Notes: Price to mix in some PGA TOUR events in 2011

text size

Petersen/Getty Images

Nice Price made his last PGA TOUR start in 2008.

News and notes from the Champions Tour last week:

Nick Price will use his one-time, top-50 career money exemption on the PGA TOUR so he will have the opportunity to mix in some TOUR events with his Champions Tour schedule in 2011.

• Fred Couples and Greg Norman recently named their respective captains' assistants for The Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia next year. Jay Haas and NBA legend Michael Jordan will reprise their 2009 roles for the U.S. Team. Norman announced Frank Nobilo will return to assist the International Team and a second captain's assistant will be named next year.

• Massy Kuramoto won the Handa Cup Senior Masters, the inaugural co-sanctioned European Senior Tour event in Japan. Kuramoto won by four over newly-minted Champions Tour member Frankie Minoza and the Japanese pairing of Satoshi Higashi and Kiyoshi Murota. Kuramoto was the 2005 Champions Tour Qualifying School medalist before winning over $1 million in 69 starts on the Champions Tour from 2006-09.

• Sir Bob Charles and Michael Campbell, New Zealand's only major champion's, were inducted as foundation members into the New Zealand Golf Hall of Fame which was launched last week at a centenary dinner in Wellington. Both Charles and Campbell have made significant contributions to golf in New Zealand through their respective foundations and scholarships.

COMING UP

• Fred Couples, Greg Norman and Peter Senior are three Champions Tour players teeing it up at The Lakes in Sydney for the Australian Open this week.

• For the 30th anniversary of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, to be played this week, four of the past champions from the 1980s and early 1990s -- all now 50-somethings playing the Champions Tour -- will return to take part in the Nedbank Senior Challenge. They include three-time winners Nick Price and David Frost, plus Mark McNulty and Fultom Allem. Joining them will be Fred Funk, Jay Haas, Jeff Sluman and Tommy Armour III for a 36-hole tournament to be played on the first two days of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

• Country music star Sara Evans, along with her husband Jay Barker, donated their time and talents to support the Children's Hospital of Alabama through their participation in the 2010 Regions Charity Classic pro-am and benefit concert in May this year. This week, the couple, along with executives from Regions Bank, title sponsor of the Regions Charity Classic and the upcoming 2011 Regions Tradition, presented a $25,000 donation to the Children's Hospital. The Regions Tradition, to be played at Shoal Creek May 2-8, 2011, will be the first of five majors on the Champions Tour. Evans and Barker live in the greater Birmingham area and have seven children.

NUMBERS
• 307 -- The number of completed rounds at the 2010 Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament.

• 62 -- The number of rounds in the 60s at the 2010 Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament.

• 5 -- The number of rounds in the 80s at the 2010 Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament.

QUOTES TO NOTE
• "My wife told me 'You're just not mean. You play better when you're mean.' So I grew a beard because it made me look meaner" -- Phil Blackmar, on his successful strategy before the recent Champions Tour National Qualifying School. Blackmar finished tied for second behind Keith Clearwater to earn fully exempt status for the 2011 season.

• "Freddie will bring out a crowd more than most other guys" -- Scott Verplank on Fred Couples.

• "It's a great Tour. We're lucky to have it." -- Fred Couples on the Champions Tour.