Notes: Mitsubishi to feature its largest field at 42 players

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This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the PGA TOUR's Champions Tour and the Mitsubishi Electric Championship is first of 25 official events on the 2011 schedule. The official season concludes with the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, Oct. 31-Nov. 6, at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Calif. The Champions Tour's primary purpose is to provide significant competitive and earnings opportunities for players age 50 and older, to protect the integrity of the game and to help grow the reach of the game in the U.S. and around the world.

ABOUT THE MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CHAMPIONSHIP AT HUALALAI: This tournament is the season-opening event on the Champions Tour. It was first played as the Senior Tournament of Champions in 1984 and the venue was LaCosta Country Club in Carlsbad, Calif., from 1984-1994. The limited-field tournament then moved to the Hyatt Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico in 1995 and 1996 before relocating again to Hualalai on the Big Island in 1997. Miller Barber (1986, 1989), Al Geiberger (1992, 1993), George Archer (1990, 2000), Dana Quigley (2003, 2005) and Hale Irwin (1997, 2007) are the only multiple winners of the event, with Archer being the only player to claim titles at two different venues (1990/LaCosta, 2000/Hualalai).

THE TITLE SPONSOR: Mitsubishi Electric's U.S. operations include nearly a dozen companies that manufacture and market an extensive line of commercial, industrial and consumer-electronics products. These include elevators and escalators; heating and air conditioning systems; semiconductor devices; high-definition televisions, home theater and display devices; large-scale data walls and stadium displays; automotive components, electronics and entertainment systems; factory automation equipment, power products, solar panels and other items.

ELIGIBILITY: This year's field will again be made up of the following: 1) winners of Champions Tour major championships in the last five years (2006-2010); 2) winners of Champions Tour official money co-sponsored and approved tournaments within the last two years (2009-2010); 3) seven sponsor choices to exempt players to meet either of the following criteria: a) a minimum of 30 combined PGA TOUR/Champions Tour victories or b) minimum of 15 combined career wins who also have a minimum of one major championship victory; 4) one sponsor choice can meet the criteria of 10-plus wins and one major championship.

2010 RECAP: In one of the most exciting finishes in Champions Tour history, 60-year-old Tom Watson birdied the final two holes to overtake Champions Tour newcomer Fred Couples. Watson became the 13th-oldest winner in Champions Tour history and the wire-to-wire victory was his first in 34 career starts in Hawaii on the two Tours. After making a six-foot birdie putt at No. 17 to tie Couples, Watson hit a spectacular second shot at No. 18 from 147 yards with a pitching wedge. His ball landed on the front of the green and rolled 20 feet before stopping four feet from the flag. After Couples barely missed his birdie putt on the 18th from 15 feet, Watson calmly sank the winner and waved his cap to the roaring crowd.

STORYLINES:

Season opener features star-studded field: The 2011 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai will have a 42-player field this year, the most ever assembled in the history of this event. In both the 2007 and 2008 championships, there were 41 professionals in the field.

• This year's Mitsubishi Electric Championship field has won a combined 308 events on the PGA TOUR and 240 tournaments on the Champions Tour.

• 15 professionals in this year's field have combined to win 31 major championships on the PGA TOUR.

• A total of seven players in this year's field are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame (Ben Crenshaw, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Nick Price, Curtis Strange and Tom Watson).

• There are seven former Ryder Cup captains (Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman, Corey Pavin, Curtis Strange and Tom Watson) in this field as well as two Presidents Cup captains (Hale Irwin, Fred Couples).

• Six players will make their first appearances at this championship. Russ Cochran, David Frost, Gary Hallberg, Larry Mize, Ted Schulz and Rod Spittle all won events in 2010.

• Four players in this year's field are age 60 and over, led by 65-year-old Hale Irwin. 62-year-old Allen Doyle and 61-year-olds Tom Kite and Tom Watson will also play this year at Hualalai.

Tom Watson defends title: Tom Watson became the second oldest winner of this event last year and will try to become the first player since Al Geiberger (1992, 1993) to successfully defend his title in the season opener.

• On the Champions Tour, Watson won consecutive Outback Steakhouse Pro-Ams in 2007-2008.

• He successfully defended six times on the PGA TOUR, claiming three straight Byron Nelson Golf Classics (1978, 1979, 1980) and winning back-to-back titles at the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am (1977-78), MONY Tournament of Champions (1979-80), USF&G New Orleans Open (1980-81) and British Open (1982-83).

Bernhard Langer begins quest for fourth Player of the Year honor: Bernhard Langer, the 2009 champion at Hualalai, begins his quest for an unprecedented fourth Player of the Year honor.

• Last year Langer won five times, including consecutive major championships, and became the first player to win a third consecutive Player of the Year award.

• Lee Trevino was the first professional to notch Player of the Year honors on the Champions Tour three times (1990, 1992 and 1994).

• Hale Irwin was also a three-time Player of the Year on the Champions Tour (1997, 1998, 2002).

2011 Charles Schwab Cup competition starts here: Competitors in this year's field at Hualalai begin their chase for the 11th Charles Schwab Cup.

• First started in 2001, the Schwab Cup is designed to recognize the Champions Tour's leading player, rewarding both top finishes and week-in/week-out consistency in all official events. The player with the most points at the end of the year will earn a $1 million payout from Charles Schwab.

• Throughout the year, players receive points for top-10 finishes and ties based on each week's money distribution, with $1,000 earned being the equivalent of one Charles Schwab Cup point. Double points are award in the five major championships and at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Oct. 31-Nov. 6.

• Bernhard Langer won his first Schwab Cup last year, defeating Fred Couples by a whopping 826 points, the second-biggest margin ever.

Can Cook keep momentum going: For the second consecutive year, John Cook finished a Champions Tour season on a high note, winning the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Two years ago, Cook ended his year winning both the Administaff Small Business Classic and the season-ending Schwab Cup Championship.

• Cook comes into the 2011 season with a streak of three consecutive top-five performances and nine straight rounds in the 60s dating back to his 69 in Round 2 of the Administaff Small Business Classic.

• Cook finished the 2009 season with four straight top-five finishes and had 11 rounds in the 60s out of his last 14 scores that year. He opened the 2010 campaign with a T22 performance at Hualalai.

• For the second straight year, 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.

• Cook is joined in the Mitsubishi Electric field this year by former Ohio State teammate Rod Spittle. Spittle, making his first appearance in this event, won last year's AT&T Championship, the final full-field event of the season, as an open qualifier, defeating Jeff Sluman in a playoff.

Several players back in action after surgeries: 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 underwent right knee replacement surgery on May 11, 2010, which sidelined him for the remainder of last season. He made only four starts early in the year and none after the Toshiba Classic in early March.

• Lonnie Nielsen first underwent left knee surgery in early January, 2010 which kept him out of last year's Mitsubishi Electric Championship and delayed the start of his season until early March at the Toshiba Classic. He played in only six events before undergoing right knee replacement surgery on July 21, 2010, which ended his year.

• David Eger won the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic in early May but then suffered a broken ankle in a June mishap that caused him to miss more than two months during the summer. After experiencing ankle issues, he did not play again the rest of the year after the Ensure Classic at Rock Barn in early October.

• Craig Stadler last played at the E&C Songdo City Championship in Korea and then had left hip replacement surgery on September 15.

• D.A. Weibring underwent surgery in late October for a bone spur in his left shoulder. He did not play again after withdrawing from the Administaff Small Business Classic after the first round.

Couples among Langer's primary challengers in 2011: Fred Couples made a spirited run at winning the 2010 Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, his debut on the Champions Tour last year. He went on to win four events and figures to again be a primary challenger to Bernhard Langer this year.

• Couples fell one stroke short of Tom Watson despite making just one bogey in the tournament and shooting 21-under-par, matching the second-lowest 54-hole score in Champions Tour history that did not win.

• Couples won four titles in 2010, the most events ever in a single season in his career. After leaving the Big Island last year, Couples won three consecutive starts, becoming the first player in Champions Tour history to win three of his first four appearances.

• Couples set the all-time Champions Tour scoring record last year, averaging 67.56.

CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES

Going low to win: Since 2001, the winning score at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai has been among the top-three lowest 54-hole scores each year and over the last 10 years, the champion's average winning score at Hualalai has been just under 196 or 20-under-par.

Last year, the key to Tom Watson's victory was how he played the back nine at Hualalai for three rounds. Watson was an amazing 17-under on Hualalai's back nine, making 17 birdies and no bogeys over those 27 holes. Watson made birdie on Nos. 10, 11 and 12 in every round. In 2006, Loren Roberts' winning total of 25-under-par 191 tied the all-time numerical record for the lowest three-round score and also established a Champions Tour-best mark in relation to par.

That same year, Don Pooley finished one stroke back of Roberts, earning the distinction of posting the lowest score in Champions Tour annals that didn't win. In the last 10 years at Hualalai, no winner of this event has had a round out of the 60s. In the last seven years, every champion but Dana Quigley (2005) has made at least 22 birdies.

Here is a scoring breakdown of how the past seven champions have played at Hualalai:

Former Mitsubishi winners are back: This year's 42-player field includes seven former champions -- Fred Funk (2008), Hale Irwin (1997, 2007), Tom Kite (2002), Bernhard Langer (2009), Loren Roberts (2006), Tom Watson (2010) and Fuzzy Zoeller (2004).

Schwab Cup success: While no winner of the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai has gone on to win the Charles Schwab Cup in the same year, 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. Dana Quigley (2005), Loren Roberts (2006) and Fred Funk (2008) all finished second in the Schwab Cup standings the year they won at Hualalai. Larry Nelson (2001) and Bernhard Langer (2009) were fourth in the year they won while Tom Kite (2002) was fifth.

First win not always the last: If recent history is any indication, winning the season-opening event usually leads to at least one more victory later in that same year. Over the last six seasons on the Champions Tour, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship winner has gone on to claim at least one more event on the schedule four times. Bernhard Langer, the 2009 champion, won a total of four events that year. Fred Funk, the 2008 champion, also captured the JELD-WEN Tradition that year. Loren Roberts, a winner at Hualalai in 2006, went on to post three more victories that season. Dana Quigley's victory at Hualalai in 2005 was the first of his two titles that year.

Birdie at the last: Four players have birdied the last hole at Hualalai to win this championship and all four times it's happened since 2003. In addition to Tom Watson's short birdie putt last year to defeat Fred Couples, Loren Roberts (2006), Fuzzy Zoeller (2004) and Dana Quigley (2003) all birdied the last hole to win the season opener.

Irwin's magic in the Aloha State: Hale Irwin will make his 16th consecutive appearance in this year's Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, easily the most ever in a row. No current player on the Champions Tour has enjoyed the success Irwin has in the state of Hawaii. A two-time winner of this event (1997, 2007), Irwin's 2007 victory was the last of his 45 career titles on the Champions Tour, 16 more wins than Lee Trevino, the closest to him on the all-time wins list.

Irwin won 19 of his 45 titles after age 55, and his win on the Big Island in 2007 came at 61 years, 7 months and 18 days, making him the sixth oldest winner in Champions Tour history. Irwin's win in 2007 was also his ninth official TOUR title in the state of Hawaii and 12th victory overall in the Aloha State. On the Champions Tour, in addition to his two wins at Hualalai, Irwin won the old Turtle Bay Championship six times and five times in succession (2000-05, no event in 2004). He also claimed the 1981 Hawaiian Open on the PGA TOUR. Irwin's three unofficial wins in Hawaii came at the 1999 Senior Skins Game at Mauna Lani and the 2001, 2002 Senior Skins at Wailea.

Winning on the first attempt: A total of seven players have claimed this championship in their first appearance. Loren Roberts (2006) was the last to do so. Others to accomplish the feat are: John Jacobs (1999), John Bland (1996), George Archer (1990), Dave Hill (1988), Peter Thomson (1985) and Orville Moody (1984).

Sizing up the leaders: In the 27-year history of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the player(s) who are leading or tied for the lead after 36 holes have gone on to win the tournament 17 times. However, in the last seven years, Hale Irwin (2007) and Tom Watson (2010) have been the only Saturday leaders who went on to triumph. Since the event moved to Hualalai in 1997, seven first-round leaders/co-leaders have managed to go on to victory including Bernhard Langer (2009) and Tom Watson (2010) in each of the last two years. The tournament winner has come from the last grouping in each of the last five years after not coming from the last group from 2003-2005.

Roberts' records at Hualalai: When he won the 2006 event at Hualalai, Loren Roberts established several new standards on the Champions Tour. Roberts posted rounds of 63-67-61 for a total of 25-under-par 191, setting the all-time record in relation to par and matching the all-time lowest numerical score. His 26 birdies that week also set an all- time Champions Tour record for a three-round Champions Tour event. Roberts' 61 on Sunday also tied the all-time record for lowest finish by a winner and was the best round ever shot at Hualalai.

Oldest/Youngest: Hale Irwin's win at Hualalai in 2007 came at 61 years, 7 months and 18 days, making him the oldest winner in event history. Tom Watson's victory last year at 60 years, 4 months and 20 days made him the second oldest winner. Only one other player over 60 has claimed this event and that was George Archer in 2000 when he won for the second time at 60 years, 3 months and 6 days. Archer is also the youngest winner in event history (50 years, 3 months, 6 days) when we won at LaCosta in 1990.

Hualalai among the easiest: For seven of the last eight years, the par-72 Hualalai Golf Course has been the easiest layout on the Champions Tour. Here are the yearly stroke averages by the field since 2003:

Success in openers: Last year, Tom Watson's victory at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai made him just the second player to win a season-opening event on both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour. Tom Kite was the first to do so, capturing the season-opening event on the Big Island in 2002. He opened the 1991 PGA TOUR season with a victory at the Infiniti Tournament of Champions at LaCosta. Watson won the 1978 Joe Garagiola-Tucson Open and the 1984 Seiko-Tucson Match Play Championship when both events opened the PGA TOUR season.

Playoff history: There have been just three playoffs in tournament history and the 2005 overtime session between Dana Quigley and Tom Watson is the only playoff ever held at Hualalai. The first playoff was in 1987 when Don January bested Butch Baird with a birdie on the fourth extra hole. The second playoff came in 1995 when Jim Colbert made birdie on the third hole to defeat Jim Albus. Quigley won in 2005 with a par on the third extra hole.

A head start: Jack Nicklaus (1994) is the only former winner of this event who didn't finish the season among the top-30 money-winners. Nicklaus played a limited schedule that season, making only six starts. Tom Watson, the 2010 Mitsubishi champion, ended up 23rd on last year's money list.

This and that: The first-round leader at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship has not posted a score higher than 64 since 2003 when three players all carded 66s. ... Loren Roberts has a streak of 15 straight sub-par rounds at Hualalai with 14 of those scores in the 60s. ... The par-3 5th hole at Hualalai yielded just three birdies last year and Tom Lehman made two of them. The hole had a stroke average of 3.324, ranking as the 23rd hardest on the 2010 Champions Tour. The par-5 10th hole was the easiest hole on last year's Champions Tour, playing to a stroke average of 4.315. The hole yielded six eagles and 62 birdies last year...Hale Irwin is the leading money-winner in tournament history with $1,108,188. ... Four players have won the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in wire-to-wire fashion -- Peter Thomson (1985), John Jacobs (1999), Tom Kite (2002) and Tom Watson (2010). ... Five different members of the World Golf Hall of Fame have won this event since 2001 -- Tom Watson (2010), Bernhard Langer (2009), Hale Irwin (2007), Tom Kite (2002) and Larry Nelson (2001). ... Doug Tewell has the only hole-in-one in this event at Hualalai. In 2002, Tewell aced the par-3 8th hole in Round 1. ... Tom Pernice Jr. comes into this year's event riding a streak of nine straight top-10 finishes on the Champions Tour. In his 10 starts on the Champions Tour in 2010, Pernice's only finish outside the top 10 came at this event at Hualalai when he was T27 at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. ... The top-five finishers at last year's Mitsubishi Electric Championship finished 1-2-3-4-5, a first on the Champions Tour since the 2008 U.S. Senior Open.

On this date: Here's a look at some significant moments in Champions Tour history or involving Champions Tour players that happened on dates concurrent with this year's Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

1/18/81: After leading or sharing the lead thru four rounds, Bruce Lietzke won his sixth career PGA TOUR title when he defeated Jerry Pate by two strokes at the Bob Hope Desert Classic.

1/18/76: In just his second start on the PGA TOUR, Bob Gilder, an Arizona State alumnus, captures the Phoenix Open by two strokes over Roger Maltbie.

1/18/98: Gil Morgan becomes the third player in Champions Tour history to earn the distinction when he wins his third straight title. After closing the 1997 with successive victories at Ralph's Senior Classic and the Energizer SENIOR TOUR Championship, Morgan earns a six-stroke win over Hale Irwin and Gibby Gilbert at the MasterCard Championship in Hawaii. Morgan's final-round 64 included a 31 on the front nine.

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.

1/19/97: John Cook ties a then PGA TOUR record for consecutive rounds when he closed with rounds of 62-63 for a one-stroke victory over Mark Calcavecchia at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

1/20/02: Tom Kite goes wire-to-wire to win the season-opening MasterCard Championship by six strokes over John Jacobs. Kite's victory included an opening-round 9-under-par 63 which included a pair of eagles on the front nine. 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.

1/22/84: Tom Purtzer's birdie on the final hole is the difference as he defeats Corey Pavin by one stroke at the Phoenix Open. The win was especially gratifying because Purtzer spent most of his life in the Phoenix area. The key was his third shot at No. 18 on Sunday. After hitting his second into a bunker, his third shot was spectacular, coming to rest just two feet away. He tapped in for the win.

1/22/05: Dana Quigley made a three-foot putt for par on the third extra hole to claim the MasterCard Championship over Tom Watson. Quigley's three-putt bogey at No. 18 in regulation opened the door for Watson, but Watson was unable to convert a nine-foot birdie putt, setting up a playoff. After each player made pars on the first two holes, Watson made a mistake at No. 17 (third extra hole), hitting his 7-iron into the lava rocks resulting in a bogey. Quigley's par ended the playoff.

1/22/89: Thanks to rounds of 65-64 on the weekend, Mark Calcavecchia wins the first of three Phoenix Opens by seven strokes over Chip Beck.

1/23/83: Both Keith Fergus and Rex Caldwell shoot consecutive 65s on the weekend at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, but Fergus, approaching the final hole and trailing by one stroke, makes a 20-foot birdie putt to force a playoff and then wins the event with a par on the first extra hole for his third TOUR victory.

1/24/88: Opening with a 63, Jay Haas follows with three more rounds in the 60s and a final-round 70 to post a two-stroke victory over David Edwards at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.