Fuente: © PGATour.com
http://www.pgatour.com/

GOLF: PGA TOUR: Champions Tour Year in Review

/noticias.info/ By Lauren Deason
PGATOUR.com Editorial Coordinator

The Champions Tour just wrapped its 27th season, having now held over 800 tournaments in its history. The first part of the season was all about Loren Roberts, as he won the initial three events of the year. By the time the Tour reached the eight-centennial mark at the FedEx Kinko’s Classic in April, Roberts’ hot streak had ended and Jay Haas had won twice, with Brad Bryant picking up his second victory one tournament later. The second half of the season saw first-time winners like Fred Funk, Scott Simpson and Eduardo Romero emerge and champions many times over like Jim Thorpe, Jay Sigel and Tom Kite get tournament victories.

There were actually 19 different winners in 2006, although it may have seemed like Haas and Roberts dominated the leaderboard and victories category. Throughout the 29 official tournaments, there were many special moments, shots and players that made this a season to remember. But in retrospect, what stood out above the rest?

Top Performer: This is tough, since the two top candidates each won four times, including a major each. The year-long duel between Loren Roberts and Jay Haas lasted until the bitter end, when the usually exceptional putter Roberts missed a 4-foot putt on the 72nd hole at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Haas didn’t want to win the Charles Schwab Cup points race that way —even he was in disbelief that an entire year came down to one out-of-character missed putt -- but in the end it was 2005’s Rookie of the Year who held the Cup, which rewards consistency based on top-10 finishes throughout the year. And, with his 16 top-10s, Haas was 2006’s top performer on the Champions Tour.

Rookie of the Year: Another close one, but the honor goes to Scott Simpson, who earned the same recognition in our mid-season review and didn’t let up as the year wound down. Simpson won once, was runner-up twice and finished third three times in a year where he had 18 top-25s. His victory came against a tough field at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, where Simpson took a one-stroke win over David Edwards and Jay Haas. He finished in sixth on the Tour money list, four places ahead of the next highest rookie Edwards, though to be fair Simpson was eligible to play in more events than Edwards, who turned 50 in April. However, the intangibles, like Simpson’s spot-on impression of Pebble Beach playing partner Bill Murray, gave him the edge in this category over fellow rookies Edwards, Eduardo Romero, Massy Kuramoto and latecomer Chip Beck.

Favorite Moment: If you break it down, there are somewhere close to 500,000 shots taken on the Champions Tour each year. Factor in memorable moments like Jay Haas winning the golden Charles Schwab Cup trophy, Brad Bryant getting his first and second Tour victories and Jerry Pate diving into a lake after his win, and it’s nearly impossible to choose just one special memory. But it was an unusual Fuzzy Zoeller ace on No. 16 at the Allianz Championship that sticks out as one of the most unforgettable, as his hole-in-one seemed to defy the rules of gravity, physics and golf logic. The ball landed in the fringe and paused for almost 10 seconds before rolling onto the green and into the hole, causing an eruption of cheers from the astonished fans.

Comeback Player: He wasn’t a comeback player per se, as he only missed a few events, but with his history even taking off one week is enough to warrant notice. The indefatigable Dana Quigley, who holds the record for consecutive Champions Tour starts, competing in 278 straight tournaments over a nine-year period, had hip problems in 2005 that forced him to withdraw from the Senior British Open and end his streak. The leading money winner in 2005, Quigley was faced with another health issue this year, as blood pressure medication problems in the early part of this year forced him to miss two events. He battled through, though, to earn a victory in early July at the Greater Kansas City Golf Classic and had four top-10s and 12 top-25s on the year.

Biggest Surprise: When the much-heralded Fred Funk earned a victory at the AT&T Championship in just his third Champions Tour start, the surprise lay more in that he hadn’t won sooner than the fact that he actually did win. It was the somewhat more quiet arrival and subsequent play of Chip Beck that took most by surprise, as he nearly earned enough in just five weeks to make the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Beck tied for fifth, earned a solo third, tied for second and placed second in that span, with his only finish outside the top five coming in a tie for 23rd at the Administaff Small Business Classic. With players like Beck and Scott Hoch debuting late in 2006 and Mark O’Meara, Nick Price and Nick Faldo becoming eligible next year, the surprises and changes will likely continue on the Tour in 2007.

Biggest Disappointment: For the past 11 years, Hale Irwin had won not just one but an impressive two events every season, a Champions Tour record. However, Irwin went winless this year and ended that streak. In fact, this season a number of his streaks came to a close, as he failed to reach the $1-million mark for the first time in 10 years, falling short at 22nd place on the money list. Though he came close, especially at the beginning of the year when he had three top-five finishes in three weeks, Irwin just couldn’t find one victory in 2006. And that has to be disappointing for the top Champions Tour player in history, who has won 44 times in his career. notas_de_prensa_archivo