Champions Golf Tour

CHAMPIONS - Regions Tradition Preview

From The Sports Network

DATES: Thursday, May 5th through Sunday, May 8th

SITE: Shoal Creek, Birmingham, Alabama

COURSE ARCHITECT: Jack Nicklaus (1977)

PAR: 72

YARDAGE: 7,234

Hole-By-Hole:	1 - Par 4 401 yds	10 - Par 4 419 yds
	2 - Par 4 407 yds	11 - Par 5 522 yds
	3 - Par 5 520 yds	12 - Par 4 491 yds
	4 - Par 4 464 yds	13 - Par 3 197 yds
	5 - Par 3 190 yds	14 - Par 4 382 yds
	6 - Par 5 565 yds	15 - Par 4 405 yds
	7 - Par 4 444 yds	16 - Par 3 213 yds
	8 - Par 3 171 yds	17 - Par 5 537 yds
	9 - Par 4 462 yds	18 - Par 4 444 yds
	-------------	-------------
	36 3,624 yds	36 3,610 yds

Annual:	23rd
Television:	Golf Channel - Thursday/Friday -- 1-3 p.m. (et),
	- Saturday/Sunday -- 3-6 p.m. (et)
Defending Champion:	Fred Funk
Runner-Up:	Michael Allen, Chien Soon Lu
Tournament Record:	265 (Doug Tewell, 2001)
54-Hole Record:	199 (Gil Morgan, 1997)
36-Hole Record:	130 (Tom Watson, 2003)
18-Hole Record:	62 (Doug Tewell, 2001 - GC at Desert Mountain;
	Tom Watson, 2003 - The Reserve Vineyards and GC;
	Brad Bryant, 2009 - Crosswater Club at Sunriver)
Total Purse:	$2,200,000
Shares:	1st Place - $330,000; 2nd Place - $206,400; 3rd Place - $158,600

2010 Finish
Player	Score	Player	Score
Fred Funk	276	Tommy Armour III	279
Michael Allen	277	John Cook	279
Chien Soon Lu	277	J.L. Lewis	279
Mark Calcavecchia	278	Mark Wiebe	279
Tom Lehman	278	Five players at	280

Past Regions Tradition Winners
Year	Winner (Score) -- Runners-Up
2010	Fred Funk (276) -- Michael Allen, Chien Soon Lu
2009	*Mike Reid (272) -- John Cook
2008	Fred Funk (269) -- Mike Goodes
2007	Mark McNulty (272) -- David Edwards
2006	*Eduardo Romero (275) -- Lonnie Nielsen
2005	*Loren Roberts (273) -- Dana Quigley
2004	Craig Stadler (275) -- Allen Doyle, Jerry Pate
2003	Tom Watson (273) -- Gil Morgan, Jim Ahern, Tom Kite
2002	*Jim Thorpe (277) -- John Jacobs
2001	Doug Tewell (265) -- Mike McCullough
2000	*Tom Kite (280) -- Tom Watson, Larry Nelson
1999	#Graham Marsh (136) -- Larry Nelson
1998	Gil Morgan (276) -- Tom Wargo
1997	Gil Morgan (266) -- Isao Aoki
1996	Jack Nicklaus (272) -- Hale Irwin
1995	*Jack Nicklaus (276) -- Isao Aoki
1994	*Ray Floyd (271) -- Dale Douglass
1993	Tom Shaw (269) -- Mike Hill
1992	Lee Trevino (274) -- Jack Nicklaus
1991	Jack Nicklaus (277) -- Jim Colbert, Jim Dent, Phil Rodgers
1990	#Jack Nicklaus (206) -- Gary Player
1989	Don Bies (275) -- Gary Player

* - Won in Playoff

# - Weather Shortened

Note:Formerly called The Tradition at Desert Mountain (1989-91); The

Tradition (1992-99), The Countrywide Tradition (2000-02); JELD-WEN Tradition (2003-10).

Top Contenders in the Field
Player	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Fred Funk	---	---	---	---	---	---	11th	Won	T-5	Won
Michael Allen	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-2
Chien Soon Lu	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-2
Tom Lehman	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-8	T-4
Mark Calcavecchia	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-4
John Cook	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-14	2nd	T-6
Mark Wiebe	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-18	T-41	T-6
Gil Morgan	4th	T-35	T-2	T-11	3rd	T-29	T-30	T-31	T-11	T-10
Jay Haas	---	---	---	---	T-23	T-20	T-14	T-3	T-17	T-10
Scott Simpson	---	---	---	---	---	T-63	T-12	6th	T-31	T-10
Tom Watson	---	5th	Won	T-55	T-9	T-14	T-6	T-3	T-5	T-15
Loren Roberts	---	---	---	---	Won	T-14	T-4	T-7	T-5	T-15
Eduardo Romero	---	---	---	---	---	Won	T-14	T-18	T-11	T-18
Russ Cochran	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-41	T-18
David Frost	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-21
Andy Bean	---	---	---	T-4	T-53	8th	T-27	T-48	T-27	T-25
Tom Purtzer	---	T-7	T-16	T-29	T-27	T-4	T-36	T-25	T-31	T-25
Bob Gilder	T-29	T-3	T-28	T-24	T-13	T-20	T-6	T-14	T-50	T-25
Jeff Sluman	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-31	T-11	T-29
Mike Goodes	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	2nd	T-17	T-29
Brad Bryant	---	---	---	---	T-16	T-14	T-21	T-25	3rd	T-34
Bobby Wadkins	---	T-13	T-52	T-24	T-49	3rd	T-52	T-18	T-50	T-34
Mark O'Meara	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-14	T-31	T-11	T-38
Tom Jenkins	T-38	T-13	T-60	T-19	T-5	T-14	T-30	T-7	T-47	T-38
Nick Price	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-38
Keith Fergus	---	---	---	T-36	T-56	T-9	T-6	T-31	T-17	T-43
Tim Simpson	---	---	---	---	---	T-25	T-30	T-18	T-38	T-43
Bruce Vaughan	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-56	T-41	T-31	45th
Mike Reid	---	---	---	T-45	T-9	T-39	T-18	T-41	Won	T-47
Ben Crenshaw	---	T-64	T-33	T-55	T-56	T-32	T-36	T-52	T-31	49th
Hale Irwin	3rd	6th	T-10	13th	T-42	T-32	T-52	T-41	T-38	T-50
David Eger	---	T-64	T-46	T-59	T-63	T-36	T-30	T-14	T-21	wd
Mark McNulty	---	---	---	---	8th	T-46	Won	T-25	T-25	---
Jim Thorpe	T-19	Won	T-7	T-14	T-67	T-36	T-40	T-18	T-31	---
Scott Hoch	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-27	5th	---	---
Fred Couples	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Kenny Perry	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

Sports Network Selections

Pick to Win - Russ Cochran
Darkhorse - Joe Ozaki

Last Week's Pick to Win (John Cook/Joey Sindelar) - Not in final field
Last Week's Darkhorse (Michael Allen/David Frost) - Finished tied for 3rd

NOTES:

The first major of the 2011 Champions Tour season is upon us, as the 23rd Regions Tradition takes center stage. The top-11 players on the money list are in the field this week, including two-time winners Tom Lehman and John Cook. Lehman currently leads the money list with $821,595 in earnings, $209,508 ahead of Cook. Lehman won the 2010 Senior PGA Championship for his first major on the Champions Tour. Cook will be seeking his first major title. There are 22 players in the field who have won major championships on the PGA Tour and 42 players who have won major titles on the PGA or Champions Tour.

This is the first year that this tournament is being held at Shoal Creek in Birmingham, Alabama. The previous four years were held at Crosswater Club at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Oregon. The Golf Club at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona hosted this event the first 13 years. The Prospector Course at Superstition Mountain in Arizona was the venue in 2002, while the Reserve Vineyards and Golf Club in Aloha, Oregon hosted the event from 2003-06. The event previously was held in August prior to moving to May this year.

Shoal Creek hosted the 1984 and 1990 PGA Championships, won by Lee Trevino and Wayne Grady. Grady is in the field this week. There are 16 players competing this week that made the cut at the 1984 and 1990 PGA Championships. Fred Couples was in the top-20 at both tournaments, finishing runner-up to Grady in 1990. Shoal Creek was also the site for the 1986 U.S. Amateur and 2008 U.S. Junior Amateur.

Last year, Fred Funk closed with a three-under 69 in the final round to win the by a single stroke over Michael Allen and Chien Soon Lu. Funk, who also won this crown in 2008, finished at 12-under-par 276. Funk hit 54 of 56 fairways for the week and did not make a bogey on the back nine in all four rounds. The win marked the third straight year in which Funk has won a major championship title. The victory went with those at this event in 2008 and the 2009 U.S. Senior Open. Loren Roberts was the last to win a major in three straight years, and he did so from 2005-07.

Eduardo Romero picked up his first Champions Tour win as he won with a birdie on the first playoff hole over Lonnie Nielsen in 2006. Romero posted the low round of the week with his seven-under 65 in the final round. Romero joined Jack Nicklaus, Tom Kite and Roberts as those who made this event their first Champions Tour win. Romero's five-stroke comeback on the final day was the largest in event history. Romero, from Argentina, became the second international player to win this title, joining Australian Graham Marsh (1999). He joined Roberto De Vicenzo as the only players from Argentina to win a senior major and joined De Vicenzo and Vicente Fernandez as the only players from Argentina to win on the Champions Tour.

Nicklaus won this event four times, finished second once and has nine top-10 finishes in his 12 appearances. Nicklaus was the first player to win the same Champions Tour event four times, with his last career victory coming here in 1996. It also marked his 100th professional win. Of Nicklaus' 10 career Champions Tour wins, eight have been majors.

In the previous 22 tournaments, the champion has posted an over-par score in any round just three times en route to victory. Nicklaus had a 73 in the second round of the 1991 event, but rallied to win. He also rebounded from a second-round 74 to win the 1996 event. In 2003, Tom Watson fired a one-over-par 73 Saturday, but closed with a two-under-par 70 on Sunday to wrap up his win. Only once has the winner not finished in the top 30 on the money list at the end of the year. In 1996, Nicklaus won and eventually finished 38th on the final money list. Nicklaus added a second victory that season, but played in just seven events overall.

Hale Irwin, the Champions Tour's all-time victory leader with 45 titles, will try to join Nicklaus as the only other player to claim a fourth different major. An Irwin victory at this year's tournament would also tie him with Nicklaus for the most senior majors (eight) and at 65, he would also become the Champions Tour's oldest winner. Nicklaus won four Traditions (1990-1991, 1995-996), a pair of U.S. Senior Opens (1991, 1993), the 1990 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship and the 1991 Senior PGA Championship. Irwin has won four Senior PGA Championships (1996-1997, 1998, 2004), a pair of U.S. Senior Opens (1998, 2000) and the 1999 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. He was the runner-up to Nicklaus in the 1996 Tradition

The Champions Tour moves to Kentucky in three weeks for the Senior PGA Championship, where Tom Lehman will defend his title at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.

05/03 17:05:41 ET

As of May 3, 2011, at 05:05 PM ET