Notes: A return to Walton Heath for '81 Ryder Cuppers

text size

Franklin/Getty Images

Tom Watson took a bow Friday at the British Open after the fifth ace of his TOUR career.

The Champions Tour heads to Walton Heath Golf Club in London, England, for the 2011 Senior British Open on July 18-24. The purse is $2 million and the winner will receive double Charles Schwab Cup points. Last year at Carnoustie, Bernhard Langer held off a Sunday charge by 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavinto win by one stroke and claim his first major title on the Champions Tour.

LAST WEEK

• Mark Calcavecchia (MC), Bernhard Langer (MC), Sandy Lyle (MC), Tom Lehman (T22), Mark O'Meara (MC) and Tom Watson (T22) were the Champions Tour professionals who competed in the British Open last week.

• At the age of 61, Tom Watson finished 6-over 286 for his best 72-hole score in five British Open starts at Royal St. George's (286 -- 2011, 290 -- 2003, 290 -- 1981, 294 -- 1985, MC -- 1993).

• Tom Watson recorded the fifth ace of his TOUR career during Friday's second round of the British Open, doing so with a 4-iron from 160 yards on the par-3 sixth. It was the second ace of the week (Dustin Johnson, R1, No. 16) and the 23rd at the British Open since 1981.

• Bernhard Langer's immense contribution to the game of golf of golf was recognized by the Association of Golf Writers during their annual dinner at last week's British Open. Langer received the Michael Williams Outstanding Services to Golf award from Judy Williams, the wife of the late golf correspondent of the Daily telegraph in whose memory the award was established.

• A total of 14 Champions Tour professionals teed it up at last week's Viking Classic on the PGA TOUR -- Fulton Allem, Jay Don Blake, Mark Brooks, Mark Carnevale, Tom Byrum, Dan Forsman, Robin Freeman, J.L. Lewis, Steve Lowery, Dick Mast, John Morse, Tom Pernice Jr., Kenny Perry, Dave Rummells and Willie Wood. Five made the cut, with Pernice, fresh off of a T5 finish at the Champions Tour's Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, posting the best finish, T2, one stroke back of first-time winner Chris Kirk. Perry was T38, Byrum T44, Brooks T66 and Lewis 73rd.

• The Champions Tour eclipsed the 10,000 fan mark on its Facebook page last week. When you become a fan, you are eligible for great prizes distributed for fan interaction on the page. To become a fan of the Champions Tour on Facebook go to www.facebook.com/championstour.

CHARLES SCHWAB CUP

• Tom Lehman continues to lead the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings. Apart from the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, won by John Cook, Lehman has led the standings for 13 of 14 events this season.

• With his T2 finish at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach Brad Bryant jumped from No. 41 to No. 30 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, forcing last year's Schwab Cup winner, Bernhard Langer, out of the top-30 to 31st position.

• Three of the next four Champions Tour events are major championships. Double Charles Schwab Cup points will be awarded to those players finishing in the top ten at the Senior British Open, the U.S. Senior Open and the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship.

COMING UP

• Three Americans -- Tom Kite, Jerry Pate and Tom Watson -- were a part of the 1981 Ryder Cup squad when the U.S. team won 18.5-9.5 at Walton Heath Golf Club, site of the 2011 Senior British Open Championship. The European squad that year included Eamonn Darcy, Mark James, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle, Des Smyth and Sam Torrance, who are all scheduled to play this week.

• Tom Kite might be a player to watch at this week's Senior British Open. Kite won the 1980 European Open at Walton Heath with 8-under 284 and went undefeated in his four matches over the same course at the Ryder Cup the following year.

• Bob Gilder is scheduled to compete in his 51st consecutive major championship on the Champions Tour at this week's Senior British Open. Gilder has played in every major since joining the Tour in 2001, the longest current streak on the Champions Tour.

• Walton Heath has the unique distinction of being the only English club to have had the reigning monarch as Captain, when the Prince of Wales became King Edward VIII during his captaincy in 1935/36.

• Since the Senior British Open became an official event in 2003, Tom Watson is the only player to have made the cut in all eight championships, with three wins.

• Expect a tight finish this week. Since the Senior British Open became an official event in 2003 there have been five playoffs, and the three others were decided by one stroke. Overall, there have been nine playoffs in the 24-year history of the tournament.

• Since it became an official event in 2003, no player has won the Champions Tour event prior to the Senior British Open and then gone on to capture this tournament. Jeff Sluman won the previous event on the Champions Tour, the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Sluman posted a T11 finish at last year's Senior British Open for his best showing at the event in three starts.

• Golf, horse-racing and live music are on the agenda for fans during the week of the Senior British Open. A 'Three for One" promotion was launched by the tournament and the Epsom Downs Racecourse so fans can enjoy the action at Walton Heath before gaining admission to the nearby racecourse to experience "Epsom Live!", a series of top quality horse racing and concerts from world famous bands, including 'Blondie'.

• Three-time Ohio State University All-American Joey Sindelar is this year's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational honorary chairman. The fourth-year Champions Tour member follows in the footsteps of fellow Buckeye greats Jack Nicklaus, John Cook and Meg Mallon, and longtime former OSU golf coach Jim Brown.

• Fans can participate in the third leg of the Champions Tour Majors Challenge, with the Champions Tour being at the Senior British Open. Enter at www.championstourchallenge.com for a chance to win a great Nike Prize Pack. Picks for the challenge close at 3:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, July 21.

• A recent new-comer to the Champions Tour and 1991 British Open champion, Ian Baker-Finch will be in Bend, Ore., on Monday, July 18, to host a public clinic and fundraiser at Pronghorn Club as a favor to his friend, Rick DeLuca, whom he met on a plane five years ago. The beneficiary will be "Devin's Destiny", which hosts birthday parties for homeless children in Central Oregon. For a $20 donation to Devin's Destiny ? named after DeLuca's 23-year-old son who took his own life in 2009 ? the public was invited to hear Baker-Finch talk about golf and his more than 30 years around the game. Baker-Finch will then make his way to Vancouver, Canada, for a charity golf tournament hosted by another major champion, Mike Weir.

NUMBERS

53 -- The age of six of the 15 winners on the Champions Tour so far this season. In 2000, players aged 53 won nine times. In 2007, players aged 53 won 8 times.

19 -- The number of consecutive rounds of par or better for Michael Allen, the best current streak on the Champions Tour. Allen's last over-par round was 1-over 73 in the first round of the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic in April.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Pebble Beach has some of the smallest greens on Tour so it should be no surprise that the top four players at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach all finished in the top-10 of the Greens In Regulation statistical category -- winner Jeff Sluman was 2nd in the category with 81.5%. David Eger (T9), Brad Bryant (1) and Jay Haas (T6) finished tied for second in the tournament.

ON THIS DATE

7/19/81 -- Bill Rogers captures the British Open at Royal St. George's by four strokes over Bernhard Langer. It would be one of his four wins that year.

7/20/03 -- Craig Stadler comes from eight shots back in the final round and becomes the first Champions Tour player to win a PGA TOUR crown when he captures the B.C. Open by one stroke over Alex Cejka and Steve Lowery in Endicott, N.Y. One week earlier, Stadler had won the Champions Tour's Ford Senior Players Championship in Detroit. Stadler's win at the B.C. Open also made him the fifth oldest (at the time) winner in PGA TOUR history at 50 years, 1 month, 18 days.

7/21/85 -- Trailing David Graham and Bernhard Langer after 54 holes, Sandy Lyle's closing-round 70 was good enough to give him a one-stroke victory over Payne Stewartat the British Open at Royal St. Georges.

7/21/05 -- Dana Quigley's record streak of 278 consecutive eligible events played ends at 278 when he decides not to compete at the Senior British Open. His streak began at the 1997 Bank of Boston Classic.

7/24/05 -- Tom Watson wins his second Senior British title, defeating Des Smyth in a playoff at Royal Aberdeen in Scotland.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"I just had to smile inside to watch him play. How about that? He could be my grandson." -- Tom Watson, 61, comments on 20-year-old amateur Tom Lewis with whom he was paired, after the youngster shot 5-under 65 to share the opening-round lead with Thomas Bjorn at last week's British Open.

"The club's not rusty -- I'm the one that's rusty." -- Bernhard Langer refers to the 2-iron he used at last week's British Open for the first time in two years. Langer, who has played very little golf in the last four months after undergoing thumb surgery, missed the cut.

"When you see these kids and the speed with which they hit the golf ball with their driver, it's just a different sound. Their sound is a whoosh and mine is a thud. There's a difference. But the thud works every time." -- Tom Watson compares his action to that of today's young stars.

"You realize something pretty special is happening. I was in a comfort zone that allowed me to play a major like I would play any other week. That's the key." -- Ian Baker-Finch shares his secret to winning the 1991 British Open at Royal Birkdale where he shot 29 on the front nine while playing in the final group on the last day.

"I might have won the tournament on that hole. That is the hardest third shot in the world." -- Jeff Sluman discusses the par-5 14th hole at Pebble Beach which played to a final round average of 5.299. Sluman birdied the hole both times he played it during his victory at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, while Jay Haas (T2) and Bobby Clampett (T5) posted double bogey's during the final round.