Notes: Wrapping up 2011; Couples set for Texas honor

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The Champions Tour season is complete. The Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament Finals are scheduled for November 15-18 at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona. The top five finishers will receive fully exempt status for the 2012 Champions Tour season while finishers 6-12 will gain conditional status. The top-30 finishers and ties will be eligible to compete for spots in open qualifiers at all co-sponsored events on the 2012 Champions Tour. Last year, Keith Clearwaterwas the medalist. After finishing No. 97 on the 2011 money list, Clearwater will tee it up at TPC Scottsdale.

LAST WEEK

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Jay Don Blake won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the first player to win the Champions Tour's season finale in his first appearance since Mark McNulty in 2004. Blake took a two-shot lead into the final round and never relinquished it, winning by two over Michael Allen, Mark Calcavecchia, Jay Haas and Loren Roberts. Tom Lehman finished T18 but did enough to capture the season-long Charles Schwab Cup by 74 points over Calcavecchia.

Jay Don Blake's win at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship was his second title in his last five appearances (Songdo IBD Championship in Korea) on the Champions Tour.

Jay Don Blake (2) joined Tom Lehman (3), John Cook (3) and Fred Couples (2) as the fourth multiple winner on the Champions Tour in 2011.

Jay Don Blake's victory at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship marked the fourth consecutive year the winner has come from the last group. Blake also continued a trend on the Champions Tour. The tournament winner has come from the last group in every event since the Senior British Open in mid-July, a string of 10 straight events. In all 18 of 24 tournament winners played in the final group during the season.

Mark Wiebe posted the sixth hole-in-one in tournament history when he aced No. 3 with in Friday's second round. It was also the sixth ace on the Champions Tour in 2011.

Champions Tour professionals carded a total of six eagles during the Charles Schwab Cup Championship which helped raise $75,000 for the area First Tee programs under Chevron's Eagles for Education fund. The money recognizes the number of students that attended the Eagles Nest and Stem Zone during the tournament. Since the 2010 Chevron World Challenge the Eagles for Education program has raised $750,000, giving thousands of kids "a better shot" at an education."

United States Presidents Cup Captain Fred Couples named fellow Champions Tour professional John Cook as Captain's Assistant for the upcoming Presidents Cup matches. Michael Jordan, who was named along with Jay Haas as a Captain's Assistant for The Presidents Cup 2011, won't attend the matches due to pending responsibilities as majority owner of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.

Englishman Gary Wolstenholme won the Australian Senior Open at Lake Karrinyup CC last week, shooting a final-round 69 to beat Australian Terry Price by one stroke. Australian Rodger Davis finished two shots back in third.

Former University of Houston standout Fred Couples was among 10 athletes/coaches recently selected for induction next year into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

The 2011 Gary Player Invitational in Shanghai, China was a success raising more than $2 million to help benefit children who have been affected by AIDS throughout China. It marks the fifth year that the event has been conducted.

COMING UP

Of the five players who earned exempt status at last year's National Qualifying Tournament, Phil Blackmar performed best in 2011, finishing No. 58 on the money list, but will be forced to return to this year's Qualifying Tournament. Last year's Qualifying Tournament medalist Keith Clearwater finished No. 97, while Lee Rinker (59th), John Morse (90th) and Frankie Minoza(123rd) also failed to retain exempt status.

Eleven non-American players representing nine different countries will tee it up in the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament Finals -- Per-Arne Brostedt (SWE), Ian Doig (CAN), Peter Fowler (NZL), Rick Gibson (PHI), Mike Harwood (AUS), Mikael Hogberg (SWE), Barry Lane (ENG), Miguel Martin (ESP), Mark Mouland (WAL), Jim Rutledge(CAN) and Nobu Yuhara (JPN).

Florida, with 15, is the state with the most representatives at the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament Finals. Arizona, the state hosting the event, has the second-most with eight players.

Brothers Robin Freeman and Jeff Freeman will contest the Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament Finals after both advanced through regional qualifying -- Robin was medalist at Primm Valley GC in Las Vegas while Jeff finished T6 at the Palm Course at Disney World in Orlando.

Champions Tour professionals John Cook, Fred Couples, Peter Senior and Greg Norman are scheduled to participate in the Australian Open at The Lakes in Sydney this week prior to The Presidents Cup.

The Champions Tour team of Mark Calcavecchia and Nick Price will be formidable at the Shark Shootout in Naples, FL next month. The pair has a combined 25 appearances at the Shootout and both are winners on the Champions Tour in 2011. Calcavecchia is a two-time winner of the event. Another Champions Tour winner this season, Kenny Perry, will make his eighth appearance at the Shootout, pairing with fellow Kentucky native J.B Holmes. Tournament host Greg Norman will team with Shootout rookie Fredrik Jacobson.

Champions Tour professionals Tommy Armour III and Blaine McCallister are scheduled to compete in the second stage of PGA TOUR Qualifying School at the Hombre G.C. in Panama City, Fla. next week.

NUMBERS

1,531,877 -- The amount, in dollars, of official prizemoney Jay Don Blake earned on the Champions Tour in 2011, twice what he made in his first two years combined on the Champions Tour.

DID YOU KNOW?

Robin Freeman, the medalist at Champions Tour regional qualifying in Las Vegas two weeks ago, has the distinction of being the only player in history to win the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament twice. Freeman topped the field in 1988 and 1993 in La Quinta, CA (Dunes Course & PGA West Jack Nicklaus Course).

QUOTES TO NOTE

"Anytime you think about the result before you get on the playing field, you're in big trouble." -- Tom Lehman's mantra as he closed in on the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship while leading the money list and Charles Schwab Cup points race.

"Things kind of changed and changed and changed and at the end it worked out in my favor. It was pretty much down to the wire." -- Tom Lehman talks about another close finish to the Charles Schwab Cup which was decided at the season-ending tournament for the 10th time in 11 years.

"It's kind of the story of my whole career. I've had a lot of seconds in my day and a lot of close calls." -- Mark Calcavecchia shares his thoughts after his runner-up finish at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the fourth of his year on the Champions Tour. He compiled 27 seconds during his PGA TOUR career.

"When I first started when I was 9, 10 or 11 up in Seattle and it was wet. You would try and dry your gloves out, but my Mom would not give me the seven bucks for a glove every other week in the wintertime. So finally I just stopped wearing them." -- Fred Couples reveals why he is one of the few players who plays without a glove.

"We're in a generation now where most of us -- guys like Mark O'Meara, John Cook and myself -- don't need to play anymore. But we love the game so much, and I think it shows the way we compete. It's about the competition more than anything else." -- Nick Price explains his continued desire to play on the Champions Tour.