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"By John Strege\nIt will otherwise merit almost no notice, unless he makes a weekend move on the leaders at the Honda Classic, but Mark Calcavecchia&amp;#39;s performance warrants mention because, well, because he&amp;#39;s Mark Calcavecchia. Oh, and he&amp;#39;s 53 and somewhat portly these days.\nFacebookPinterestGetty ImagesCalcavecchia.jpg\nCalcavecchia is self-deprecating, honest to a fault, and always entertaining, as this anecdote illustrates:\n&amp;quot;June 12, 1995, my birthday,&amp;quot; he said several years ago, recalling that he lost $1,000 to Phil Mickelson in a practice round prior to the start of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He missed six four-foot putts, he said. &amp;quot;That was the day my putter left me. And I&amp;#39;ve putted like crap since.&amp;quot;\nIf his putter hadn&amp;#39;t left him, he might be in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Calcavecchia has 13 PGA Tour victories, including a British Open. The unofficial standard, based on Fred Couples&amp;#39; induction, is 15 wins, one major. Calcavecchia has finished second 27 times.\nRelated: 10 Rules From Mark Calcavecchia\nAt any rate, when he won the Bell Canadian Open in 2005, he was lamenting his inability to compete with the younger set. &amp;quot;I was just trying to figure out how I was going to make it to 50,&amp;quot; he said then. &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;m hoping they lower the age for the Senior Tour down a couple of years. I really don&amp;#39;t enjoy playing against Ryan Moore and Chuckie Howell and all of those 23-year-old young guys that hit it 30 yards by me.&amp;quot;\nSo, that as the background, consider this: Calcavecchia, who first played the Honda Classic in 1982 -- or more than seven years before leader Rory McIlroy was born -- has invoked his career money list exemption to play PGA Tour events this year.\nNow he has a reasonable chance to make the cut in his third straight tournament by following an opening-round of one-under-par 69 with an even-par 70. He is tied for 48th at the moment. Not bad for a Champions Tour player who couldn&amp;#39;t wait to leave the PGA Tour behind.\n(Getty Images photo)\nFollow @JohnStrege"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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