Champions Golf Tour

CHAMPIONS - SAS Championship Preview

From The Sports Network

DATES: Friday, October 5th through Sunday, October 7th

SITE: Prestonwood Country Club (Meadows and Highlands courses), Cary, NC

COURSE ARCHITECT: Tom Jackson (Meadows - 1988); (Highlands - 1993),

Rick Robbins (2009, renovation)

PAR: 72

YARDAGE: 7,240

Hole-By-Hole:	1 - Par 4 416 Yds	10 - Par 4 428 Yds
	2 - Par 4 421 Yds	11 - Par 3 193 Yds
	3 - Par 3 209 Yds	12 - Par 5 571 Yds
	4 - Par 4 435 Yds	13 - Par 4 434 Yds
	5 - Par 4 425 Yds	14 - Par 4 410 Yds
	6 - Par 4 419 Yds	15 - Par 4 431 Yds
	7 - Par 5 561 Yds	16 - Par 4 412 Yds
	8 - Par 3 168 Yds	17 - Par 5 503 Yds
	9 - Par 4 387 Yds	18 - Par 4 417 Yds
	-------------	-------------
	35 3,441 Yds	37 3,799 Yds

Annual:	12th
Television:	Golf Channel - Friday/Sunday -- 1:30-4 p.m. (et)
Defending Champion:	Kenny Perry
Runner-Up:	John Huston, Jeff Sluman
Tournament Record:	198 (Mark Wiebe, 2007)
36-Hole Record:	131 (Mark Wiebe, 2007; Russ Cochran, 2010)
Course Record:	61 (Tom Kite, 2003)
Total Purse:	$2,100,000
Shares:	1st Place - $315,000; 2nd Place - $184,800; 3rd Place - $151,200

2011 Finish
Player	Score	Player	Score
Kenny Perry	205	Jay Don Blake	210
John Huston	206	J.L. Lewis	210
Jeff Sluman	206	Chien Soon Lu	210
Russ Cochran	208	Nick Price	210
Fred Couples	209	Two players at	211

Past SAS Championship Winners
Year	Winner (Score) -- Runners-Up
2011	Kenny Perry (205) -- John Huston, Jeff Sluman
2010	Russ Cochran (202) -- Tom Pernice, Jr.
2009	Tom Pernice, Jr. (203) -- David Frost, Nick Price
2008	Eduardo Romero (201) -- Tom Kite
2007	Mark Wiebe (198) -- Dana Quigley
2006	#Tom Jenkins (134) -- Chip Beck, Loren Roberts
2005	Hale Irwin (203) -- Bob Gilder, Tom Jenkins
2004	Craig Stadler (199) -- Tom Jenkins
2003	D.A. Weibring (203) -- Tom Kite, Bobby Wadkins
2002	Bruce Lietzke (202) -- Gil Morgan, Sammy Rachels, Tom Watson
2001	Bruce Lietzke (201) -- Allen Doyle, Gary McCord

Top Contenders in the Field
Player	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Kenny Perry	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	Won
Jeff Sluman	---	---	---	---	---	T-20	T-15	T-50	T-37	T-2
John Huston	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-2
Russ Cochran	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-5	Won	4th
Jay Don Blake	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-29	T-6
Mark Calcavecchia	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-4	T-10
Bob Gilder	T-40	T-48	T-51	T-2	T-12	T-47	T-17	T-29	T-8	T-10
Dan Forsman	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-63	4th	T-11	T-14
Eduardo Romero	---	---	---	---	T-19	---	Won	T-43	T-16	T-14
Chip Beck	---	---	---	---	T-2	T-67	T-23	T-27	T-16	T-18
Corey Pavin	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-18
Olin Browne	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-5	T-37	T-23
Craig Stadler	---	T-8	Won	4th	T-47	---	---	T-53	---	T-23
David Frost	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-2	T-24	T-32
Bill Glasson	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-42	T-32
Mark Wiebe	---	---	---	---	---	Won	T-17	T-9	T-50	T-32
D.A. Weibring	---	Won	T-8	wd	T-27	T-11	T-10	T-9	T-57	T-32
Peter Senior	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-11	T-37
Tom Purtzer	5th	T-39	---	T-55	T-19	T-15	T-39	T-14	T-50	T-46
Bernhard Langer	---	---	---	---	---	T-11	T-45	---	T-4	T-49
Wayne Levi	T-6	T-4	T-8	T-12	T-34	T-32	T-33	T-23	T-24	T-58
Tom Jenkins	T-11	T-4	2nd	T-2	Won	T-15	T-52	T-14	T-60	T-63
John Cook	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-7	T-36	3rd	T-67
Hale Irwin	T-15	T-21	---	Won	T-47	T-59	T-45	T-59	T-57	73rd
Fred Funk	---	---	---	---	---	---	T-10	T-18	T-48	---
Michael Allen	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Roger Chapman	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---
Willie Wood	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---

Sports Network Selections

Pick to Win - David Frost
Darkhorse - Mark O'Meara

Last Week's Pick to Win (Michael Allen) - Finished tied for 38th
Last Week's Darkhorse (Willie Wood) - Finished 1st

NOTES:

Just four official events remain in the quest for the Charles Schwab Cup and top billing on the Champions Tour. Tom Lehman leads Bernhard Langer by 246 points in the race for the $1 million prize for the Cup. Michael Allen leads the money list by $48,607 over Langer. Allen and Langer are both in the field, while Lehman is taking the week off. Willie Wood is the hottest player on the Champions Tour, having won two of the last three events. He also finished third in that span.

Last year, Kenny Perry collected his first Champions Tour victory. Perry posted rounds of 66-69-70 and won the championship at 11-under 205. He earned a 1-stroke victory over Jeff Sluman and John Huston at Prestonwood Country Club. It was Perry's 11th start on the Champions Tour. He was able to win despite playing with a heavy heart. Perry's sister, Kay, passed away on Saturday night after a long battle with breast cancer at the age of 59.

In 2010, Russ Cochran carded rounds of 64-67-71 and led wire-to-wire to capture his second victory in as many starts. Cochran won the Posco E&C Songdo Championship in South Korea two weeks prior for his first Champions Tour victory. He finished this tournament at 14-under 202 and won by two over 2009 champion Tom Pernice, Jr.

In 2009, Pernice rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in the final round to win his Champions Tour debut. Pernice fired rounds of 67-67-69 to win the title at 13-under 203. He became the 15th player in Champions Tour history to win his first tournament.

Mark Wiebe completed a historic debut in 2007 on the Champions Tour by shooting rounds of 65-66-67 to win by three shots over Dana Quigley. Wiebe became the first player in three years to win his first start on the Champions Tour. He was the first player to win his debut while playing on a sponsor's exemption. Wiebe turned 50 just 10 days prior to the event.

Tom Jenkins was declared the winner in 2006 after wet conditions forced the cancellation of the final round. Jenkins finished the tournament at 10-under-par 134 for a 1-shot victory over Loren Roberts and Chip Beck. The win was Jenkins' seventh on the Champions Tour. Jenkins pocketed $300,000 for the largest paycheck of his career.

In 2004, Craig Stadler fired a 6-under 66 in the final round to cruise to a six-shot victory. Stadler finished at 17-under-par 199 for his fifth victory of the 2004 season. His 6-stroke victory was the largest ever at this event. With his victory, Stadler became the first player to win three consecutive starts on the Champions Tour since Gil Morgan in 1997.

D.A. Weibring captured this tournament in 2003 despite flu-like symptoms, using a cart for most of the final round due to his weakened condition. He came from five back to edge out Tom Kite and Bobby Wadkins by one shot.

Next week, the Champions Tour remains in North Carolina for the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn in Conover, where Wiebe will defend his title.

10/02 16:40:02 ET

As of October 2, 2012, at 04:40 PM ET