Fred Couples Leads The Champions at The Senior PGA Championship

by Jeff Skinner

The Champions Tour starts its major season at The Senior PGA Championship on Thursday at The Colorado Golf Club just outside of Denver.  It will be played on the longest course in Champions Tour history at 7604 yards.  The players have raved about the Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw designed course and with a “major setup” of deep rough and narrow fairways it will offer a sturdy test for the seniors.  Even with the altitude helping the ball fly a little longer it’s still a lengthy layout.

That should suit the longest hitter on the Champions tour well as Fred Couples averages close to three hundred yards off the tee.  With three wins this season Couples is the hottest thing on The Champions Tour and let’s not forget his sixth place finish at The Masters.  Freddy has had an extraordinary season and he has to be considered a favorite this week.

Another favorite has to be Tom Watson.  He already has two wins this year (1 solo, 1 team) and knows how to play a major championship course.  His great showing at Augusta and his start this year shows that he still has what it takes to compete on any tour.

Bernhard Langer has two wins and six top ten finishes in nine starts this year.  He is second to Couples in The Charles Schawb Cup points and is looking for his first Senior major.  This could be his week.

Nick Price finally broke through to win on The Champions Tour last year and captured the trophy at the Legends of Golf team event this year but he would love to add a major to his collection.  He has five top tens and has a great history at PGA Championships; he has two PGA Championship trophies already in his trophy case.

Dan Forsman won two weeks ago and looks to in great form with five top tens and some very solid play this year.

A dark horse that has been playing well this year but still not able to close the deal is Joey Sindelar.  He has five top tens including a second and third place finish and is playing his best golf in a long time.  He has seven PGA Tour wins but has yet to cash the big check on The Champions Tour.  This could be the week he claims his first and what a first it would be.