SHAW CLASSIC CONTENDERS
COLIN MONTGOMERIE ( 11 a. m. tee time, No. 1)
A Shaw Charity Classic firsttimer, the talented Scot leads the Champions Tour money list with $ 1,568,466 ... He’s in a three- way race with Bernhard Langer ( not here this week) and Jeff Maggert for the Charles Schwab Cup ... Monty has come up big in the biggest events on the senior loop this season, winning the Senior PGA Championship in May before finishing second at the U. S. Senior Open in June and third at the Senior British Open in July ... “Everyone said to me when I started playing the Champions Tour that you’ll find it the best tour to play on,” the 52- yearold told the Herald last month. “With all respect to my home tour, the European Tour, and the times I played on the PGA Tour, they were right. This is a lovely place to be.’’
BILLY ANDRADE ( 10: 20 a. m. tee time, No. 1)
Eagled No. 18 at Canyon Meadows in the final round a year ago to finish with a sizzling 62 to get to 15- under, only to watch Fred Couples chip in for eagle to force a playoff and then beat him for the title by birdieing the same hole ... There are just five holes at Canyon that Andrade didn’t either birdie or eagle last year — Nos. 2, 9, 15, 16 and 17. He birdied No. 11 in all three rounds ... “It was a nice week,’’ Andrade told the Herald recently. “But again, it doesn’t matter. I didn’t win. You’re trying to win. You get into a playoff, you don’t think you’re going to lose. No one remembers, really — at least not too often — who finished second. Hopefully some people do in this situation.’’ ... The 51- year- old from Rhode Island is ninth on the money list with $ 730,044 ... He won the 1998 RBC Canadian Open.
LEE JANZEN ( 10: 20 a. m. tee time, No. 10)
The two- time U. S. Open champion turned 50 on the Thursday of the 2014 Shaw Charity Classic, but Calgarians missed him by a week. Janzen didn’t make his debut on the Senior loop until the next week in Quebec, so this will be his first Shaw Charity Classic ... Won February’s ACE Group Classic for his first Champions Tour win ... The Orlando, Fla. native is playing well this season, sitting 12th on the money list with $ 696,128 in earnings ... “Fortunately, I feel like I’ve got a decent idea about what I’m doing with my golf swing, so I don’t have this urgency to go to the golf course and hit a lot of balls,” Janzen told AP after he was tied for the opening round lead of the Encompass Championship last month ... Won the U. S. Open in both 1993 and 1998.
MIGUEL ANGEL JIMENEZ ( 11 a. m. tee time, No. 1)
Only the aforementioned three money list leaders — Montgomerie, Langer and Maggert — have won as much or more per capita this season as the popular Spaniard. Jimenez, who has played mostly on the European Tour against much younger foes this season, has pocketed $ 511,940 in just five Champions Tour events in 2015, which stretched to the 13- tournament schedule the top trio has done would put him a close fourth on the order of merit ... Famous for smoking cigars during the round, he’s also a fan favourite for his Chi Chi Rodriguez- like celebration when sinking big shots ... “I have the game to win every week,” he said on Wednesday. “You have to respect the other guys. As I said before, they’re very good players, competitors and a lot of players can win the tournament.”
STEPHEN AMES ( 11: 10 a. m. tee time, No. 1)
The hometown favourite is one of five Canadians in the field — joining Calgarian Darryl James, Calgary- born Rick Gibson, Victoria’s Jim Rutledge and Niagara Falls’ Rod Spittle — and has a legitimate shot at winning, coming off his second- best finish of the Champions Tour season, a T7 in the 3M Championship in Minnesota ... “Ball striking has been solid, keeping me in play. But the putter’s been weak,” he said on Wednesday. “By my standards. From what I remember. I’m working on some things to fix that right now.” ... Ames, who helped bring the tournament to Calgary for the first time in 2013, will have son Ryan, 16, on the bag. “This is when he works for his summer pay,” he said jokingly.