Notes: Big week for Blackmar, Irwin sons

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The Champions Tour is idle for a week before heading to Endicott, N.Y., for the Dick's Sporting Goods Open at En-Joie GC, June 20-26. The purse is $1.75 million and the winner will receive $262,500 and 263 Charles Schwab Cup points. Last year, Loren Roberts carded a back-nine 5-under-par 30 on the final day to win by one stroke from Fred Funk.

LAST WEEK

• Mark Wiebe won the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn on the third playoff hole when he two-putted from 40 feet for a par and then watched James Mason three-putt from 25 feet for a bogey, missing a five-foot par effort that would have extended the overtime session.

• Wiebe earned 263 Charles Schwab Cup points at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn, which moved him up 21 spots into eighth place in the season-long race with 536 total points. Tom Lehman continues to lead the 2011 Charles Schwab Cup race with 1,494 points and Nick Price's 77 points last week moved him into second place with 899 points.

• Mason, who Monday qualified, earned himself a spot in the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in two weeks with his runner-up finish at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn.

A host of Champions Tour records were set at the Greater Hickory Classic:
• 1,147 total birdies in regulation, the most for a 54-hole event, previous-best was 1,012.
• Loren Roberts, Hal Sutton and Peter Senior were all bogey-free for the tournament, the first time in Champions Tour history that as many as three players were bogey-free in the same tournament.
• 68 of 81 players in the field shot subpar rounds in the opening round, the most ever in a Champions Tour 54-hole event. The previous best was 63.
• Tom Kite became the first player in Champions Tour history to make three eagles on the same nine (Round 2).

• Tom Pernice Jr. made the 36-hole cut at the FedEx St. Jude Classic but failed to progress beyond the third round at the PGA TOUR event after a 4-over 74.

• Successful qualifiers for this week's U.S. Open Championship include Hale Irwin's son, Steven, Arnold Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, and Fred Funk, who celebrates his 55th birthday on Tuesday, June 14.

• Tom Watson won the annual Watson Challenge at Blue Hills CC in Kansas City. Watson, who posted 212 (-4) in the three round and was the only player to finish under par, announced afterwards that he would donate his $10,000 winning check to the Joplin tornado relief effort. The Watson Challenge also raised $50,000 for The First Tee of Kansas City.

• The Binghamton Senators captured the Calder Cup, awarded annually to the playoff champion of the American Hockey League, with a 3-2 win against the Houston Aeros in Game 6, ensuring the Insperity Championship will honor their bet with the Dick's Sporting Goods Open and donate $2,500 to the Binghamton Senators' charity of choice. Additionally, the Insperity Championship will send 25 lbs. of Rudy's Barbeque Brisket for the Dick's Sporting Goods Open staff to enjoy.

• Scott Hoch, who was born in Raleigh and played college golf at Wake Forest before becoming successful on both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour, has been voted into the Carolinas Golf Hall of Fame. Hoch, who ranks 14th on the all-time career money list with $21.6 million, will be inducted on August 14.

• Phil Blackmar's son, Mark, was taken in the 16th round of Major League Baseball draft (pick No. 485) last week by the Baltimore Orioles. Mark is a pitcher who had been at Temple Junior College.

• Scotland's Andrew Oldcorn cruised to his first European Senior Tour title with a nine-stroke win at the PGA Seniors Championship, becoming the sixth man in history to complete the PGA double, having won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club ten years ago.

• Just in time for Father's Day, tournament officials announced a special ticket offer designed to promote a day of family fun this summer at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Westchester Country Club on August 17-21. With the purchase of a "Family Fun" ticket package for $40 (plus taxes and applicable fees), fans will receive two adult any day grounds tickets, two youth any day tickets and four meal vouchers valid at any tournament concession stand -- a saving of over 30% off the retail price. To purchase the "Family Fun" package please visit www.ceseniorplayers.com. Offer is valid from June 8-20.

• The USGA has accepted 2,525 entries, including those from 78 players who are already fully exempt into the field, for the 2011 U.S. Senior Open Championship to be played July 28-31 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. The exempt list includes 13 past champions.

COMING UP

• Champions Tour professional Andy Bean is scheduled to appear live in-studio on the Golf Channel's Morning Drive at 9:15 a.m. ET Friday, June 17. Joining Bean will be Rocky Hirsch, a junior golfer from The First Tee of Lakeland Chapter, who recently qualified, along with 69 other youngsters from The First Tee Chapters around the nation, to play in the Champions Tour's Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach on July 8-10. Past winners of the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach include major champions, Craig Stadler, Hale Irwin, Scott Simpson and Jeff Sluman, who won back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009. Gil Morgan also includes the title amongst his 25 Champions Tour wins. Ted Schulz is the defending champion.

• The next Champions Tour event on the schedule is the Dick's Sporting Goods Open at En-Joie GC in Endicott, N.Y., on June 20-26. Senior PGA champion Tom Watson is scheduled to appear at En Joie GC for the first time since 1976 when he finished T21 at the BC Open on the PGA TOUR.

NUMBERS

10 -- The number of career holes-in-one by Hal Sutton on the PGA TOUR since 1971, the most by any player. With the exception of Robert Allenby (7), all players with seven or more aces since 1971 are active Champions Tour professionals.

86 -- The number of consecutive holes Hal Sutton has played on the Champions Tour without making a bogey.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Appropriate with Father's Day later this week -- Curtis Strange's father, Tom, played in the 1950 U.S. Amateur Championship, losing in the first round to Tom Watson's father, Ray.

ON THIS DATE

6/16/06 -- Jay Haas sets a new PGA TOUR record for career cuts made when he makes his 591st career cut at the U.S. Open. He would eventually finish T37 at Winged Foot. Tom Kite held the previous mark at 590.

6/16/96 -- Steve Jones wins his only major championship, claiming the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills. Jones becomes the first sectional qualifier to win the U.S. Open since Jerry Pate in 1976.

6/18/62 -- Jack Nicklaus wins the first of 73 PGA TOUR titles when he defeats Arnold Palmer (71-74) in an 18-hole playoff at the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"My son's going to be there, and I have a buddy that is emceeing it, so they have something to talk about. That's good, right?" -- Mark Wiebe, who defeated James Masonin a three-hole sudden-death playoff at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn, justifies his decision to play in the event instead of attending his Sunday evening induction into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame.

"They (the gathered media) asked me 'What does this mean to you?' and I broke down. I mean, it's just a qualifier. For me to react that way shocked me but I couldn't control myself at the time. To finally play the way I know how, for the first time all year, it meant a lot." -- An emotional Fred Funk comments after shooting 67-68 at Woodmont CC to qualify for his 20th U.S. Open Championship. Funk had made just one cut in six starts on the PGA TOUR this year and had finished outside the top-15 in seven of nine starts on the Champions Tour. He finished T3 at last week's Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn.

"You have to be prepared for a battle. It may not be all that much fun, but you have to be strong enough to be ready. If you go in uncertain and not quite prepared or afraid, you're in big trouble." -- Tom Lehman, the only person to play in the final group of the U.S. Open four consecutive years, identifies what it takes to contend at the major championship.

"If you think negatively in golf, forget it. When you don't believe, it's all over." -- Former U.S. Open winner Jerry Pate shares his wisdom with 125 guests during a round-table discussion about the U.S. Open at last week's Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn presented by Kia. Pate finished T25 at last week's Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn.

"I think to be successful on the Champions Tour you have to have two things. You have to be healthy and you have to be able to putt and let me tell you, John can putt." -- Joe Inman, a three-time winner on the Champions Tour, discusses his 48-year-old brother John, who resigned as the Tar Heels' golf coach to prepare for the Champions Tour. John Inman missed the cut by two strokes at last week's Rex Hospital Open on the Nationwide Tour.