Near the top of the list of ways you can tell the difference between the Champions Tour and the PGA Tour: On the former, you can hear a player say he's hoping to make as much money as he can in a given tournament because he has to pay for a daugher's wedding.
That's what Andy Bean said when he was here at the Eisenhower Park Red Course for the Commerce Bank Championship, where he has had a tie for second (2004) and tie for third (2006). Bean is back this year. "Don't you know I"ve got another one?"
Another daughter, another wedding this year. Good thing for him he cashed $255,000 for winning the Regions Charity Classic last month.
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Jay Haas is not in the field this week because he, too, has a daughter's wedding to prepare for, a Champions Tour spokesman said...Jeff Sluman is entered and looking for a quinella. He won this past Sunday at the Bank of America Championship outside Boston. Sluman still is 50 and in his first full year on the Champions Tour. Others appearing here are Fulton Allem, Phil Blackmar, John Cook, Wayne Grady, Scott Hoch, Mike Hulbert and Mark Wiebe.
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The Commerce tournament, formerly under the auspices of title sponsors Northville and Lightpath, is tied for third as the longest-running Champions Tour event. Its first year as an official tour event was 1988, having been an unsanctioned invitational (won by Gary Player) in 1987.
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As distinct and experienced as the field is--five members of the golf Hall of Fame are here and four other players who have won major championships--there is an equally distinct and experienced staff. Heading the operation in the media center are Marino Parascenzo and Bev Norwood, veteran golf reporters who have covered dozens of majors between them and have followed the heydays of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tiger Woods and everyone in between.