Past World Cup Championships

Past World Cup Championships

Champions Tour's Finest to Play in Insperity Championship by Abigail

This week's field features 28 of the top 30 on the 2011 money list, including three-time winners Tom Lehman and John Cook. The six players who have captured this event - Larry Nelson, Jay Haas, Mark McNulty, Langer (twice), Cook and Couples - have a combined 64 wins on the. They also have among them three Masters titles, two PGA Championships, one U.S. Open and another seven majors on the Nelson and Langer are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame, and Couples is on this year's ballot.PLAYERS TO WATCHFred CouplesAge: 51 (turns 52 on Monday).PGA Tour wins: 15, including 1992 Masters.

Champions wins: 5, including 2011 Senior Players Championship.>Rank in Charles Schwab Cub race: 12 (one win, two top-10s, six starts).What else you should know: The 2003 Shell Houston Open winner added a second Houston title to his rÃ©sumÃ© last year, shooting 29 on the back nine Sunday to overtake Corey Pavin. Couples took his first Champions Tour major title Aug. 21 at Westchester Country Club when he won the Senior Players Championship. The captain of the 2011 U.S. Presidents Cup, he has played infrequently because of back issues.Tom Lehmanage: 52.PGA Tour wins: 5, including 1996 British Open.Champions wins: 5, including 2010 Senior PGA and 2011 Tradition.Rank in Charles Schwab Cup race: 1 (three wins, 10 top-10s, 17 starts).What else you should know: Lehman has won three times this season, making him one of two multiple winners on the Champions Tour this season. He captured his second Tour major on May 8 at Shoal Creek, topping Australian Peter Senior in a playoff. Lehman has a chance to become the first to win Player of the Year honors on the Nationwide Tour (1991), PGA Tour (1996) and Champions Tour.John CookAge: Turns 52 on Sunday.PGA Tour wins: 11 (no majors).

Tour wins: 8 (no majors).Rank in Charles Schwab Cup race: 4 (three wins, six top-10s, 19 starts).What else you should know: The 2009 champion of this event, Cook is the Champions's only multiple winner besides Lehman this season. Cook was in prime position to win the Senior Players title, but he played the final eight holes in 2 over and lost a playoff to Couples.Bernhard LangerAge: 54.PGA Tour wins: 3, including 1985 and 1993 Masters.Tour wins: 14, including 2010 Senior British Open and 2010 Senior Open.Rank in Charles Schwab Cup race: 22 (one win, three top-10s, 10 starts).What else you should know: He won this event at August Pines in 2007 and at The Woodlands in 2008, the first victory a wire-to- wire, eight-stoke runaway. Hampered by a thumb injury much of the season, Langer won the Ace Group Classic on Feb. 20 and played only one other Champions event until the Senior Open in July. In all, Langer has 76 victories around the world.His welcome-to-the-Open moment occurred on No. 14, where he missed the fairway in thick rough to the left."You could barely see the ball standing right over it," Whitehead said. "The rough was a lot worse today than it was in the practice rounds, somehow."A surge for SergioSergio Garcia skipped onto the scene nearly 12 years ago as a fresh-faced 19-year-old challenging Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship. Now, at 31, Garcia is playing in this U.S. Open only because he made it through 36 holes of sectional qualifying June 6 at Memphis, Tenn.And look what happened Thursday: He shot 69 to surface on the opening-round leader board."I feel like I did a lot of good things," Garcia said of his round. "But there's still a long way to go. I haven't done anything yet."Garcia still is seeking the first major title of his career, mostly because of putting problems. Most memorably, he fell to Padraig Harrington at the 2007 British Open and again at the 2008 PGA.To say Garcia has struggled the past two years would be kind. He reached No. 2 in the world rankings in March 2009 -- and now stands No. 76.Lefty's lamentPhil Mickelson began his 41st birthday by splashing his first shot of the tournament in the water on No. 10. He took double bogey on the par-3 hole and sailed away on a topsy-turvy, Phil-being-Phil round of 3-over 74 that is nine shots off the lead.Â© http://www.golfonline.jp/. All Rights Reserved. (ã,´ã?«ã?oã,·ã?§ã??ã?--)