Fred Couples
Couples tees off in a threesome with Tom Watson. Neither player has won a U.S. Senior Open, which might be more an indictment of the tournament than the players as the event favors accuracy-obsessed plodders over length and short-game creativity.
Bernhard Langer
At age 54, he’s having a stellar yet unfulfilling season with top fives in both majors and top 10s in nine of 11 events but no wins. He won both of his Champions Tour majors in a span of eight days in 2010, winning the U.S. and British Senior Opens.
Tom Lehman
The only player with Champions Tour majors each of the last three years is Lehman, the winner last month at the Tradition and the leader in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. He was the runner-up to Joe Daley in the Senior Players two weeks ago.
Fred Funk
The 18th hole at Indianwood has one of the largest greens (22,000 square feet) in golf, but otherwise this is a tight, short course that favors straight hitters like Funk, who has won three Champions Tour majors, including the 2009 U.S. Senior Open.
Pete DeTemple
Two of the D.C. area’s top amateurs qualified for the event in their first year of eligibility after turning 50. DeTemple (Breton Bay) and Dave Nocar (Chartwell) did it last month by shooting 68s in Mt. Laurel, N.J., tying for medalist honors.
