United States
The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.
Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am
Match scheduled:
Start: 14 April to 18 April 2011 from 20:00 until 22:00
Champions Tour 2010 - TPC Tampa Bay :: Lutz, Florida, USA
LUTZ - When Tom Watson plays in events such as the Masters and British Open, the 60-year-old thanks the Champions Tour for the opportunity.
"I've said it a number of times, the Champions Tour is the only reason I'm still out here and competitive," Watson said Friday after posting a 4-under-par 67 in the first round of the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am at TPC Tampa Bay. "If I didn't have the competition of the Champions Tour, then I would have been history a long time ago in terms of the Masters and British Open."
Watson's 67 included six birdies and a double-bogey on a course he said would give PGA Tour players a run for their money.
"I am still competitive on courses like this," he said. "This is a tough golf course. If the kids played this golf course, they would have a tough time."
Watson's 67 has him and five others tied for fourth, two strokes behind leader Mark O'Meara.
"Playing this golf course is like going through a minefield," Watson said. "There are a lot of shots out there that you're faced with water. To keep it out of the water, which I did (Friday) with the exception of one drive (No. 4), is kind of the game plan - and I did pretty well."
Greens all the rave
Watson, a two-time champion at TPC Tampa Bay, had the course's new greens to thank, in part, for his 67.
The greens were replaced after last year's event, and Watson managed to sink a 50-foot putt on No. 8 and left a 60-footer "an inch dead in the heart" on No. 9.
"(The greens) are beautiful," Watson said. "They're great putting surfaces. They didn't change the contours - I haven't found anything different. But they're very smooth."
O'Meara, the first-round leader, used only 22 putts in his eight-birdie, two-bogey round.
"I didn't putt very well at Augusta last week," O'Meara said. "But I did a lot better (Friday) so that was nice. The golf course is in really good shape. The greens are in good shape, but they are firm. The scoring is not going to be quite as low because of that."
Brooks: Not ready for the tour
Former Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, playing in a group with fellow Florida State University graduate Paul Azinger, said he had fun "telling some war stories" and was grateful to be picked up a few times by his partner, Tom Lehman.
"The pros really make us feel at home," Brooks said. "We do the best we can to stay out of the way. Once I got in the groove, I hit a few good shots. But by no means am I ready to cut it as a professional golfer."
Brooks sent his best wishes to former NFL receiver Jerry Rice, who said he has turned professional and was playing in this weekend's Nationwide Tour stop in Northern California before missing the cut Friday. Rice entered with a sponsor's exemption and is the tournament host.
"Those guys are no slouch," Brooks said. "Hopefully, Jerry will have fun and the guys will welcome him out there."
Brooks and Lehman finished the first round 8 under, good for a tie for third place. The top 16 teams after today's second round advance to Sunday's final round.
Here are numbers no pro golfer wants beside his name: 83-76, for 17- over-par 159. But that's what Jerry Rice, who will go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, shot at the Fresh Express Classic in Hayward, Calif. this week in his debut as a professional golfer.
Rice's rude introduction to pro golf calls to mind an incident at a dinner party in Toronto a while ago that bears on the dreams some pro athletes have of morphing into successful pro golfers. A decent player for whom money wasn't a problem wanted to devote himself to golf with the goal of making it to the Champions Tour. He was seeking advice.
It's not right to crush a dream. But it also seemed important to balance his dream—his fantasy? —against reality.
“If you do make it, and that's a gigantic ‘if,' you'll be playing against golfers named Tom Watson, Tom Kite, and Hale Irwin,” I told him, trying not to sound discouraging but failing mightily. “Still, you can afford the effort and you have the time. Go for it.”
