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One of the unique things about the Champions Tour is the fact that the majority of the golfers have been playing together for upwards of 35 years. This was never more evident than at last week's Charles Schwab Cup Championship media day for the event which takes place from Oct. 27, to Nov. 1, at the Sonoma Golf Club.

Defending tournament champion Andy Bean joined defending Charles Schwab Cup champion Jay Haas and the two golfers, who first started playing against each other when Bean was at Florida and Haas was at Wake Forest, began a trip down memory lane with stories from both the past and looking into the future. Bean, a hulking man with a kind heart, began by saying how great the golf course was and the fact that it has "the best greens on the West Coast." It was apparent in the short video shown of last year's event that Bean liked the greens as every clip seemed to show him making a putt from somewhere, a fact that was not lost on him.

"Last year in the final round, I'm not sure what happened, but it didn't matter whether I hit the putt perfect, or mishit the putt, they still all went in," Bean said as he reminisced about his nine-shot win over Gene Jones at the 2008 rain-plagued event. He also gave a lot of credit to his caddy Tony Shepherd, who just happens to be the same caddy that Jim Thorpe had on the bag for all three of his Charles Schwab Cup Championship wins, making him quite the celebrity around the fairways and greens of Sonoma.

Bean added that he has been playing well again this year, but has not performed the way he would like in the majors, which have made up the majority of the Champions Tour schedule over the last couple of months, and due to that, he's fallen down both the money list and Charles Schwab Cup points list.

Still, at 11th place on the money list, he is all but assured a return trip to Sonoma to try and defend his title, although at 16th on the points list, he's going to need a strong last portion of the schedule if he's to factor in the race for the $1 million annuity and Charles Schwab Cup. Haas, who has won the Charles Schwab Cup twice, last year and in 2006, has been nursing some tendinitis in recent weeks and has fallen to 14th on the money list, and 20th on the points list. Without a win this year, Haas finds himself in unfamiliar territory.

Arguably the most dominant player on the over-50 circuit in recent years, Haas is frustrated with the injury, the first of his career.

"This is really the first time I've been hurt, I've been really lucky in my career that I've always been healthy, so this has kind of slowed me a little," Haas said.

Haas added that he feels that his vice-captaincy position on the President's Cup team has not taken any time away from his playing, although he expects the next few weeks to be busy now that the event is less than a month away and the teams are finalized.

Both players are looking forward to getting back to Sonoma and the greens that they like so much, and they praised Tournament Director Leon Gilmore for the great job he has done and how accessible he has been for the players. Bean relayed a funny story about getting in touch with Gilmore around Christmas time last year.

"I'd been out and while I was gone, the FedEx guy had delivered the trophy to my house. My wife and daughter took it out, cleaned it up and put it out to display," Bean said. "When I got home, I called Leon right away and said do we have a new sponsor for the tournament, 'cause the trophy says Coca Cola.'"

After the laughter died down, Bean and Gilmore came to the realization that he had received the PGA Tour's Tour Championship trophy, which should have gone to Camilo Villegas and in turn, Villegas had received Bean's Charles Schwab Cup Championship trophy.

Not to be outdone, Haas relayed the story of Bean at last year's trophy presentation. The Waterford tournament trophy has a small golfer at the top swinging a club; at the presentation the club was missing and it turns out that it had fallen on the ground, to which Haas said "it was the shortest distance I'd ever seen Andy throw a club."

Both players have this week off, but return to action next week at the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn, an event that both golfers claimed as their maiden Champions Tour victories, Haas in 2005 and Bean in 2006. Being in North Carolina, it will be somewhat of a home game for Haas as he looks to jump-start his 2009 season and get back into the race for the Charles Schwab Cup.

Two major champions made a big push to get in the field at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship at last week's Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.

The 1996 Open Championship winner Tom Lehman all but assured his first trip to Sonoma with his tie for third behind Jeff Sluman last weekend. The payday rocketed him up to 21st on the money list, comfortably inside the top-30. With five events remaining on the schedule before Sonoma - one of which is a major - Lehman needs to continue his good play to remain there.

Another player making a push to get in the field is Tom Watson.

Watson, who played the first two rounds in the pro-am format with Sonoma's own David Grieve, parlayed a tie for eighth at Pebble into a move into 31st place on the money list, just one spot outside the qualification.

The 18th annual Hanna Boy's Center Golf and Tennis Classic will be held at Silverado Resort in Napa next Friday, Sept. 18. There will be two flights, the morning wave, which starts at 7:30 a.m., and the afternoon wave, which begins at 12:30 p.m.

Cost for this year's event is $275 a person - a portion of the entry fee is tax deductible - and includes 18 holes with cart, tee prizes, continental breakfast, lunch, a foursome photo and a hosted cocktail hour and dinner.

The event - Hanna Boys Center's major fundraiser for the year - traditionally fills up quickly, so participants are encouraged to register as soon as possible by visiting www.hannacenter.org.

The Sonoma Valley Kiwanis has teamed up once again with the Realtors to present the Kiwanis/Realtors Golf Classic benefiting the youth of Sonoma Valley.

The event takes place on Friday, Oct. 2, at the Oakmont Golf Club's West Course. Registration starts at 10 a.m. and is followed by boxed lunches at 11 a.m. A 12:30 p.m. shotgun start sees the golfers play a scramble format and following the conclusion of play there will be a dinner as well as awards, raffle and auction.

Cost for the event is $175 a player, or $700 for a foursome, and includes green fees, putting contest, cart, driving range, box lunch and dinner. Additional dinner tickets are $40 a person. For more information, contact Robert Guddee at 938-1999, or guddee@realestatesonoma.com.

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