Faxon to make Champions debut at 3M Championship

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Chris Condon/PGA TOUR

Eight-time PGA TOUR winner Brad Faxon makes his debut on the Champions Tour this week.

For Brad Faxon, the Champions Tour provides a new beginning, and a new outlet for being competitive again. The winner of eight PGA TOUR events turned 50 August 1 and will officially begin his journey in the 50-and-over club when he tees it up this week at the 3M Championship at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn.

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The man who calls Rhode Island home is eager to take on the next step of his professional career.

"I'm very excited to get out there," Faxon said. "I have a lot of friends on the Champions Tour, and I am ready to see if I can get my game going in the right direction again."

Last week at the Greenbrier Classic, the Furman University alum missed the cut in his 702nd start on the PGA TOUR. Faxon has had a difficult time competing as of late, but remains busy through his commitment to bettering the game of golf.

Faxon, along with fellow Rhode Island TOUR player Billy Andrade have been instrumental in helping to put on the CVS Caremark Charity Classic, a PGA TOUR challenge season event (held on the two days following the U.S. Open this year) now in its 13th year. Faxon has also helped see that over $7 million has been donated to the "Billy Andrade-Brad Faxon Charities for Children" to kids in Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts for whom he also puts on golf clinics.

"I just think it's the right thing to do," Faxon said. "It aligns with what the PGA TOUR is and what we the players stand for in giving back. It means a lot to me to be able to spend time with these kids and it is something that I love being a part of."

The 1995 and 1997 Ryder Cup team member isn't limiting his golf tips to only the kids at his golf clinics. Recognized as one of the great putters on TOUR over the course of his career, Faxon has taken to lending a hand to one of the PGA TOUR young guns.

"Actually it's funny," he said. "It was a year ago exactly at the Greenbrier when I was on the range and so was Gary Woodland (winner of the 2011 Transitions Championship in March), and we decided to go play a practice round together. I obviously noticed right away that the guy could hit it far. But he ended up picking my brain about a few putting things. He is a smart player and asked a lot of good questions. I think he has a lot of potential."

Faxon may have seen some more of that potential that winter when he was in Florida and was able to meet up with Woodland to work on putting together. The two also played together at Faxon's tournament a few months ago, and the two finished in the top-5.

Woodland is certainly benefiting from the knowledge Faxon shared with him, missing a playoff by a single stroke and finishing tied for fourth at last week's Greenbrier Classic. Turning to Faxon for help in hopes of improving his putting was an easy decision for Woodland. Going into The Greenbrier last week, Faxon was leading the PGA TOUR in least number of 3-putts. He attributes a lot of his success on the green to his mindset.

"I've always tried to treat it with a very athletic mentality," Faxon said. "It's like shooting free throws in basketball. I look at it as if I'm going to make every putt that I line up for, and I don't worry too much about if I don't make one. I always go into it with confidence."

Faxon will try and take advantage of that mentality when he returns to a familiar scene in just a few weeks when he tees it up for the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship at Westchester Country Club just outside of New York City.

"I think I have played in 20-some tournaments there, so it is always nice to head back," Faxon said.

The Dick's Sporting Goods Open at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott, New York is another Champions Tour stop that will provide special meaning for Faxon, who won the 1999 and 2000 B.C. Open there when it was an annual stop on the PGA TOUR.

"That is a very special place for me," Faxon said. "That was a time when I was playing very well. I really love playing against the best players in the world, and I have a lot of good friends that I have made out here (on the PGA TOUR). I haven't been able to play very well lately and I am really hoping to turn that around on the Champions Tour and get back to where I have a chance to win again."

That chance will begin Friday, and will offer Faxon at least the chance of remembering what it is like to be in contention again.