SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Legends Division will return to its roots this week, using a new format in the Legends Division for the first time -- an official team competition. The format will be two-man, better-ball, with the players on the winning team receiving a one-year exemption into all Champions Tour events with the exception of major championships.

The Raphael and Demaret Divisions will remain as they were previously, unofficial team events. The Raphael Division (for players 50 to 69) will remain a 36-hole, two-man better-ball event for unofficial money. The Demaret Division (players 70 and older) will also be a 36-hole better-ball competition and will play on Monday and Tuesday of tournament week.

Jay Haas won the Legends Division a year ago, taking his second consecutive title. He will be playing with Curtis Strange this week. Tom Watson and Andy North will not be defending their three consecutive Raphael Division titles this week as the duo is entered in the Legends Division. Butch Baird and Bobby Nichols are the Demaret Division defending champs.

Several Champions Tour players will make their first appearances in this week's Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. Among the first-timers in the field are World Golf Hall of Fame member Bernhard Langer (will team with David Edwards), as well as former Ohio State University teammates Joey Sindelar and John Cook (will compete as a team). Other first-time players include Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle (will compete as a team), Jeff Sluman (with Craig Stadler), Mark Wiebe and Wayne Grady (will compete as a team).

After three successive titles in the unofficial Raphael Division, Andy North and Tom Watson will look to continue their success in the tournament when they compete in the Legends Division this week. North and Watson held off the team of Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie in 2007 for the title.

Since teaming in 2005, Watson and North have gone 108 consecutive holes without a bogey during their three straight victories in the 36-hole event. In 2007, the pair equaled their record in Savannah for best 18-hole score, shooting an 11-under 61.

Twelve members of the World Golf Hall of Fame will play in the three different divisions this week. Among those Hall of Famers committed are Billy Casper, Raymond Floyd, Tony Jacklin, Tom Kite, Gene Littler, Bernhard Langer, Larry Nelson, Ben Crenshaw, Isao Aoki, Nick Price, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. Also, 36 different major championship winners with a total of 66 major championship victories will compete in this event.

A trio of former college teammates will pair up in the Legends Division. Curtis Strange and Jay Haas, who played together at Wake Forest, will make up one team, while former Ohio State Buckeyes Joey Sindelar and John Cook will team up on another. Strange and Haas were members of two Wake Forest NCAA title teams (1974 and 1975) and Cook and Sindelar helped OSU to the 1979 NCAA crown.

Also joining forces in the tournament will be Bruce Lietzke and Bill Rogers, a pair of University of Houston products. They were members of the Cougar squad that finished second at the 1973 NCAA Championship. Another member of that team was Keith Fergus, who will play in the tournament with Wayne Levi.

Doug Ford is the only player in the field who appeared in the first Legends of Golf in 1978. This year, he will make his 31st consecutive appearance in the event, teaming with Billy Maxwell in the Demaret Division competition. Ford won 19 PGA TOUR events, including the 1955 PGA Championship and 1957 Masters.

There have been seven holes-in-one in tournament history, but the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort and Spa has never yielded one. The last ace in tournament history came from Chi Chi Rodriguez in 1993 at Barton Creek near Austin, Tex. Other players making a hole-in-one in this event are Tom Nieporte (1984), Dale Douglass (1986), Billy Casper (1989), Charlie Sifford (1989), Charles Coody (1990) and Tommy Jacobs (1991).

Bernhard Langer continues to lead the Charles Schwab Cup, but he saw his advantage narrowed last week when Jay Haas and Scott Hoch tied for second at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. Hoch moved to within 148 points of Langer, while Haas, the 2006 Charles Schwab Cup winner, is 159 points behind. Fred Funk and Brad Bryant complete the top five.

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