Week 15 Approach Shots: Senior Open Championship

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The second Champions Tour major championship of the season is this week when players descend on Berkshire, England. Seven players who played in last week's British Open, including a pair of Toms who made the cut tournament runner-up Watson and Lehman will be at Sunningdale Golf Club's Old Course.

At Royal Troon Golf Club in 2008, Bruce Vaughan came from a stroke off the pace to catch John Cook at the end of regulation. Vaughan then proceeded to birdie the first playoff hole to pick up his first Champions Tour title. Vaughan has struggled this year to capture any consistency in his game. He missed the cut at the British Open, and his tie for 11th at the rain-shortened Regions Charity Classic is his top finish of the season.

The Old Course at Sunningdale Golf Club in Sunningdale, England, will be the host of the 2009 Senior British Open. It marks the first time the tournament has been contested in England since 1994 when Tom Wargo finished two strokes in front of Bob Charles and Doug Dalziel at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in Lancashire. Royal Lytham & St. Annes hosted the event from 1991 to 1994 when the tournament was still an unofficial event.

STRONG HISTORY, STRONG FIELD: Willie Park, Jr., designed the Old Course at Sunningdale and refined over the ensuing decade by the club's first secretary, Harry Colt. Sunningdale's Old Course has traditionally hosted a number of major professional events on the European Tour including the European Open (1982-86, 1988, 1990 and 1992), the British Masters (1948, 1953, 1960 and 1968), The Daks Golf Tournament (1951 and 1955), PGA Match Play (1903, 1907, 1910, 1912 and 1922) and Seve Trophy (2000). Among the European Open winners at Sunningdale who are in this week's tournament are Isao Aoki (1983), Manuel Pinero (1984), Gordon Brand, Jr. (1984), Bernhard Langer (1985), Greg Norman (1986), Ian Woosnam (1988) and Nick Faldo (1992).

ROMERO READY TO GO LOW: Eduardo Romero finished third a year ago, one stroke out of the Bruce Vaughan-John Cook playoff. Romero has made a habit of strong finishes in the Senior British Open. It was his fifth top-10 performance in the event since it became an official Charles Schwab Cup event in 2003. Of those five top-10s, four of them have been in the top five.

VAUGHAN VYING FOR POSITION: Bruce Vaughan's victory a year ago came in his sixth Champions Tour major championship appearance. Prior to his win, his best finish in a major championship was a tie for 16th at the 2007 U.S. Senior Open. This season, Vaughan missed the cut at the Senior PGA Championship and also missed the cut at last week's British Open, an event he qualified for because of his Senior British Open victory.

IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN: When he missed the cut by one stroke at last year's Senior British Open, Bob Charles was competing in his 22nd Senior Open. He is the only player to compete in all 22 championships and is a two-time winner. Charles is in this week's field.

Among the Champions Tour contingent with British Open titles on their resumes playing in this week's Senior British Open are Bob Charles, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Mark O'Meara, Tom Lehman, Tom Watson, Gary Player and Sandy Lyle.

Four of the top-10 finishers at the tournament in 2008 were international players, led by Argentinian Eduardo Romero (third), German Bernhard Langer (fourth), Australian Greg Norman (tied for fifth) and Italy's Costantino Rocca (tied for eighth).

Weather forecast for the 3M Championship

THURSDAY, Rd. 1 FRIDAY, Rd. 2 SATURDAY, Rd. 3 SUNDAY, Rd. 4 Few Showers Temp: 70 high/55 low Few showers Temp: 70 high/55 low Partly cloudy Temp: 70 high/54 low Partly cloudy Temp: 70 high/54 low

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

Senior British Open Championship snippets

Making the cut, too: While Tom Watson garnered most of the attention last week at the British Open, he wasn't the only Champions Tour member to make the cut in the seasons third major championshipTom Lehman (T60) and Mark O'Meara (T70) each played on the weekend. Four days of work: Several other Champions Tour members enjoyed a return to the PGA TOUR last week as five of the six who ventured to Milwaukee for the U.S. Bank Championship made the cut -- Jeff Sluman (T18), Scott Hoch (T24), Loren Roberts (T24), Bob Tway (T36) and Ronnie Black (T59) all played for four days. FedExCup: Thanks to his second-place finish at the British Open, Tom Watson is now 108th on the FedExCup points list. Watson has experience with season-long point races -- he won the Charles Schwab Cup in 2003 and 2005. He's currently 31st on that list with several double-point events remaining on the schedule.