Week 4 Approach Shots: Toshiba Classic

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Mar. 5, 2009

A PROMISING TREND: Only one other Champions Tour event -- the Administaff Small Business Classic -- can boast having the last two Players of the Year (Jay Haas in 2007 and Bernhard Langer in 2008) win their tournaments. On three other occasions, the winner of the Toshiba Classic went on to be Player of the Year (Jim Colbert in 1996 and Hale Irwin in both 1998 and 2002).

Quick facts

WHAT: Fourth of 26 official Charles Schwab Cup events

WHEN: March 6-8

WHERE: Newport Beach, Calif.

COURSE: Newport Beach CC

WHAT'S AT STAKE: $1.7 million ($255,000 to the winner)

TV: 6:30-8:30 p.m. ET Friday on GOLF CHANNEL; 6:30-9:30 p.m. ET Saturday on GOLF CHANNEL; 7-9:30 p.m. ET Sunday on GOLF CHANNEL

KEY LINKS: Tee Times | Scores | Power Rankings | Tournament site

TRYING FOR TWO: Langer will attempt to not only become the first player to successfully defend a title in Newport Beach, but he also is trying to become the first player since Gil Morgan to successfully defend his first two career Champions Tour victories. In 1997, Morgan repeated at the Ralphs Senior Classic at Rancho Park in Los Angeles and then won a second straight Tradition in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1998. Langer set up his golden opportunity in Orange County this week by successfully defending at the Administaff Small Business Classic near Houston last fall.

WELCOME BACK, MURPH: Murphy, the 1997 Toshiba Classic winner, will make his first appearance at Newport Beach since 1999. Murphy has been unable to play in this Champions Tour event in recent years due to broadcast commitments with NBC Sports. Tom Watson also returns to Newport Beach for the first time since the 2002 event. In three previous appearances in this event, Watson tied for 12th in 2001, tied for 10th in 2002 and tied for 31st in 2003.

SUPER-'CALIF'- RAGILISTIC: Tom Kite and Tom Watson both have claimed 10 TOUR victories in California, the most among active players on the Champions Tour. Kite won six times on the PGA TOUR in California and has picked up four additional Champions Tour victories in the Golden State. Watson won nine times on the PGA TOUR in California but his only Champions Tour win in the state came at the 2005 Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma. Hale Irwin has seven combined TOUR wins in California (five coming on the Champions Tour).

THE O.C.: This year's Toshiba Classic will begin a two-week California swing for the Champions Tour. The Toshiba Classic began in 1995, and Toshiba has been the title sponsor throughout the history of the event. The tournament name was originally the Toshiba Senior Classic, but was shortened to the Toshiba Classic prior to the 2006 event. This event has always been contested in Orange County and was originally played at Mesa Verde Country Club in Costa Mesa in 1995 before moving up the road to Newport Beach Country Club in 1996. Hale Irwin is the only two-time winner.

LAST YEAR'S EXCITING FINISH: Bernhard Langer won his second Champions Tour title in his ninth start, outlasting defending champion Jay Haas. After bogeying the par-3 17th to drop a stroke behind, Langer made a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole to force a playoff with Haas. The overtime session lasted for seven holes and didn't end until Langer made a birdie on No. 18 and Haas missed his birdie attempt from three feet moments later.

Weather forecast for the Toshiba Classic

FRIDAY, Rd. 1	SATURDAY, Rd. 2	SUNDAY, Rd. 3
Sunny Temp: 64 high/47 low	Mostly sunny Temp: 66 high/49 low	Mostly sunny Temp: 66 high/52 low

DTN/Meteorlogix is the official weather provider of the PGA TOUR. For more information, click here

Toshiba Classic snippets

	Shot from the Top: Imagine standing at the top of a 16-story hotel and hitting a shot to a green 162 feet below. That's what members of eight Orange County High School teams did on Tuesday, along with Champions Tour pros and members of the media. Who was closest to the pin? Read more
	Playoff performance: When Langer topped Jay Haas in a seven-hole playoff last year, it was his first overtime victory since the 1985 Sea Pines Heritage. What's the significance of that Hilton Head win? Langer had won the Masters the prior week and no other player has ever won those two events in a row.
	West Coast Success: Six years ago, Andy Bean debuted on the Champions Tour at the Toshiba Classic and finished T26. This year, he comes to Newport Beach Country Club fresh off a season-ending victory at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in California, where he won by nine strokes.
	Turf talk: Players will face with three different types of grasses in a four-week period. TifEagle bermudagrass greens at the Allianz Championship had more grain than the Supreme Paspalum greens used the next week at The ACE Group Classic. At this week's event on the West Coast, they will putt on Poa annua greens.
	Former Honda winners: There are 11 players in the field who won The Honda Classic: Lee Trevino (1973), Bob Murphy (1975), Larry Nelson (1979), Tom Kite (1981), Hale Irwin (1982), Bruce Lietzke (1984), Curtis Strange (1985), Joey Sindelar (1988), Blaine McCallister (1989), Nick Price (1994) and Mark O'Meara (1995).