For Frost, many roads have led to Champions Tour

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David Frost is eager to begin his career on the Champions Tour, starting this week at the Greater Hickory Classic.

On the drive from the airport to Rock Barn Golf & Spa, David Frost couldn't help but think about how time flies or how history repeats.

Frost celebrated his 50th birthday last Friday and, this week, makes his Champions Tour debut at the Greater Hickory Classic in North Carolina.

He remembers thinking, back in '84, about some of the golfers on the Champions Tour and wondering, "What are these guys doing out there?"

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Well, he's one of those guys out there now. And?

"It's something I've obviously looked forward to," Frost said.

Frost, a native of Cape Town, South Africa, who has won more than 20 tournaments around the globe, including 10 on the PGA TOUR, has spent most of the past three seasons on the European Tour. It was his way of playing into the Champions Tour in a bid to optimize his chances of success.

It's the same way he arrived on the PGA TOUR in 1985. He played on the European Tour in 1983 and 1984, enjoying a great deal of success, to facilitate his advancement to the PGA TOUR. It worked perfectly back then, and Frost isn't going to tempt the fates by trying a new approach.

"I didn't seem like a rookie, like the other new guys, when I came to the PGA TOUR," Frost said. "They were just coming out of college.

"I feel that by staying competitive up to this moment on the European Tour, I think it may be something in my favor. When you are away from the game, there is a lot to get used to again. Equipment, the golf ball, and other things. And hitting balls is a factor, too, before and after a round. If you're not used to it, it might take the body three, four months to get used to it again."

Frost doesn't have the luxury of time. There are five events left before the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Calif. The finale is a limited field event of the 30 top money winners.

Frost's immediate goal is to play well enough quickly enough to qualify for the top 30. Entering this week's Greater Hickory Classic, No. 30 on the money list is Michael Allen with $402,661. Allen reached his total in just one event by winning the Senior PGA Championship.

"I don't know quite what to expect, the standard of play," Frost said of the Champions Tour. "That's the only thing I have a problem with right now. After the first week, I'll have a fair idea.

"The remarks I've heard so far are mostly that you'll really enjoy it. Everybody seems to be saying that. Playing mainly in Europe, I haven't seen many of the players, but I bumped into Mark O'Meara a couple of times, and that's what he has told me. But you've still got to come and play golf."

Frost is immediately exempt for the Champions Tour from the PGA TOUR career money list, and he's generally pleased with the state of his game. His performance on the European Tour was a bit sharper last year than in 2009, though.

"I had the largest cut streak going last year," he said. "This year, I think I've been a little bit too antsy to get out here.

"I feel at the moment I don't have a real weakness in my game. I'm driving OK, irons are OK, putting is OK. No frustrations going at the moment. I've worked a lot on my fitness. It's something I've always been able to do. Having spent time in the late '70s in the South African army helped me stay focused on my fitness. I feel quite strong."

The second experience with the European Tour is one that Frost embraced despite the challenges of traveling around the globe.

"The golf courses have improved tremendously in Europe," he said. "The standard of play has improved a lot. What was nice was to get to know the young players -- like Rory McIlroy -- who will be around the next 20, 30 years. To be competitive with them, a good memory.

"When I started out on the regular tour here, Chi Chi (Rodriguez), Raymond (Floyd), Lee (Trevino), Arnold and Jack were still around. Even Sam Snead, a little. I was lucky to have played with those guys. I'm kind of in the middle of all that now."

The most prominent of Frost's victories on the PGA TOUR came at the 1989 NEC World Series of Golf, where he defeated Ben Crenshaw in a playoff. Twice Frost finished top 10 on the money list and was ranked in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for 86 weeks in a six-year stretch beginning in 1988. He still holds the PGA TOUR 72-hole putting record. He needed just 92 putts at Harbour Town in the 2005 MCI Heritage.

Champions Tour Insider notes

• Fred Funk, Loren Roberts and Bernhard Langer are 1-2-3 on the Charles Schwab Cup points list. Funk (2,109 points) holds a slim 53-point lead over Roberts. Langer has fallen 375 points off the pace, but he remains No. 1 on the money list, followed by Roberts and Funk.

•Steve Thomas is now the leader in the driving distance statistic with a 303.4-yard average. Tom Purtzer is second at 302.9. Purtzer has won the distance driving category four times in the last six years, including the past two seasons.

•More on driving distance: The average on the Champions Tour in 1988 was 246 yards. Ten years later, it was 262.7 yards. In 2008, it was 272.3 yards.