31.   The man who was born too soon will be honored as a past champion this week, when the Nissan Open returns to Riviera Country Club.

32.   The question now is whether Watson will take his exemption as a past champion and return to Colonial in the future.

33.   The past champions would stock a modern-day hall of fame.

34.   The tournament already has plans under consideration to establish criteria for past champions maintaining their places in the field.

35.   They believe that Whitaker is a past champion with a tremendous amount of pride, but that his skills have greatly diminished.

36.   Three of the past four national champions entered the NCAAs off a loss in their conference tournaments.

37.   Tom Watson took part in the past champions exhibition Wednesday, but there was nothing ceremonial about his spot in the main event.

38.   When compared with the average statistics of the past nine champions, Kentucky rules by a wide margin.

39.   Winners of Senior events are exempt for one year, and past champions from PGA Tour events make it on a space-available basis.

40.   With two of the past three national champions, the Southeastern Conference also has a right to beat its chest and howl at the moon.