Trio energizes Toshiba Classic

To call a 50-year-old golfer a rookie seems sort of silly. But on the Champions Tour, that’s the proper title for Fred Couples, Corey Pavin and Paul Azinger.

Yet for most in the Toshiba Classic, the trio is nothing to laugh about. The three players are the ones to watch for while at Newport Beach Country Club, March 5-7. They’ll be vying for the $255,000 winner’s check.

Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, nearly won the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Hawaii Jan. 24. He finished one shot behind the champ Tom Watson, 60.

Couples, like Pavin and Azinger, will split 2010 between the PGA and Champions Tours. In 2009, Couples tied for third at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club and the Shell Houston Open and tied for fifth at the Wyndham Championship. Pavin posted four top-20 finishes last year, including a tie for 19th at the PGA Championship.

“What I’m looking forward to is really having fun and seeing the fellows … being with guys that, as a very young player, I competed against — Fuzzy Zoeller, Jay Haas, Curtis Strange and Loren Roberts — and other guys I played with a long time. So I have been looking forward to being 50,” Couples said. “My goal is to play where I belong and, really, it’s probably on the Champions Tour.” Couples is sure to have a gallery trailing him at the Newport Beach Country Club. His sweet swing is one fans enjoy watching.

It’s helped him to become a 15-time PGA Tour winner. He also won the PGA Tour Player of the Year award and the Vardon Trophy (lowest scoring average) in 1991 and 1992, when he also captured the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer award (leading money winner).

He is a five-time United States Ryder Cup selection (1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997), a four-time U.S. Presidents Cup player (1994, 1996, 1998, 2005), and captained the 2009 U.S. Presidents Cup squad to victory in San Francisco in October.

“My days on the PGA Tour will soon be gone,” Couples said. “When I’m at home, most of the events I watch are Champions Tour events. Everyone seems like a winner out here. If I get healthy, and I play well, then I should really be great for the Champions Tour. I should be able to win. I should be able to compete.” Pavin should, too. He’s no stranger to Southern California, as he was a former star at UCLA, where he was the 1982 NCAA Player of the Year.

Pavin, who won the Arnold Palmer award in 1991, is a 15-time PGA Tour winner who captured the U.S. Open title in 1995.

Pavin is succeeding Azinger as captain of the 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team. He played for the U.S. in 1991, 1993 and 1995 and on the 1984 and 1996 U.S. Presidents Cup teams.

While he’s familiar with the area, he’s new to NBCC.

“I’ve never played Newport Beach Country Club, but everyone I’ve talked to who has played it said it would be a good golf course for me,” Pavin said. “I hope that analysis is correct.” When Pavin saw the Toshiba Classic on the Champions Tour schedule, he knew he couldn’t pass it up.

“It’s close to our L.A. home,” Pavin said. “I try not to pass up the opportunity to play West Coast tournaments. Over my career, I’ve had good success on the West Coast, so it seemed like a no-brainer to play there.” Azinger also brings plenty of credentials to the Toshiba Classic. A 12-time PGA Tour winner, he was the holder of the 1993 PGA Championship and 1992 Tour Championship.

When he was 33, he was fresh off a PGA Tour year that saw him win three titles before he was diagnosed with lymphoma in his right shoulder blade.

In 2000, he was named the PGA Tour’s Comeback Player of the Year. He had enjoyed his most lucrative year in PGA Tour earnings and his first million-dollar year on the circuit since his recovery from cancer.

In 2008, he captained the United States Ryder Cup team that he played for on five previous occasions (1989, 1991, 1993, 2002, 2008) and was a 2000 U.S. Presidents Cup pick.

“Southern California golf fans ought to be ecstatic with the inclusion of Fred Couples, Corey Pavin and Paul Azinger to what is, pretty much, an already full-strength Champions Tour field at the Toshiba Classic,” Toshiba Classic Tournament Executive Director Jeff Purser said. “With this terrific trio, I believe the Champions Tour has not been this strong in quite a while. Come March, the Toshiba Classic is certain to have one of its most prominent fields ever.”