And he wins comfortably. Shorter layouts, wider fairways, lower rough, 54 holes instead of 72... and although there are some great Champions Tour players who still have game to win week in and week out, he has a huge advantage with his length. He'll get away with his wayward tee game at many venues, and that might free up his putting like it did this past week.

I don't think he's remotely ready to compete full-time on the senior circuit, but maybe this will give him a little boost of confidence heading into Augusta this fall. Langer, McCarron, and company have some work ahead of them if they plan on continuing to dominate like they have the past several years. That Phil won in his first official start as a senior bodes very well for the Champions Tour. They need some excitement, and Phil can certainly help provide it.

    He's more accomplished entering the Champions Tour than probably anyone since Langer, and even better just from a majors perspective. Don't know how motivated he'll be from a competitive standpoint - most of the best ones don't seem to be, but if his sponsors want him out there I'm sure he'll be driven to keep their stuff in the spotlight. I think he'll win a lot early on just to keep the sponsors interested and then quickly transition to grandfather if and when the time comes.

    I wonder if winning on the Champions Tour will end up more appealing than competing on the PGA Tour. He might just end up realizing how fun it is to dominate again in a more relaxed world.

      I saw the headline that he won and checked again to see what day of the week it was. They are playing Mon-Wed? What the hell?
      I don't watch a lot of golf as is, but I had no idea.

        Typhoon
        As they say in harness racing...."dropping way down in class". And any time that happens, a win is easily expected. It won't be as much fun the 2nd time around, for someone like him.

          SVonhof They are playing Mon-Wed? What the hell?

          A sponsor stepped up to support an otherwise cancelled event so this is how they had to fit it in the schedule.
          🙂

            sdandrea1

            I think they all cherry-pick, even the younger stud muffins. It's not like the old days when a great week wouldn't pay the note on a new winter home somewhere in Hawaii. These fellers are living pretty comfortably these days top-25ing it once a month.

                PA-PLAYA I think they all cherry-pick

                They certainly do, just like Tiger did.
                In Phil's case, it's the only home game in town if he wanted to play, so it's not really cherry picking, imo.

                    Spuzz Plus, it's a great way for a tune-up. A lot of those tourneys are only 3 days, no cuts, so they would get a full 3 rounds in. Not like the reg. PGA where you go for that tune-up, then miss the cut. I can see Phil using this to his advantage, many more times. Plus, wins are always a great confidence boosters.

                      braveheart

                      agreed, he is easily the most exciting pro player to watch these days. Bryson is right up there as well are Rory and Patrick Reed.

                      in days gone by, Jack, Seve, Greg Norman Tiger were pretty exciting .

                      Poulter and Sergio in a Ryder Cup event are awesome to watch