooner, for both Rick and I."

Unexpected changes in the PGA TOUR hierarchy necessitated accelerating the planned transition. George, President of the Champions Tour and Executive Vice President of Championship Management, was elevated to new duties as the TOUR's Executive Vice President and Chief of Operations. It paved the way for Stevens' promotion.

"I actually thought it was going to happen at the end of '08," Stevens said. "Circumstances the way they were, it happened very quickly. I had done enough and gotten to know enough about this Tour that it was a seamless transition."

Stevens' history as a tournament director familiar with tour operations and personnel enabled him to quickly find a comfort zone.

"I grew up with most of these guys," he said of the Champions Tour players. "I started at Hilton Head in '80. Most of these guys started their professional careers in the late '70s, early '80s, so I knew them well and actually became very good friends with many of them.

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Mike Stevens had to navigate some economic challenges in his first year as president.

"Knowing these guys, coming into a leadership role, made it easier. It's been a lot of fun."

In the current economic climate, it's not uncommon for people to ask Stevens about the timing. When he took over last June, "the economy was suffering but not that bad," he said.

The economy would deteriorate rapidly later in his first summer on the job.

"The good news was we had worked extremely hard on renewing or extending, in some cases, replacing (tournaments)," Stevens said. "I believe we renewed or replaced 11 of the 13 that were necessary. That put us in very good stead when the economy collapsed in September.

"From that point to today it's been challenging but because we protected ourselves enough going into the rough times and because we have a really good product, it's boded pretty well for us."

The economy, without a doubt, has been the biggest challenge.

"Absolutely," Stevens said. "That's pretty much 100 percent of the focus.

"We don't have any player issue. Everybody is happy. We've focused very hard on golf course set-up. We've focused on getting our style of golf courses. We said early on part of the challenges the Champions Tour had in the past is it had accepted contracts from some courses we shouldn't have been playing.

"We said if we put a renewed focus on the kind of courses that bode better for the Champions Tour, at the end of the day we'd be much better for it."

There is a litmus test for tournament organizers interested in the Champions Tour. It includes courses with classic instincts and outstanding amenities.

"The old-style golf courses tend to bode better for us," Stevens said. "More of the shot-maker's golf courses, I think, are better for us."

Canterbury, site of the Senior PGA Championship, certainly fits that bill and has the history to prove it.

"I have challenged everyone that if we're as good as we say we are, we should be playing the best golf courses in the markets we visit," Stevens said. "We play great golf courses but in some markets they may not necessarily be the best in the market. We need to look at trying to change that where it's appropriate."

That, Stevens said, coincides with the desires of the Champions Tour players.

"They still have the competitive juices," he said. "They want to have fun but they want to play great golf courses."

CHAMPIONS TOUR INSIDER NOTES

Bob Tway celebrated his 50th birthday May 4 and is making his Champions Tour debut this week at the Regions Charity Classic. Tway has eight PGA TOUR wins, including the 1986 PGA Championship. He last won on TOUR in 2003 at the Bell Canadian Open ...

This week's title sponsor, Regions Bank, gave all 44 of its pro-am spots to Children's Medical Hospital of Alabama as a fund-raiser. One of those who bought a spot in the field, Mike McLeod, donated it back to the hospital and asked that it be presented to an outstanding young golfer. Ian Evans, 17, of The First Tee of Birmingham, was awarded the spot to play in the pro-am. ...

Ross Bridge, site of the Regions Charity Classic, is the longest course on the Champions Tour at 7,473 yards.

Vartan Kupelian is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the Champions Tour.