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Ray of hope Floyd after another big payday at Sr. Players
DEARBORN, Michigan (Ticker) -- Ray Floyd, who already has won more money at the Senior Players Championship than any other golfer, will be after another big payday this weekend. Floyd can become the first three-time winner of the Senior Players Championship, which will have a $2.5 million purse, the largest in Senior PGA history. First prize for the final major of the season is $375,000, a mammoth leap from the $40,000 earned by Miller Barber when he won the inaugural event in 1983. The first round of the 72-hole event is scheduled for Thursday at the Tournament Players Club of Michigan. Floyd rallied from a six-stroke deficit to win last year's event by one stroke over Larry Nelson and Dana Quigley. Floyd completed his final round with a clutch 20-foot birdie putt. The 58-year-old Floyd also won the Players Championship in 1996 and has earned $892,311 in the event. Hale Irwin, the 1999 winner, is second with $787,991. The 2001 season, however, has been a somewhat frustrating one for Floyd, whose best finish was a second at the Verizon Classic. He settled for 16th at the U.S. Senior Open two weeks ago. The Senior Players Championship features a 78-man field determined by a points list that began with the 2000 Instinet Classic, the event immediately following the Players Championship. Three eligible players -- Bob Charles, Lanny Wadkins and Christy O'Connor -- are not competing, opening the field for the next three golfers on the list, including Chi Chi Rodriguez. The field will include Larry Nelson, the reigning Senior PGA Tour Player of the Year. Nelson birdied the 17th hole on Sunday to win the Farmers Charity Classic for the second straight year. U.S. Senior Open champion Bruce Fleisher took last week off but returns this weekend. Fleisher tops the money list with nearly $1.6 million and the Charles Schwab Cub standings. This weekend's winner will complete the field for the Senior Slam in November, which features the winners of the four majors. Tradition champion Doug Tewell and Senior PGA Championship winner Tom Watson will compete this week as well as in the Senior Slam. Quiglell be matched at the season-ending Tour Championship.
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