E-notes: Roberts going for fourth major, Sutton's debut

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• MORE E-NOTES: PGA TOUR | Nationwide Tour

The field at this week's final Champions Tour major, the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, has combined to win 650 PGA TOUR and Champions Tour events.

Sutton

Hal Sutton will make his Champions Tour debut next week when the Tour heads to Houston for the Administaff Small Business Classic. It will be Sutton's first start anywhere since the 2006 Nissan Open on the PGA TOUR.

There are only three events left to qualify for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and two-time defending champ Jim Thorpe will need to have a good finish to earn the right to defend his title again. Thorpe is currently 34th on the money list, $43,252 behind D.A. Weibring, who currently holds down the 30th and final spot in the field.

This tournament is Loren Roberts' last shot at winning a major title for the fourth year in a row. If he's successful in defending at Baltimore Country Club, Roberts would move out of a tie with Gary Player and Raymond Floyd, who won majors in three consecutive seasons. Both Miller Barber and Hale Irwin won at least one major title in five consecutive years. On the PGA TOUR, Roberts won back-to-back Nestle Invitational crowns in 1994-95.

Roberts

This week, Loren Roberts will defend an event for the sixth time in his Champions Tour career. He didn't have the opportunity to defend his 2007 Boeing Championship at Sandestin crown because officials canceled the event prior to the start of the 2008 season. Earlier this season, Roberts was the defending champion at the 2007 Senior British Open, where he tied for fourth.

The winner of this week's Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship receives an invitation to next May's THE PLAYERS Championship on the PGA TOUR. Two years ago, Bobby Wadkins teed it up at the TPC Sawgrass and missed the cut. Earlier this season, Loren Roberts did not take advantage of his exemption into THE PLAYERS due to scheduling issues. Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd are the only players to have claimed a PLAYERS Championship and a Constellation Energy Senior Players title. There are four players in this week's Senior Players field who have won THE PLAYERS. They are Sandy Lyle (1987), Tom Kite (1989), Nick Price (1993) and Fred Funk (2005).