Life doesn't really begin at age 50, but the Champions Tour does. Mark O'Meara hopes his eligibility can put the "champion" back into his touring life.

"I haven't been too excited about too many things about my game obviously the last three years or so," O'Meara said. "Any time you do something new, it kind of gets the juices flowing a little bit."

It's been 26 years since O'Meara was a rookie, setting out in 1980 in a Volkswagen Rabbit with a new wife and nothing but an amateur reputation to work with.

"It was a little different," O'Meara said in February before embarking on his new "rookie" campaign, about $14 million richer than he was in 1980.

O'Meara dropped the regular PGA Tour cold turkey after making the cut in January's Buick Invitational. He insists he won't miss it.

"No, I'm ready to go out and play with the guys more my age," he said. "I'm looking forward to seeing different courses. I think that will be fun."

The only places where he'll continue to show up with the younger generation for the next 15 years or so are the Masters and the British Open.

Despite winning both of his career majors in 1998, O'Meara has already started to feel more like a ceremonial player - especially on an Augusta National course that has been lengthened and tightened since his victory.

Coming back to the Masters this year as a senior player won't feel much different than recent years.

"When they started lengthening the course it was already different," he said of the Masters. "I couldn't do what I did in '98 on the Augusta National course of 2006. It's totally different. So I don't go in there with any different attitude other than I was fortunate enough to win and got a great opportunity to always go back.

''As long as I'm somewhat competitive, I'll go back. When I'm not, I'm out."

That's sort of the same philosophy he's taking with him to the Champions Tour. Only once since 2000 did O'Meara finish inside the top 100 on the PGA Tour money list. Those major wins in 1998 were the last of his PGA Tour career. The 2004 Dubai Desert Classic marked his only pro victory since that career-defining season.

"I'll try it for a couple of years and see how I play," he said of the senior circuit. "If I don't like the way I'm playing out there, I'll step back and not play. I've had a great life, but it's hard for me to say I can do something half-hearted. And my game has been somewhat half-hearted the last three or four years out here. It hasn't been good.

''If I can play and compete to win, I'll stay that course. But if I can't and I'm just average - I don't want to be average - I'll go into some other business."

As he looks back on the business he's been working in more than half his life, O'Meara is justifiably fulfilled.

Being part of five Ryder Cup teams and two Presidents Cups and posting professional victories in Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and the Middle East along with 16 on the PGA Tour can leave a golfer satisfied.

"I never classify myself as a great player," he said.

"You know, I think I'm a good player. I think I've had a great career, for me."

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.