Insider: Will O'Meara earn first win at a familiar place?

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Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Mark O'Meara is hoping to pick up his first Champions Tour victory soon -- maybe even near his hometown.

Mark O'Meara's game is improving, his mind is at ease and his competitive drive has been reenergized.

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Now he's hoping that hat-trick will result in another goal -- his first victory on the Champions Tour.

If it happens to be next week in the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, a course O'Meara knows well and enjoys, all the better.

O'Meara has played plenty of golf in Newport Beach going all the way back to his high school days.

At the recent Toshiba Classic Media Day, he looked back at last year.

"There were a lot of people pulling for me to actually get my first victory there," O'Meara said. "It didn't happen, but it's a great event. I think a lot of the players get excited about playing there.

"I think it's going to attract another good field. We've had a lot of nice champions there and I just hope I can play well when we get there and have an opportunity to win."

O'Meara joined Joey Sindelar as runners-up at the Toshiba Classic last year behind Eduardo Romero, whose final round 3-under-par 68 was good for a 1-shot victory.

Sindelar made up the most ground with an 8-under 63 in Sunday's final round after beginning the day 7 shots off the lead. O'Meara, who shared the 36-hole lead with Bernhard Langer, closed with a 70 and it left him disappointed by his indifferent putting.

O'Meara has moved from Florida to Houston. He has been working with instructor Rick Davidson for a year. Davidson is the PGA Professional at River Oaks Country Club.

"I'm rejuvenated, a little more motivated even after playing 30 years of competitive golf," said O'Meara, whose career reached a pinnacle in 1998 when he won the Masters and the British Open.

"I have the desire to try to win and get back to an area where I think I should be in the game of golf. When I miss the cut and don't play well, it frustrates me. It gives me motivation to go out there and try to figure it out."

O'Meara's focus has been on the full swing. The aim is to simplify it so that at key moments, under the gun, it holds up.

"I think it has improved," he said. "I've seen signs of it. When I look and watch it on video, when I hit balls, I feel like I've become a better player. Even at 53, I'm still trying to get better and figure it out."

O'Meara knows it's not getting any easier to win on the Champions Tour. He looks at the rookies -- Fred Couples, Corey Pavin, Paul Azinger, Tommy Armour III -- and accepts the magnitude of the challenge.

"It's difficult to win on any tour these days," O'Meara said. "The competition on all tours has gotten better. For certain on the Champions Tour, the depth and quality of fields has evolved over the years.

"I'm disappointed in not having won at this stage. It's not for lack of effort working on my game. My first year, I had some shots. My second year, I struggled with some off-course issues. Last year, I played well again. I had a lot more good feelings that if you keep knocking on the door, eventually it will open."

O'Meara remarried last June and relocated to Houston. This is the first time in his Champions Tour career that O'Meara is playing with what he calls a clear head.

"I think that's important," he said. "Some people seem to play well when they have difficulties in their off-course issues. For me, I'm a guy who likes to have consistency in my relationships and know where I'm at, know I have a good support team behind me. I seem to play better with that."

His familiarity with Newport Beach Country Club is another plus next week.

O'Meara played the course "quite a few times ... probably 30, 40, 50 times, when he was at Mission Viejo High. He knows the course and values its character.

"In its own right, it's got a great feel about it that does require shotmaking and certainly a good amount of scoring, since you know the players are going to go low," O'Meara said, identifying a characteristic -- shotmaking -- that the Champions Tour players covet.

"The guys are going to light it up. Three rounds, it's basically a shootout."

O'Meara, who is coming off a T20 at Allianz, would like nothing to be right in the middle of it again next week.

Champions Tour Insider notes: Newcomer Fred Couples and Tommy Armour III are off to rousing starts as "rookies." Although Couples did not play the Allianz, he leads both the Charles Schwab Cup points and money list while Armour is fourth in the Schwab Cup and sixth in money.

• Statistically, Couples continues to dominate. He's first in the All-Around category, Driving Distance (300.2 yards) and Sand Saves (100 percent/5-for-5). Couples is second in Scoring Average (65.67) and Eagles, third in Greens in Regulation (84.26 percent), Putting and Birdie Average and fourth in Total Driving. Tom Watson has the best scoring average, 64.67. Armour (86.11) and Jay Don Blake (85.19) are 1-2 in Greens in Regulation.