Power Rankings: ACE Group Classic

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Editor's note: Vartan Kupelian is the Champions Tour Insider and a PGATOUR.COM Contributor. Each week, Kupelian will size up the field and provide his top 5 players going into the tournament, based on factors such as the player's strengths, the course setup, recent performances, etc.

There will be a new champion this week at the ACE Group Classic.

Defending champion Fred Couples is nursing his chronically ailing back and won't make the flight from southern California, choosing instead to remain closer to home and play in the PGA TOUR's Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club.

That opens the door to the winner's circle and the candidates to walk through are many.

Couples' victory last year at The Quarry was his first as a Champions Tour rookie and was quickly followed by two more. Tommy Armour III was in full pursuit of Couples down the stretch, shooting a final round 11-under 61.

Armour's 61 tied the Champions Tour record (Walter Hall, 2002 AT&T Canada Senior Open; and Tom Purtzer, 2004 Toshiba Senior Classic) for the lowest score ever in relation to par.

This week's Champions Tour Power Rankings:

Power Rankings: ACE Group Classic

Rank Player   Comment Russ COCHRAN Starts the new season with successive T4 finishes and now has eight top-6 finishes in 11 starts going back to last year, including a pair of victories. Statistically, he's sixth in both Total Driving and All-Around; 7th in Scoring Average (67.50). Jeff SLUMAN He backed up a T4 in Hawaii with a T2 at Allianz so his game is in solid shape. His 67.17 scoring average is third best, he's sixth in putting and tops the Champions Tour in the All-Around stats category. Bernhard LANGER T17 at Allianz marked the first time since the first week of June 2010 that he failed to finish top 10 in back-to-back events. T4 last year at the ACE Group Classic. Rod SPITTLE Quietly putting together a nice run. In his last three starts, he won the AT&T Championship to end 2010, was T16 at the Mitsubishi Electric and T2 last week, one shot behind winner Tom Lehman. Hale IRWIN Let's be honest. Everybody wants to see him win again, for old time's sake and also for history. The T6 last week at Allianz was his 199th top 10, four shy of the record held by Bob Charles. Irwin's GIR was impressive: 50 of 54 for 93 percent.