Champions major season heats up in the summer

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After a good week at the British Open, Tom Watson is a favorite at this week's Senior British Open.

The Champions Tour's major championship season has a certain quirkiness to it, with three of the remaining majors bunched over the next four tournaments on the 2011 schedule.

The rapid-fire sequence also has the potential to define the season for the Champions Tour and its players. That's exactly what happened a year ago when Bernhard Langer used the Senior British Open as a launching pad toward a third straight Champions Tour Player of the Year award.

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Langer arrived at Carnoustie looking for his long-anticipated first Champions Tour major title. Eleven days later, he had two major championships when he went back-to-back by adding the U.S. Senior Open title.

This week's Senior British Open at Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey, England, offers the same kind of potential gateway for somebody.

Tom Lehman (Regions Tradition) and Tom Watson (Senior PGA Championship) won the first two Champions Tour majors titles of 2011 in back-to-back events in May. Lehman and John Cook are three-time winners this year. Cook is looking for his first Champions Tour title and no doubt is using Langer's performance last year as a template.

Langer will defend his U.S. Senior Open title next week at Inverness Golf Club in Toledo. Cook was born in Toledo and went to school down the road at Ohio State University so he'll have a home-field advantage and high comfort level when he returns home. It's doubtful Cook needs more motivation for this week and next but if he does, there it is.

A week after the U.S. Senior Open, the Champions Tour remains in the upper Midwest for the 3M Championship at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.

The fifth and final Champions Tour major is the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, August 18-21, at Westchester Country Club in West Harrison, New York. Mark O'Meara is the defending champion.

The Senior British Open became an official event, and a major championship, in 2003. Langer's victory over a charging Corey Pavin was the third decided by a single stroke. On five occasions, the title has been decided in playoffs.

Watson has won the Senior British Open three times since 2003, twice in playoffs and by 1 stroke on the third occasion. In 2003, he defeated Carl Mason in a playoff at Turnberry. Two years later, he won at Royal Aberdeen in a playoff over Des Smyth. The third title came in 2007 at Muirfield by one shot over O'Meara and Stewart Ginn.

There is a low pressure system hanging around in the North Sea. In England, they know that means strong and blustery winds are on the horizon, out of the north or northwest. Temperatures will be lower than usual for July.

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Blustery, windy, cool. Think Watson will be in his element this week at the Senior British Open at Walton Heath?

Watson's affinity for golf in less than ideal weather conditions is well-documented. His five Open Championship titles attest to it, as does his performance last week at Royal St. Georges. The weather in Sandwich was difficult with sideways rain and strong winds dominating the early stages of the championship. Once again, Watson flourished under difficult conditions.

Watson's doesn't fret or complain when Mother Nature dials up contrary weather. He revels in it, just as he does in competing at the highest levels and winning golf tournaments.

"I like having successes," Watson said last week at Royal St. Georges which, by any measure, was a success.

At age 61, Watson posted his best 72-hole score ever at Royal St. Georges (286) to tie for 22nd. Of all the past Open champions in the field, the best finish was posted by Watson and Tom Lehman, who also shot 286.

"Golf is just a series of victories and defeats, that's all it is," Watson said. "There are many victories, there are many defeats. There are major victories and major defeats each time you play a round of golf. It's all about that."

Watson is the master of links golf. What he will encounter at Walton Heath is a heathland design. Heathland courses are distinguished by offering bits and pieces of both links and inland designs. They are inland with some characteristics of links, notably with fairways that have knobs and mounds that can and usually do change the direction of shots. Heathland courses will have trees but not as many as traditional parkland designs.

Nick Price, who is No. 2 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list, will be making his first start at the Senior British Open. Price has deferred to his family and summer vacations since joining the Champions Tour in 2007. In his first four seasons, Price played in only eight major championships, and none during the summer months.

Price, the 1994 Open Champion at Turnberry who is enjoying his best season on the Champions Tour, returns to Walton Heath, where he has played on several occasions.

"Walton Heath is truly one of the most beautiful heathland courses in England," Price said. "I really enjoy playing it and it is a course that you really have to drive the ball straight on. I feel bad that I've not had the chance to play the Senior Open so far, as it is the one Senior Major that you really want to win. It's not The Open Championship, but it is the next best thing for us guys."