BlogSenior PGA Championship Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

For the average fantasy golf player the Champions Tour is not on their radar screen.  It’s more of tour about a celebration of golfers that are past their prime  and have another avenue to compete outside of the PGA TOur.  So the tour is made up of events that have no cuts, are played on easier courses and only go 54 holes.

There are however five majors and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship that are a step above the run of the mill Champions Tour event.  Of the six important events, three are considered classics because of their history, the U.S. Senior Open, the Senior British Open and the Senior PGA.  These three are played on great courses that are set up in a manner making them more challenging and over 72 holes.  What you see is a different level of golf at these events, in which a different level of players find there competitive nature coming out more as the feeling is these events are important and not the regular run of the mill event.

Many may not know it but this weeks Senior PGA Championship is the oldest event on the Champions Tour, which really became a tour in 1980, a couple of years after the Legends of Golf found success in showcasing players over 50.  The Senior PGA Championship was first played in 1937 and was held at Augusta National, the site of the Masters.  For two years it was played there before moving to Florida were it was played until 2001 when it was decided to take the championship on the road.  Since then it’s been played on the best courses in the country.  This year it’s going to Bellerive C.C., a course outside of St. Louis which has held the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

Things you need to know about this week at the Senior PGA Championship

This is the first of the really important events of the year for the Champions Tour.  It will be played at Bellerive C.C. and set up in a championship manner  with rough, hard greens and challenges not found on the Champions Tour.  The course was the site of the 1992 PGA Championship which was won by Nick Price who isn’t playing this week.  But John Cook, Jim Gallagher, Jr. and Gene Sauers who were runner-ups are playing.  The same with with Dan Forsman and Russ Cochran who were T7th, they are returning, which should give them a bit of an advantage.

The course was the site of the U.S. Senior Open in 2004. It was won by Peter Jacobsen with Hale Irwin finishing 2nd and Tom Kite and Jay Haas coming in third.  In looking at the top four finishes and even going down to the top-25, you see a lot of marquee names which give you a hint that those that have played well in regular majors will do well this week.

The course also held the BMW Championship in 2008, but only Bart Bryant (T28th), Kenny Perry (T44th), Andres Romero (T44th) played in that event and is in the field this year.

Last but not least, find it hard to believe that Tom Lehman and Corey Pavin took a pass at playing in this championship and play at Colonial.  Of course we don’t know the true reasons, maybe both have great memories of Colonial and have lot’s of friends in the area.  Could also be because they don’t like Bellerive, but frankly they aren’t going to win at Colonial and have a terrific chance in the Senior PGA.  Oh well to each his own.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Senior PGA Championship:

Key stat for the winner:

• Since the field is so strong, this makes it easier for a non-marquee player to win this event.  In looking for a winner there will be a couple things that we have to look at.  The most important fact is to see which players are in good forum based on play over the last couple of weeks. On the new Golfstats we have the who’s hot and who’s not list in which you can see who has played the best in the last five Champions Tour events over the last eight weeks.  This is an important list because it shows who is playing well and who isn’t.  The second important item to realize, this isn’t a regular tour event and the course is more demanding. So in picking a winner, look at those that have done good in Champions Tour events like the Senior PGA, U.S. Senior Open and the Senior British Open.
• Putting is going to be very important at Bellerive, the greens are large and have a lot of undulation in them. Lag putting is going to be very important to avoid three putting.
• Course will be long and should favor the long hitter, off the fairways will have rough but the question will be how long the PGA Tour will allow it to grow and how tough they really want to make the course.
• Looking at past winners at Bellerive, Gary Player, Nick Price, Peter Jacobsen and Camilo Villegas they are some of the game’s great shot makers so the course will favor those
• So what will it take to win? Think of this event now as similar to a major in which this course is a new adventure.  This brings into play a lot more players as they try to deal with the learning curve of the course which gives the players less time to learn what Bellerive is about.  So look for a shot maker that can avoid three putting on big greens.
• Lastly and more importantly Bellerive was hit by 9/11 when the American Express was suppose to be played there in 2001 and wasn’t able to host.  Could more bad luck hit Bellerive this time around?  When the BMW championship was there in 2008, remnants of Hurricane Gustav pelted Bellerive with rain in excess of three inches, postponing the first round until Friday.  They were able to get the event done, but the course didn’t play like officials wanted it to.  This year the event could experience unstable spring weather.  There is going to be bad weather on Tuesday and Wednesday with the weather getting better for Thursday’s first round, but after that the bad weather builds up and it could be messy by the weekend.