Notes: Pate in, Langer out for Senior PGA at Valhalla

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After a two week break, the Champions Tour heads to Louisville, Ky., for the Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, May 23-29. The purse is $2 million and the winner will receive $360,000 and 720 Charles Schwab Cup points. Last year, Tom Lehman made par on the first playoff hole to defeat Fred Couples and David Frost to capture his first senior major title.

LAST WEEK

• The eight Champions Tour professionals at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial all missed the cut, which came at 1-under 139 with 70 players making it to the weekend. Here are their results: Mark Brooks (69-71?140), Tom Lehman (69-72?141), Kenny Perry (69-72?141), David Frost (70-71?141), Olin Browne (71-72?143), Keith Clearwater (70-74?144), Corey Pavin (75-71?146) and Fulton Allem (77-75?152). All except Brooks are past champions at Colonial.

• Champions Tour professional Keith Clearwater, the 1987 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial champion, had an unusual round posting 18 pars in the opening round at Colonial last week.

• Among the 168 pros in last week's Nationwide Tour event, the BMW Charity Pro-Am, were Jay Haas Sr. and Jay Haas Jr. The Haas family has called the Thornblade Club community home for many years. Jay Sr. received a sponsor exemption to play during the off week for the Champions Tour, while Jay Jr. played his way in via a recent tournament qualifying event. Both players failed to make the cut.

• Former PGA TOUR professional John Inman recently resigned after 13 seasons as golf coach at North Carolina and he intends giving the Champions Tour a try after he turns 50 on November 26, 2012. Inman won twice on TOUR in his 12-year career -- the 1987 Provident Classic and the 1993 Buick Southern Open, where he won a five-way playoff.

• Champions Tour professional Gene Jones won a four-man playoff for the final spot of U.S. Open local qualifying at Timacuan G&CC to advance to the 36-hole sectional qualifying.

• The Charles Barkley footage, where his clubhead flies off during his opening tee shot at the Regions Tradition pro-am, continues to live on with over 1 million views on YouTube. The basketball Hall of Famer autographed the clubhead at the suggestion of Fuzzy Zoeller, the Champions Tour professional with whom he was playing. The autographed broken club earned $1,674 and proceeds were donated to the Tornado Disaster Relief efforts and the Children's Hospital of Alabama.

• The African-American Golfers Hall of Fame will honor Champions Tour golfer Bob Murphy with its 2011 Humanitarian of the Year Award over Memorial Day weekend. Murphy joins a Humanitarian of the Year list that includes such notables as Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, Jim Dent, Gary Player and Calvin Peete.

• Carl Mason created history last week, capturing his 24th victory with a four-stroke win at the Spanish Senior Open to become the most prolific winner on the European Senior Tour. He surpassed the previous record set by Tommy Horton. Mason's best Champions Tour performance came in 2003 when he was defeated by Tom Watsonin a playoff at the Senior British Open at Turnberry.

• Anders Forsbrand, who turned 50 on April 1, made his European Senior Tour debut at last week's Spanish Senior Open and finished T51. Forsbrand won six times in 440 starts on the European Tour and posted three top-10 finishes in major championships during his career.

COMING UP

• Steve Pate makes his Champions Tour debut at the Senior PGA Championship. Pate turns 50 on Thursday, May 26, the opening round of the championship.

• Several current Champions Tour players have enjoyed previous success at Valhalla GC. In 1996, current rookie Mark Brooks defeated fellow rookie Kenny Perry to win the PGA Championship, and in 2004, Hale Irwin birdied the final hole for a one-stroke win over Jay Haas to win the Senior PGA Championship. In 2008, Perry was a member of the victorious United States Ryder Cup team, captained by Paul Azinger, who is also in this week's field.

• As is the case in all five major championships, double points in the Charles Schwab Cup race will be awarded to all top-10 finishers at the Senior PGA Championship.

• There have been three consecutive playoffs in Champions Tour events heading into the Senior PGA Championship. The last time there were four straight playoffs was in 2005, the first of those four was at the Senior PGA Championship at Laurel Valley GC when Mike Reid defeated Dana Quigley and Jerry Pate.

• Bernhard Langer, the reigning three-time Player of the Year on the Champions Tour, was expected to make his first start after thumb surgery at the Senior PGA Championship but was forced to withdraw. Langer won the ACE Group Classic in February and hasn't played since March.

• A total of eleven players in the field made the cut at both the 1996 and 2000 PGA Championships when it was staged at Valhalla. The group includes Paul Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia, Fred Funk, Wayne Grady, Jay Haas, Scott Hoch, Bernhard Langer, Mark O'Meara, Kenny Perry, Jeff Sluman and Tom Watson.

• Damon Green, who caddies for 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, will make his Champions Tour debut at the Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines, Iowa, (June 3-5) after accepting a sponsor exemption. Johnson, an Iowa native, called the tournament seeking an invitation on behalf of Green.

• Beginning this week, the Sam Snead Trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, will begin a three-month tour to Westchester-area restaurants, providing golf fans the opportunity to see the trophy up-close. The tournament, the season's final major championship, will be played for the first time at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., on August 15-21.

NUMBERS

7 -- The number of bogey-free rounds by Tom Lehman this season (29 total rounds).

43 -- The number of fairways hit by Champions Tour professional Kenny Perry (T39) during THE PLAYERS Championship, ranking third in that category for the week. Two players hit 44 fairways -- David Toms, who lost the playoff to K.J. Choi, and Paul Goydos, who finished 3rd.

DID YOU KNOW?

• The Senior PGA Championship is the oldest event on the Champions Tour. Augusta National Golf Club served as host of the first event in 1937 at the invitation of the legendary Bobby Jones. Jock Hutchison, inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame earlier this month, was the winner that year. Hutchison also won the title in 1947 and finished 2nd six-times from 1937-51. After two years in Georgia, the tournament moved to Florida where it was held for more than 60 years, before beginning to rotate around the United States in 2001.

ON THIS DATE

5/24/98 -- Jay Sigel defeated Jose Maria Canizares with a birdie on the third extra hole of a playoff to win the Bell Atlantic Classic crown. His second-round 10-under-par 62 at Hartefeld National set a course record and it included an amazing 27 on the front nine. His Champions Tour-record nine-hole score featured an eagle and seven straight birdies, the best birdie-eagle run in the history of the Champions Tour.

5/27/01 -- Tom Watson claims the Senior PGA Championship at Ridgewood CC in New Jersey when he finishes one stroke in front of Jim Thorpe.

5/28/06 -- Jay Haas wins his first major championship when he makes a clutch birdie putt on the final hole and then pars the third playoff hole at defeat Brad Bryant at the Senior PGA Championship at Oak Tree GC in Edmond, Okla.

5/29/05 -- Mike Reid makes eagle on the par-5 18th hole in regulation then two putts for birdie on the first playoff hole to defeat Jerry Pate and Dana Quigley to win the Senior PGA Championship.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"I haven't really felt like I've changed my game at all. Maybe a little smarter as I get older." -- Tom Lehman, leader of the Charles Schwab Cup race and the Champions Tour money list after three wins this season, explains his success this year.

"When you start looking at the names and they have 'Hall of Fame' by their name -- that's star power right there. It's just loaded with star power out here." -- Two-time winner Russ Cochran shares his thoughts on the Champions Tour.

"It's been one hell of a run. I can't believe I have done it to be honest." -- Carl Mason expresses satisfaction and surprise after winning for the 24th time on the European Senior Tour to surpass Tommy Horton's previous record of 23 wins.