Notebook: Players raring to get going in 2011 opener

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Craig Stadler is among those trying to return from an injury-marred campaign in 2010.

The 2011 Champions Tour season begins January 17-23 with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hualalai. The tournament is the first official Charles Schwab Cup event of the year. Last year, Tom Watson birdied the final two holes to capture a one-stroke victory over rookie Fred Couples.

LAST WEEK

• Peter Senior failed to qualify for the 2011 British Open at International Final Qualifying in Melbourne, Australia last week. Senior was in with a chance after an opening 69 at Kingston Heath but an afternoon 76 dropped him down the field.

• Steve Pate, who will join the Champions Tour when he turns 50 on May 26, won the bid for the extensive design makeover of the La Costa Resort & Spa. Pate and his partners will renovate the entire North Course and some holes on the South Course. The work begins in a couple of weeks and is expected to take at least 10 months and cost more than $10 million.

• Bio Kim of South Korea, at 20, is the youngest member of the PGA TOUR. Four players at last week's Sony Open in Hawaii played in the event the year Kim was born (1990). Here's a look at how they performed last week -- and 21 years ago.

• It's not the Tavistock Cup, but...on January 9, Bob Murphy and Jay Sigel, playing in the final foursome, won their matches to lead Delray Dunes G&CC to a 12-10 victory over Quail Ridge CC in the 12th annual Golf Road Cup at Quail Ridge. The two clubs are adjacent to each other on Golf Road in Boynton Beach. Murphy and Sigel have combined for three U.S. Amateur Championships and 19 Champions Tour titles.

COMING UP

• The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai features a field that has won a combined 548 events on the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, including 77 major championships.

• For the second straight year, John Cook is attempting to become the first player since Gil Morgan in 1997-98 to win the season-opening event after claiming the last tournament the previous year. Two years ago, Cook ended his year winning both the Administaff Small Business Classic and the season-ending Schwab Cup Championship. Last year he claimed the Schwab Cup Championship at TPC Harding Park.

• Five players in this year's Mitsubishi Electric Championship field are anxious to return to action on the Champions Tour after having their 2010 season curtailed by injury/surgery (Mark McNulty/knee, Lonnie Nielsen/knee, David Eger/ankle, Craig Stadler/hip, D.A. Weibring/shoulder).

• No winner of the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai has gone on to win the Charles Schwab Cup in the same year. However, in the 10-year history of the Schwab Cup, the winner of the season-opening event has gone on to finish among the top-five Schwab Cup finishers six times.

• The "Day with Champions" is a major fundraiser Nanea GC hosts each year for the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association on the Monday of Mitsubishi Electric Championship tournament week. Several Champions Tour professionals donate their time to conduct a clinic, before joining the juniors for lunch and a round of golf.

• In conjunction with The First Tee of Battle Creek, John Morse, who gained fully exempt status of the Champions Tour after earning the final spot in a playoff at the National Qualifying Tournament in Florida last year, has established the Birdie Match Program. The program will assist local youths in their quest to become better golfers, at the same time exposing them to the nine core values of The First Tee. For every birdie that Morse makes while competing on the 2011 Champions Tour, the former PGA TOUR winner will donate $5 to The First Tee of Battle Creek. He's encouraging others to do the same, perhaps pledging $1 or more for every birdie he makes while playing on the Champions Tour this season.

• Champions Tour professionals Bob Murphy, Dana Quigley and Jay Sigel joined several LPGA stars at the 2nd Annual Bethesda Hospital Foundation Pro-Am at the Falls CC in Lake Worth, FL on Monday to raise funds for the Hospital.

• Bill Haas defends the Bob Hope Classic title this week. Last year the event was weather delayed and his father, Jay Haas, returned after the Champions Tour event in Hawaii to see his son win his first PGA TOUR tournament on Monday.

NUMBERS

226 -- The total number of eagles scored during the Mitsubishi Electric Championship since it moved to Hualalai GC in 1997.

43 -- The total number of triple bogeys or higher scored during the Mitsubishi Electric Championship since it moved to Hualalai GC in 1997.

ON THIS DATE

1/19/92 -- John Cook makes three straight birdies and then an eagle on the fourth playoff hole to outlast Mark O'Meara, Rick Fehr, Gene Sauers and Tom Kite to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He would go on later that year to win three times and earn $1 million in season earnings for the first time.

1/20/02 -- Tom Kite goes wire-to-wire to win the season-opening MasterCard Championship by six strokes over John Jacobs. The win was significant because it made him just the fourth player to claim the season-opening event on both Tours, joining Jack Nicklaus, Al Geiberger and Don January with the honor. Kite's winning margin was the largest since the event moved to Hualalai Golf Club in 1997.

1/21/07 -- Shooting rounds of 66-62-65, Hale Irwin blitzes the field by five strokes to win the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. At age 61, Irwin won for the ninth time in the Aloha State, including eight on the Champions Tour.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"This year (2010) was a little bit of a learning of the schedule." -- Fred Couples, who has stated his intention is to focus on the Champions Tour in 2011.

"I wake up with some aches and pains just like any over-50 person." -- Bernhard Langer summarizing his current health.