The Champions Tour moves to Florida for the Allianz Championship, the second event of the 2013 season.
It is being held at The Old Course at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, Florida, and offers a total purse is $1.8 million. Corey Pavin won $270,000 for his win here last year and will defend his title.
PGA Tour veteran Rocco Mediate is making his Champions Tour debut this week. He turned 50 in December and will play full time on the senior tour.
Mediate won six PGA Tour events in his career but will be most remembered for his epic battle with Tiger Woods in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
Woods playing on a broken leg was forced to make a long downhill birdie putt at the last hole to tie Mediate who held the clubhouse lead. The two players were still tied after an 18-hole playoff on Monday.
Mediate birdied Nos. 13, 14 and 15 to take a one-shot lead heading into the final playoff hole. Woods again birdied the par-5 for another tie. Woods made par at the next hole in sudden-death and Mediate could only make a bogey.
The 2008 U.S. Open was Woods’ 14th and last major win.
Steve Elkington will also be playing in the Allianz Championship this week in his first full year on the Champions Tour. He finished T-9 in this Champions Tour debut in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii in January.
Elkington had an excellent career on the PGA Tour with 10 PGA Tour wins including the 1995 PGA Championship. He was bothered for most of his career with severe allergy problems that limited his play. He was voted as owning the best swing on tour by his peers nearly every year.
Elkington still possesses that same silky smooth and technically sound golf swing that made him a threat to win every time he teed it up.
Elkington and Mediate should are both outgoing and have gregarious personalities. They make great additions to the Champions Tour and contend for the Charles Schwab Cup at the end of the year.
Tom Lehman won the Charles Schwab Cup in 2011 and 2012. Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Fred Funk, John Cook and Kenny Perry will be looking to hold the Charles Schwab Cup at the end of the 2013 season.
These old guys can still play and are always enjoyable to watch.
Coverage begins tonight on the Golf Channel at 6:30 PM. It will be aired on the Golf Channel 6:30-9:30 PM ET on Saturday and the final round will be on Golf Channel 7:00-9:30 PM ET on Sunday.