Notes: Sluman trying to win third time at Pebble Beach

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The Champions Tour visits Pebble Beach, Calif. for the Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. The tournament is the 19th of 26 Charles Schwab Cup events. The purse is $1.8 million with the winner earning $270,000 and 270 Charles Schwab Cup points. Last year, Jeff Sluman came from six strokes back, helped by a final-round ace at the fifth hole, to win by two strokes over Gene Jones. It marked Sluman's second-consecutive victory at this event.

LAST WEEK

• With his Boeing Classic win, Bernhard Langer claimed his fifth official victory in 2010, becoming the first player since Craig Stadler in 2004 to win five times on the Champions Tour in a single season.

• In 61 career Champions Tour starts, Langer has 13 victories and 41 top-10 finishes.

• Langer earned 285 Charles Schwab Cup points to increase his 2010 total to 2,791. He now has a 661-point advantage over Fred Couples in the season-long race. Tom Lehman remains in third place with 1,420 points followed by Nick Price (1,246) and Fred Funk (1,241).

• Seattle native Couples finished third at the Boeing Classic -- his second visit to his former hometown this month. He was second to Langer at the U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee on August 1.

• Langer used 25 putts per round to become the first winner in 2010 to also lead the putts per round category.

• Kenny Perry, yet to play a Champions Tour event, was the only 50-year-old at The Barclays last week. Perry made the cut on the number (even-par, 142), posted a T68 finish and, at No. 90, will advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship.

• Jim Rutledge was scheduled to compete in the Boeing Classic's Monday qualifier but received a nice surprise upon arrival when he discovered he was in the field. His status had improved after the reshuffle the previous week. Rutledge, who has successfully Monday qualified four times this season, finished T21 and has four top-25 finishes in eight Champions Tour starts this year.

• Kevin Tway and Gunner Wiebe, respective sons of Champions Tour professionals Bob Tway and Mark Wiebe, were both eliminated in the opening round of match play at the U.S. Amateur Championship last week.

COMING UP

• Jeff Sluman, the last Champions Tour player to successfully defend a title, seeks a rare feat when he begins this year's Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Sluman will be trying to win the same event three consecutive years, something that has only happened five other times in Champions Tour history. Here are the details of those five instances:

• You may want to follow the future of The First Tee junior who gets paired with Dana Quigley this week. Quigley partnered 2010 U.S. Women's Open champion Paula Creamer to a T2 finish in 2004. Scott Langley, the 2010 NCAA medalist who finished T16 at this year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, was Quigley's teammate when they won the pro-junior competition in 2006. Incidentally, Quigley's best individual finish in this event is T11 in 2005.

• The Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach has six World Golf Hall of Fame members (Tom Kite, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Larry Nelson, Isao Aoki, Ben Crenshaw) committed to play.

• The Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach has never been won with a sub-200 score. The tournament record is 15-under 201 by Craig Stadler in the inaugural event in 2004.

• Seven professionals in this year's field also played in either the U.S. Open Championship or AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am earlier this year. Watson was T29 at this year's U.S. Open and Fred Funk was T70. Lehman and David Frost missed the cut at the Open. Tom Pernice Jr. was T21 at the AT&T event while Corey Pavin and Mark O'Meara both missed the cut in February.

• Watson, who will celebrate his 61st birthday on Saturday of the Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach (Sept. 4), comes into this year's tournament with a streak of 12 straight scores of par/better at this event.

• The National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) is the nation's largest trade association representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices, home care aide organizations, and medical equipment suppliers. Approximately 10 million Americans receive home care or hospice from some 25,000 providersbecause of acute illness or injury, long-term health conditions, permanent disability or terminal illness.

• The First Tee has nine Core Values that resonate with the mission of home care and hospice providers around the nation, including honesty, integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment.

• Free admission for the week of The Home Care & Hospice First Tee Open at Pebble Beach continues a recent trend on the Champions Tour. Earlier this month, the 3M Championship in Minnesota offered free admission for the second straight year. The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, to be held at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, will also offer free admission.

• Fifty-five-year-old Greg Norman is scheduled to tee it up at the Omega European Masters on the European Tour this week. It will be his first tournament in 12 months after undergoing shoulder surgery last year.

ON THIS DATE

9/2/07-- After a 5-under-par 67 in the final round, Gil Morgan claims his 25th career title on the Champions Tour by two strokes over Hale Irwin. Morgan's victory at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach moved him into third place (at the time) on the all-time list for career wins on the Champions Tour.

9/3/78 -- John Cook defeats Scott Hoch to win the U.S. Amateur title.

9/4/83 -- Jay Sigel defeats Chris Perry, 8 & 7, to defend his U.S. Amateur title at North Shore CC in Glenview, IL.

9/5/82 -- Jay Sigel defeats David Tolley, 8 & 7, at The Country Club in Brookline, MA, to win the U.S. Amateur crown.

9/5/04-- One week after winning the JELD-WEN Tradition, Craig Stadleruses a second-round 63 on his way to a three-stroke win over Jay Haasat the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"I was in this position the last two years and then someone went by me at the end of the season to win the Schwab Cup so obviously that's one of my goals, to also win the Schwab Cup, and right now I'm leading" -- Langer tells it like it is during a pre-tournament interview at the Boeing Classic. Langer won the tournament and increased his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup race.

"It must be something in the air here. Maybe I should move here" -- Langer, on winning twice in Seattle this month.

"Deep down I was hoping to be a captain's pick" -- Langer shares his thoughts on failing to make the 2010 Ryder Cup team.

"It's really hard to compare right now to when I was younger because I can't remember back that far. Right now, I think I'm playing as good as I've ever played" -- Langer, on playing at a high level now compared to when he was younger.

"It's the same idea, just a different age group" -- Jim Rutledge chimes in on the difference between the Champions Tour and the other Tours he has played recently (PGA TOUR, Nationwide Tour and Canadian Tour).