Notebook: Frost has gone 140 holes without a 3-putt

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On November 16-19, the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament was conducted at TPC Eagle Trace in Coral Springs, Fla. Of the 78 entrants, only the top-five finishers received fully exempt status next year.

LAST WEEK

• Keith Clearwater (Orem, UT) was medalist at the 2010 Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament at TPC Eagle Trace. Clearwater, a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR, finished with a 72-hole total of 16-under-par 272 and a three-stroke victory. Lee Rinker (Jupiter, Fla.), Frankie Minoza (Manila, Philippines) and Phil Blackmar (Corpus Christi, Texas) finished tied for second at 13-under 275. John Morse (Marshall, Mich.) earned the fifth and final fully-exempt spot when he prevailed in a three-man playoff. Morse made a birdie putt on the first extra hole to claim the fifth spot. He had posted a 12-under 276.

• Nick Price and Mark O'Meara won the 19th annual ADT Skills Challenge at The Breakers last week over the teams of Fred Couples-Dustin Johnson, Scott Verplank-Rickie Fowler and Ricky Barnes-Wayne Gretzky. The Champions Tour duo, who also won the Legends Division of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf at Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa in April, defeated Couples and Johnson in a playoff. The competition will air on Jan. 1-2, 2011 on NBC.

• The University of Florida men's golf team honored the 1973 Championship Team on Nov. 12. The following day, the team was introduced at the football game when the Gators were defeated by the Gamecocks. The 1973 roster included current Champions Tour professionals Gary Koch and Andy Bean.

• Thirty-nine Champions Tour players made a total of 122 combined starts on the PGA TOUR in 2010. Tom Pernice, Jr. (22) and Michael Allen (17) were the only two to make 10 or more starts. Six different Champions Tour players posted a total of 19 top-25 finishes on the PGA TOUR. Allen posted two top-5 finishes, including a runner-up finish to Bill Haas at the Viking Classic. Corey Pavin's playoff loss to Bubba Watson at the Travelers Championship was the only other top-5 recorded by the group.

• Some interesting names appeared at the second stage of the PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament. Olin Browne, who finished T3 at this year's U.S. Senior Open, failed to advance to the Final Stage. Mac O'Grady, who played five career Champions Tour events, teed it up in California without success. Both Jay Haas, Jr. (son of Jay Haas) and Jason Cook (son of John Cook) also failed to advance.

• Bob Brue, who played 300 Champions Tour events from 1986-96 and won over $1 million, is recovering from triple bypass surgery.

• Peter Senior, 20th on the 2010 Champions Tour money list in his rookie year, won the Handa Australian Senior Open at Royal Perth last week. Senior, who finished tied for 16th at the JBWere Australian Masters the week before, compiled rounds of 65-70-72 (-9) to finish three ahead of Sandy Lyle and Gary Wolstenholme in the co-sanctioned European Senior Tour event.

• Jamie Patton and Michael Goldstein, two young New Zealander's who are playing golf every day in 2010 around the world, teed it up last week in the Handa Australian Senior Open pro-am. They are raising money for The First Tee of New Zealand. Visit http://www.puregolf2010.comfor for more information.

• Russ Cochran, a two-time winner on the Champions Tour this year, finished tied for third at the Callaway Golf Pebble Beach Invitational, an event featuring professionals from the PGA, LPGA, Champions and Nationwide Tours. The tournament winner was PGA TOUR member John Mallinger. Other Champions Tour professionals to compete included Mark Wiebe (T11), Dan Forsman (T25), Ted Schulz (T27), Tommy Armour III (WD), Gary Hallberg (MC), Tom Purtzer (MC) and Scott Simpson(MC). Three-time winner of this event and defending champion Mark Brooks, who will be eligible for the Champions Tour next March, also missed the cut.

• American Tim Thelen finished on 9-under 275, and five strokes clear, to win the European Senior Tour Qualifying School and earn one of the 16 cards for the 2011 season.

NUMBERS

140-- The number of consecutive holes David Frost has gone without a 3-putt heading into the 2011 season.

26-- The number of events Mark Wiebe played on the Champions Tour this year. He was the only player to contest all 26 events on the schedule.

67.96-- Fred Couples' scoring average for 2010, an all-time Champions Tour record.

7-- The number of players with a scoring average below 70.00 in 2010.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"There are so many great players out there. To come out on top is a great feeling and it's worth all the hard work over the years" -- Bernhard Langer, on finally earning the Charles Schwab Cup after three years on the Champions Tour.

"It's one of those tournaments where there's no scoreboard or anything, or any way of telling how you're doing against the rest of the field so, to find out at the end of regulation that I was headed into a playoff, and to win that playoff -- hey, I'm just really happy with the way things went" -- John Morse, who captured the fifth and final spot at the Qualifying School to be fully exempt for the 2011 Champions Tour.

"The older I get, the less chance I have" -- Fred Couples shares his thoughts on the likelihood of being a future Ryder Cup captain after two Presidents Cup captaincies.

"I think golf is the one sport that we can all do to emulate the pros. It's hard to get out there and try to go one-on-one against Shaq; it's hard to get on the ice against the NHL. But we can get on the golf course because it's us and the course" -- Hockey legend Wayne Gretsky, who teamed with PGA TOUR star Ricky Barnes to win $132,000 at the ADT Skills Challenge. Gretsky donated his portion of the prize-money to his charity.

"I will continue to work as a commentator for 25 weeks but play half-a-dozen tournaments each year and that would be it" -- Ian Baker-Finch, before making his debut as an over-50 player at the Australian Senior Open at Royal Perth GC, Australia, where he won the 1984 Western Australia Open.