Notes: Spittle, Cook have record-breaking Sunday

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The Champions Tour heads to Pebble Beach for the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach on July 4-10. The purse is $1.6 million and the winner will receive $240,000 and 240 Charles Schwab Cup points. Last year, Ted Schulz became the fifth first-time winner on the 2010 Champions Tour with a one-stroke win over Tom Pernice Jr.

LAST WEEK

• John Cook shot 63-66-66 195 to prevail by three strokes over Chien Soon Lu at the Montreal Championship. Cook made just one bogey over his final 51 holes. Cook's 195 total was four better than Larry Mize's 2010 tournament record.

• Canadian Rod Spittle broke the Montreal Championship tournament scoring record with a final-round 10-under-par 62, two better than his career low on the Champions Tour (two times). The native of St. Catharine's and two-time Canadian Amateur champion's round included eight birdies and an eagle and helped him to a T7 finish. He had started the day T49. D.A. Weibring had set the tournament scoring mark (63) in 2010 before John Huston, John Cook and Chien Swoon Lu all matched it earlier in this year's tournament.

• Champions tour professional Craig Stadlerwas a guest speaker at the 25th anniversary of the Penn College Spring Golf Classic. The event helps secure funds for the Penn College Foundation Scholarship Aid Program, which provides money for the Golf Classic Scholarships to eligible students. With over $1 million currently in the fund, this year's event raised $50,000.

• Australian Peter Fowler came from seven strokes back, shooting a final-round 65 to win the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open by two strokes on the European Senior Tour.

• A day after U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy attended Wimbledon last week, the announcers at Wimbledon stated that Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France defeated six-time champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals "in the presence of athletic royalty," referring to World Golf Hall of Fame members Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman, who were at Wimbledon to witness the five-set upset result.

CHARLES SCHWAB CUP

• With his victory at the Montreal Championship John Cook picked up 270 points in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup race and moved into fourth place with 830 points. Tom Lehman continues to lead with 1,533 points and Nick Price is second with 1,053. Tom Watson is third with 850 and Peter Senior is fifth with 717.

• With 66-year-old Hale Irwin currently No. 22 on the money list it should be noted that Gil Morgan is the oldest player in history to have competed in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Morgan was 63 when he finished T10 in the 2009 tournament. The top-30 on the money list will qualify for the season-ending event.

COMING UP

• The Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach has a unique format. One professional will be paired with one junior amateur and two amateurs in a team format (78 foursomes); 39 groups play one round on each course. Three events will be scored: 1) professional stroke-play event, 2) pro-junior gross, 3) better-ball score of all four players. On Sunday, the 22 pro-junior teams making the cut, along with 10 leading two-player amateur teams, will be paired within the professional groupings.

FIRST TEE OPEN

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• Russ Cochran and his junior partner, Spencer Jones of The First Tee of Cleveland County (Shelby, N.C.) won the pro-junior competition at the 2010 Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.

• Ted Schulz will try to become the second player to defend a title at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Jeff Sluman successfully defended at this event in 2009.

• With a new date just after July 4 weekend, it will be the earliest the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach has ever been played. The tournament occupied an early fall date for the first seven years.

• Two professionals in this year's Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach also played in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am earlier this year. Tom Pernice, Jr. was T48 and Mark Brooks missed the cut.

• Jay Haas has been among the top-10 five times in six appearances at the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach and his best finish is second in 2004.

• The Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach is the only event on the Champions Tour where two courses (Pebble Beach and Del Monte) are used during the competition. At 6,357 yards, Del Monte is the shortest course on the 2010 Champions Tour.

• The Coca-Cola Champions Challenge, featuring six professionals and six juniors, will take place over five holes (1, 2, 3, 17, 18) at Pebble Beach on Thursday afternoon, with the winning team donating $40,000 to The First Tee Chapter of their choice. Champions Tour professionals scheduled to appear include Craig Stadler, Hale Irwin, Scott Simpson, Jeff Sluman, Ted Schulz and Jay Haas. Haas is the only one of the six who is not a past champion of the Nature Valley First Tee Open.

• The NHL's Stanley Cup, won by the Boston Bruins, will be on display at Pebble Beach on July 4 to begin the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. The public can have a photo taken with the trophy for a $20 donation per image with all proceeds going to The First Tee of Monterey County. Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs will be one of the amateur contestants in the tournament.

• Champions Tour professional Fuzzy Zoellerwill do a ride-along with actor Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy) on Thursday July 7 during the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series at Mazda Raceway/Leguna Seca in Monterey, CA before he plays in the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Zoeller's "Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka" sponsored Buddy Rice's car in last month's Indianapolis 500 Indy Car race.

• Lindsey Vonn, the most successful female ski racer in American history, will address the junior contestants and Champions Tour professionals during the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Vonn, the only American woman to have captured downhill gold at the Olympics and three World Cup overall titles, will speak on confidence, one of the Nine Core Values of The First Tee.

• Champions Tour professional Tom Watsonwill feature on the next episode of Golf Channel's "Feherty," Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

• 51-year-old Ivan Lendl, winner of the 1985, 1986 and 1987 U.S. Open tennis championship, has registered to play in the eighth annual Massachusetts Senior Golf Open at Holden Hills this week.

NUMBERS

9 -- The number of Core Valuesand Healthy Habits in The First Tee program. Core Valuesare Confidence, Courtesy, Honesty, Integrity, Judgment, Perseverance, Respect, Responsibility and Sportsmanship. Healthy Habits are Energy, Play, Safety, Vision, Mind, Family, Friends, School and Community.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Pebble Beach is the only course on the Champions Tour where a PGA TOUR event is also played earlier in the season (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am).

• Only three defending champions have finished in the top 10 through the first 13 events this season. Tom Watsonwas third at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Fred Couples was T5 at the Toshiba Classic and Larry Mize was T7 at the Montreal Championship.

ON THIS DATE

7/8/76 -- In the opening round of the Ed McMahon Quad Cities Open, Fuzzy Zoeller ties a then PGA TOUR record when he makes eight straight birdies on his way to a 63. (Mark Calcavecchia made nine birdies in a row at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open.)

7/9/77 -- In one of the great British Opens, Tom Watson wins his second British Open title, nipping Jack Nicklaus by one stroke at Turnberry. Watson shoots 65-65 on the weekend, while Nicklaus shoots 65-66. Third-place finisher Hubert Green finishes 11 strokes behind Watson and 10 behind Nicklaus.

7/10/71 -- Lee Trevino wins the first of successive British Open titles, beating Lu-Liang Huan by one stroke at Royal Birkdale.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"To add another championship in Canada is very special. I'm very pleased. I'm not kidding; I'm very, very touched by this." -- John Cook expresses his feelings after winning the Montreal Championship. Cook said one of his fondest memories was winning the 1983 Canadian Open in a playoff with Johnny Miller.

"My putting isn't what it used to be. Probably until I was 44, putting was the best part of my game. By the mid 40s it started going downhill. When the best part of your game becomes a liability, it's hard to compete." -- John Huston is thankful that he putted well down the stretch to win the Dick's Sporting Goods Open in just his third Champions Tour start.

"Even though it may not be a vision of grace and beauty, the stylish, traditional-looking golf swing, to me it's all been very functional and very repetitive, so I've never tinkered with it. Find a way to work on your weaknesses but never take away your strengths." -- Tom Lehman discusses his unique golf swing.

"One gentleman I ran into on the range, he had five pictures where I had really long hair and funny pants and so I'm signing those pictures." -- Rod Spittle, who shot a tournament record 62 at last week's Montreal Championship, recounts meeting a spectator who watched him win the 1978 Canadian Amateur Championship at nearby Laval GC.

"There's no indecision about what he does. Once he makes a decision he's 100 percent committed. In any sport, that makes a champion out of you." -- Loren Roberts comments on what he admires about Tom Watson.