SAS field filled with star power

CARY -- The SAS Championship returns to Prestonwood Country Club on Sept. 17-23, featuring a field of Champions Tour players that includes 12 former PGA major winners.

The players include Hale Irwin, Tom Kite, Lee Trevino, Curtis Strange, Bernhard Langer, Jeff Sluman and Nick Price. They will contend for the $300,000 winner's purse during the 54-hole, no-cut event that starts Sept 21.

Wake Forest graduate Jay Haas, who again this season leads the Champions Tour money list, will return. Loren Roberts, who he battled last season for the tour's top honors, also will be back.

The field includes several golfers with North Carolina ties, including Scott Hoch of Raleigh, Chip Beck of Fayetteville, Jim Thorpe of Roxboro and David Eger, who attended UNC.

Defending champion Tom Jenkins returns to play this 7,177-yard, par-72 course. He won last year's tournament with a two-round score of 10-under 134, accepting the title after rain on the last day soaked the course and prevented the field from finishing.

Jenkins spoke at a news conference on Monday to announce this year's field. He said the condensed 29 tournament season makes it easier for more of the top players to play consistently.

"They're going to have a great field," he said. "I think all of the top players are here."

Jenkins, who turns 60 on Dec. 14, said remaining competitive is tougher as time marches on.

Nevertheless, Jenkins and his caddie, Bob McFadden, who recently turnied 60, believe they have a chance to hold back younger players.

"When I turn 60, we'll have a 120 years of experience on them," he said. "So we're not scared of them."

He added that he hasn't lost much length on his strokes and if a golfer is putting well, they can compete as long as they want.

To become eligible for the Champions Tour a player must be 50 years of age.

Jenkins said tour rookies will be surprised at how difficult some of the courses are set up. He said the courses play harder than they did 10 years ago.

Jenkins, a two-time runner-up who will play in his seventh SAS Championship, said he enjoys the Tom Jackson-designed course.

"It's just one of those golf courses that you really can't explain," he said. "When you get on the first tee, you start seeing your shots. ... You're very comfortable with the greens from Day One.

"So after three or four years of seeing that and feeling comfortable, then you start expecting that to happen every time you come back. Then you've got such good memories about it, it's hard not to play well."