Weekly update: Watson excels on European Tour

COMING UP

The next event on the Champions Tour schedule is the Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach on Sept. 21-27. The tournament, held on both Pebble Beach Golf Links and Poppy Hills Golf Course, will be played for the 12th time. John Cook is the defending champion. Lee Janzen won the pro/junior competition with Chris Meyers, from The First Tee of Tucson, when Meyers holed a 4-iron for albatross on the final hole at Pebble Beach.

CHARLES SCHWAB CUP

A total of 2,035 combined Charles Schwab Cup points are available to the winners of the five remaining tournaments this season – Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach (300 points to the winner), SAS Championship (315), San Antonio Championship (270), Toshiba Classic (270) and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship (880).

While only six players have a mathematical chance of claiming the Charles Schwab Cup in 2015, it will likely be a battle amongst the leading three – Jeff Maggert, Colin Montgomerie and Bernhard Langer – who are separated by 388 points.

Click here for the updated Charles Schwab Cup standings

RECENTLY

At age 66 years and seven days, World Golf Hall of Fame member Tom Watson shot 69-68 (-3) to make the cut at last week's KLM Open on the European Tour. Watson is the second-oldest player to make a European Tour cut. The oldest is fellow World Golf Hall of Fame member Sir Bob Charles, aged 71 years and 261 days at the 2008 New Zealand Open. Watson finished the tournament T47 at 7 under with a pair of 68s on the weekend.

The USGA recently announced The Broadmoor Golf Club, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as the host site for the 2018 U.S. Senior Open Championship. This will be the eighth USGA championship contested at The Broadmoor and the sixth on the resort's East Course. The dates for the championship are June 28-July 1. The U.S. Senior Open Championship was first played in 1980. In 2016, the U.S. Senior Open will be contested at Scioto Country Club, in Columbus, Ohio. Salem Country Club, in Peabody, Massachusetts, will host the 2017 U.S. Senior Open.

NUMBERS

38 – There have been 38 double eagles scored in the history of the Champions Tour, including one by Nature Valley First Tee Open defending champion John Cook (2008 Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach). This number does not include the albatross scored by Chris Meyers, from The First Tee of Tucson, at the final hole of last year's Nature Valley First Tee Open at Pebble Beach to win the pro-junior portion of the event with Lee Janzen.

DID YOU KNOW?

Jack Nicklaus' grandson, Nick O'Leary, was cut from the Buffalo Bills last week before the NFL season began. O'Leary was a college standout at Florida State who the Bills drafted in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft.

ON THIS DATE

9/16/84 – In his 130th career start on the PGA TOUR, Mark O'Meara breaks through for his first victory, winning the Greater Milwaukee Open by five strokes over Tom Watson.

QUOTES TO NOTE

"It's obviously a lot of fun when you're winning. I didn't really know what to expect when I came onto the Champions Tour, but I've learned that the players are very competitive, it's not a pushover Tour. The guys out here play great. Every week there's guys that play hard and play tough and they're tough to beat." – Jeff Maggert comments after the Dick's Sporting Goods Open where he claimed his fourth win this season.

"Can you imagine Miguel Angel Jimenez in Rio with a big fat cigar, walking through the Olympic village with all the athletes around?! I would love that." – Miguel Angel Jimenez was asked if he'd like to be in the Olympic Games.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

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