Some of the most likeable golfers to ever swing a club ..... are out at The Woodlands this week for the Administaff Small Business Classic. They seem happy about the fact the event has moved from Augusta Pines ...where it was for 4 years .. to the Tournament Course at The Woodlands.

Tour player and NBC analyst Bob Murphy says,"I remember last playing this course around 1984-85 ..in that area ... and I remember it was a good golf course ...and you had to drive the ball well to score ....I'm going to keep that in mind this week." Murph for one ...believes the Champions Tour tries to make the layouts for their tournaments too long. The Champions Tour like all golf tours have lengthened their layouts ....but he says,"Hey Nick Price and guys like him .....got off the regular tour ...because they had a hard time competing on those long courses with the young guys ....and then what does the Tour do ...but lengthen the courses over here. We should be playing on shorter courses."

One guy who isn't complaining about the length of any courses is Bernhard Langer ..the defending champion in this event. Langer has had to battle through a thyroid problem for the last few months ...but he's once again feeling better ...and ready to defend his title. "It's always exciting to come into a tournament as the defending champion and I'm ready to go this week. Due to the Epstein Bahr virus I couldn't practice or anything I just had no energy ..and that's not like me because I've always been pretty fit."

Organizers are thrilled that Langer is back ..but maybe the other players aren't so thrilled ...considering Langer won last year's event by 8 strokes ....with a 3-day total of 25 under par.

The tournament starts on Friday.