A trio of ironmen (Tommy Gainey-Blake Adams-Josh Teater) lead the PGA TOUR in starts in 2011. All three will be making their 25^th starts of the season this week at The Greenbrier Classic.

Those inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking through The Greenbrier Classic if not previously eligible earn exemptions into the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. Those on the bubble in The Greenbrier Classic field include Ryan Palmer (No. 52) and Webb Simpson (No. 53). Palmer has finished T3 (2005) and runner-up (2010) in his two previous starts at Firestone Country Club, while Simpson looks to qualify for his first World Golf Championships event.

RBC Canadian Open winner Sean O’Hair joined Dustin Johnson as the two players under the age of 30 with four TOUR wins. Johnson’s last win came at the 2010 BMW Championship, the third event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.

With his win at the RBC Canadian Open, Sean O’Hair jumped 104 positions in the FedExCup standings from No. 147 to No. 43.

John Daly’s T9 performance at the RBC Canadian Open was his first top-10 since a playoff loss to Tiger Woods at the 2005 World Golf Championships-American Express Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Daly was one of four players top earn exemptions into The Greenbrier Classic (Adam Hadwin, Woody Austin, Scott Piercy) with top-10 finishes at the RBC Canadian Open.

John Daly led the field in Scrambling (71.88 percent) at the RBC Canadian Open en route to his T9 finish. He entered last week’s play 173^rd on TOUR in Scrambling (52.20 percent).

Prior to missing the cut at both the British Open and RBC Canadian Open, Matt Kuchar had not missed consecutive cuts on TOUR since 2009 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and Wells Fargo Championship.

Stuart Appleby’s victory at the inaugural Greenbrier Classic in 2010 came in the 11^th week during a stretch of 13 consecutive weeks of play for the Australian on the PGA TOUR. Starting at the HP Byron Nelson Classic in late May, Appleby did not take a week off until after the PGA Championship in early August.

Just seven weeks remain for automatic qualifying for the 2011 Presidents Cup, to be contested Nov. 17-20 at Royal Melbourne GC in Melbourne, Australia. Following the third Playoff event, the BMW Championship (Sept. 18), the 10 players for both the U.S. and International teams will be determined. The U.S. team is chosen based on the players who earn the most official PGA TOUR money beginning with the 2009 Wyndham Championship through the 2011 BMW Championship, with money being doubled during the 2011 season. The International team will be based on the Official World Golf Ranking through the BMW Championship. Both 12-man teams will be rounded out by two Captain’s Choices per team following the Playoff finale, the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

Russ Cochran won the Senior British Open after lying T27 at the completion of the first round. Tom Watson (T12/ Senior PGA Championship) is the only other Champions Tour winner in 2011 who was outside the top 10 after the opening round.

Defending champion Bernhard Langer finished T12 at the Senior British Open. It was Langer’s first appearance on the Champions Tour since he recovered from thumb surgery in March. 

It was quite a week in London for Russ Cochran’s two sons. Reed, taking a short break from law school, was on his father’s bag for his first major championship. Older son Ryan, a former collegiate golfer at Florida, caddied for Mike Goodes at Walton Heath and they finished T7.

Russ Cochran’s win at the Senior British Open earned him 632 Charles Schwab Cup points and he jumped from 10^th place into second place in the season-long race with 1,163 total points. Mark Calcavecchia’s runner-up finish boosted him from 12^th to 6^th in the standings. After 15 events, Tom Lehman still leads the 2011 Schwab Cup race was 1,533 points.

Bernhard Langer will be attempting to do something only three other players have done in the history of the U.S. Senior Open -- defend his title. Miller Barber was the first to do so in 1985 at Edgewood Tahoe GC.Gary Player became the second in 1988 at Medinah CC, while Allen Doyle became the third when he won at Prairie Dunes CC in 2006. 

Dale Douglass is in the field list for this week's U.S. Senior Open at Inverness. It will be his 600th career start on the Champions Tour. Only Miller Barber has more with 603. Douglass will also set a new record by playing in his 26th consecutive U.S. Senior Open. He was tied with Arnold Palmer with 25 straight.

16 – The number of times the record-low score of 30 has been recorded at the U.S. Senior Open, most recently by Olin Browne at Sahalee last year. Jim Thorpe is the only player to have posted 30 twice (2000 & 2001).

Fred Funk holds the record for most strokes under par for 72 holes at the U.S. Senior Open. His 20-under-par score in 2009 also claims the record for most strokes under par at any point in the history of the championship. This is ironic because Funk, not known as a long hitter, achieved this feat at Crooked Stick, the longest course in U.S. Senior Open history (7,316 yards).

NATIONWIDE TOUR

This week's Utah Championship is the 14th of 26 Nationwide Tour events this year, marking the beginning of the second half of the season.  Among the halfway stat leaders are Erik Compton in Scoring Average (68.90) & Putting Average (1.704), Brett Wetterich in Driving Distance (319.5) and Danny Lee in Greens in Regulation (76.67) & All-Around Ranking.

The Chattanooga Classic (Oct. 6-9) has been renamed the "Children's Hospital Classic" and its host course renamed Black Creek Mountain (formerly Black Creek Club).

After a run of four very successful weeks on the PGA TOUR (three top 25s and $319,145) U. of Alabama All-American Bud Cauley of Jacksonville, FL, ventures out onto the Nationwide Tour this week via a sponsor exemption.

"Mustache Week" returns to the Utah Championship for the fifth year in a row. PGA TOUR rookie Joe Affrunti won last year's competition that includes Nationwide Tour players, caddies, equipment reps and staff.

Jason Gore underwent a procedure to repair bone spurs on July 12th.  He hopes to return to play in September at Boise or Soboba.

Two-time Nationwide Tour winner Jason Enloe finished T54 in his 189th and final Nationwide Tour appearance last week in Columbus, Ohio.  The 38-year-old will become assistant golf coach at SMU, his alma mater.