Recap: The first half of 2008

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Guys like Tom Watson, Jay Haas, Bernhard Langer, Denis Watson and Scott Hoch made this first-half recap extremely difficult to write. How do you pick the best player of the year -- up until this point at least -- when those five have each won twice on the Champions Tour this season?

Better yet, Haas, Tom Watson and Hoch all won twice in a row.

But we did the best we could at PGATOUR.com to present the top players and our favorite memories from the first half of the season. From Fred Funk's win at the winners-only MasterCard Championship at Hualalai to Jay Haas' victory at The Principal Charity Classic -- the 14th of 29 official events -- this year has already merited some discussion.

HOTTEST PLAYER

This category will be named "Player of the Year" at the end of the season but right now that's a tough one to call. There's no arguing that the hottest player, however, is current Charles Schwab Cup points leader Jay Haas. He recently won the Senior PGA Championship -- his second major on the Champions Tour - and, to make matters worse for the rest of the Tour, he won the following week at The Principal Charity Classic. When the Tour returns in less than two weeks, Haas will be looking for his third straight win...at a venue where he's the defending champion.

TOP ROOKIE

Wait a second, you say. Sluman can't be a rookie if he debuted last September, can he? Based on Tour criteria, which deems players rookies until they play six events, Sluman is still a rookie in 2008. In his past six tournaments, Sluman finished with a top-10 four times. If he hadn't fired a closing-round 78 at the Senior PGA Championship in his hometown of Rochester, N.Y., Sluman would likely have captured his first title there. It's only a matter of time before he gets a Champions Tour win.

BEST WITHOUT A WIN

It's a toss up between Jeff Sluman, Mark O'Meara or Nick Price. Since Sluman just grabbed the "Rookie of the Year" honors, the "Best Without a Win" tag will be bestowed upon Price. He shook off the rust at the Allianz Championship, his first event of the season, with a tie for 56th. After that lone blemish, he hasn't finished outside the top 11 and has four top-5s to his credit. Since his days on the PGA TOUR, Price has taken time off during the summer to spend with his family. He will likely do that again this season -- last year he sojourned for nearly two months -- but the red-hot Price could grab his first Champions Tour win before his summer hiatus.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT

Are Champions Tour golfers as passionate and fired up as they used to be on the PGA TOUR? You betcha. Bernhard Langer and Jay Haas went to seven playoff holes at the Toshiba Classic before a winner was decided. Two of the players in the Tour's upper echelon, Langer and Haas tossed pars and birdies at each other, with Langer even holing a 28-footer for birdie to stay in the playoff on the sixth hole. Neither could close the deal until Langer finally sealed it with a birdie on No. 18.

DREAM TEAM

What is it about these two? Andy North and Tom Watson just can't lose when it comes to the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. In April they captured their fourth consecutive win at that tournament. Since their past victories didn't count as official wins -- the Tour didn't start counting the team competition as official until this season -- this was North's first official victory in 22 years. He earned it, too -- North and Watson have not made a bogey in their last 162 holes.

COMEBACK PLAYER

Round up the usual suspects -- of the 10 players with victories this season, all have won within the past two years on the Tour. If any fall into the comeback category, it has to be Jerry Pate. In early 2006, Pate captured his first victory in over 23 years at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. He then battled right-shoulder problems and eventually had surgery in July 2006, which forced him to sit out the second part of that season. He returned to the Tour in 2007 but only had two top-10 finishes in 26 starts. Pate finally found the winner's circle again at the Turtle Bay Championship this January.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN AWARD

At the start of the year, it looked like Fred Funk had taken another sip from the fountain of youth and was going to dominate the Champions Tour again. He had two top-25 finishes at the start of the PGA TOUR's season in Hawaii then won the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai on the Champions Tour with a score of 21-under par. But an injury nagged at Funk for the next few months and, in his next13 starts on both Tours, he couldn't finish inside the top 10. Funk elected to have surgery on his right knee in mid-May and should be back in full force again soon.