Canadian PGA Member Rod Spittle Makes his Champions Tour Debut as a Full Member

Canadian PGA Member Rod Spittle makes his Champions Tour debut as a full tour member on Friday, January 21st at the Mitsubishi Electric Tournamet of Champions. Spittle secured his spot on the tour and in the event thanks to his incredible victory last year at the AT&T Championship in September. Rod is set to kick off his season at 9:40 am (local time) with Craig Stadler. You can follow Rod on the leaderboard here - http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboards/current/s524/

Below is an article from the St. Petersburg Times in Florida on Rod's preperation for the upcoming season:

When his 4-foot putt rattled into the cup, Rod Spittle had to tell himself to breathe. Then he tried to hold back tears, but that would prove impossible. For the past five years, the part-time Dunedin resident had been chasing the dream of most every ham-and-egger who ever picked up a golf club: He was trying to become a member of the 50-and-over Champions Tour despite having no professional experience. The journey included plenty of disappointment and near misses, but in the last tournament of the 2010 season, his last chance to make the dream a reality, the putt went in. He had defeated tour veteran Jeff Sluman on the first playoff hole of the AT&T Championship in San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 31.

The victory made him fully exempt for the 2011 Champions Tour season, which begins Friday in Hawaii. Spittle's business cards now say "Golf Professional."

"It's pretty darn cool,'' he said.

Who is Rod Spittle?

He is a 55-year-old former insurance sales and marketing executive who splits his time between Ohio and Dunedin. He stands 6 feet 5 and has massive hands.

Spittle looks more like a hockey player, which is what he was growing up in the city of Niagara Falls (Ontario). He was a good enough Canadian amateur golfer to earn a scholarship to Ohio State.

By his senior year, Spittle was the Buckeyes' captain. With future PGA professionals John Cook and Joey Sindelar on the team, Spittle had to be awfully good to make the travel roster.