Weather permitting, Jim Rutledge will be in the last group that tees off today at the Champions Tour’s Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, Florida.

The Victoria native would also love to be the last man standing come Sunday, after the scheduled final round of his inaugural 54-hole senior’s golf tour event of the 2012 season.

Rutledge has been preparing for this event since earning his full playing privileges back in November. His goals are set and he wasn’t afraid to share them over the phone on Thursday.

“Win as soon as possible,” Rutledge said with a hearty laugh. “I hope I’m ready [to win]. With each year you get a little more comfortable with everybody — the players, the courses and with the travel. Hopefully, that’s all behind us and things fall into place.”

He’ll find out, starting today, when Rutledge tees it up with Joe Daley and P.H. Horgan III at 12:23 EST, following a trio that includes big-name players Dan Forsman, Bernhard Langer and Hale Irwin.

Rutledge and his wife/caddy Jill have been in the area since Saturday preparing for his first tournament of the year. The two were previously in the Tampa and Naples area checking out courses the tour will travel to later on.

Rain has dampened the region, with a steady downfall hitting Thursday morning, and more expected the next few days.

“We’ve been preparing as best as can be expected,” he said. “We’ve been able to hit balls, but as for playing golf, not really. But that’s OK because the good thing is we’ve played here the last two years so we know the golf course.

“We were lucky enough to sneak in our Pro-Am the other day and before that we were just trying to practice here and there between showers.”

Rutledge finished sixth at the 2011 Allianz Championship, earning $64,800 of his $297,666 seasonal total, while playing on a conditional card that meant Monday qualifying throughout the year. The 52-year-old doesn’t have to sweat out the week-to-week qualifying rounds to earn his keep in 2012.

“It never really hit me until I got here,” he said of his first chance to tee it up without having to battle his way in. “But it doesn’t take away from it totally, because I’ve always been interested in what they’re shooting. I’m keeping tabs on Trevor Dodds and James Mason and a few others, just to see what they shoot on Monday and hope that they get in.”

Dodds is an old friend of his from his Canadian Tour days, as is former Masters champion Mike Weir, who brought Rutledge up on his blog recently.

“I think now that he has secured his status, he can go and play some Jim Rutledge golf — he’s going to have a great year I predict,” wrote Weir, who returned to the PGA on Thursday at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

What Weir’s referring to in the term “Rutledge golf,” is the Victorian’s ability to bomb it off the tee (he was tied for fifth in distance last year on the Champions Tour, with Tom Lehman).

“I hope he’s right and I appreciate the comment,” Rutledge said of Weir. “I hope it is my breakout year because it would be nice to jump that hump, to clear that hurdle. To get a win under our belt, that would be real fun.

“It’s going to be a fun year and hopefully it will all fall into place,” he added.

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