Connors Has Edge on Tour : Tennis: The Champions tour will begin today at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Hands clasped above his head, Jose Luis-Clerc opened one eye and sat up quickly in the lounge chair.

“Tough life, eh?” the Argentine native said in accented English, his hands gesturing to the posh poolside area at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

It is sweet indeed for the 36-year-old and his fellow competitors on the Champions tennis tour, which makes the 11th and final stop of its first season with the Digital Champions tournament at Sherwood today through Sunday.

“I am. . . . born again,” Clerc said, making circles in the air with his hands as he paused in mid-sentence. “When I stop at 27, I didn’t think I’d play tennis again. Now, every time we play, (the stands) are full and people are excited, so we fight, we fight.”

Tour point leader and co-founder Jimmy Connors has been winning most of the battles. Connors has an insurmountable lead in points and has won the majority of the tour’s tournament titles, including last weekend’s Coral Champions event at Hilton Head, S.C., with a victory over Clerc in the final.

The Digital event, which pays $150,000 in prize money, starts tonight at 7 with two singles matches: Peter Fleming against Tom Gullikson, and Roscoe Tanner against Larry Stefanki. Scheduled to play Thursday are Connors, Bjorn Borg, Johan Kriek, John Lloyd, Tanner and Tim Gullikson, along with late additions Mansour Bahrami, an Iranian native replacing injured Guillermo Vilas, and Mel Purcell, who replaces Vitas Gerulaitis, who died Sept. 18 at 40.

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., and the final for Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Champions tour, which includes players 35 and over, has drawn four- and five-day crowds of more than 20,000 at each of its stops. The five-day event at the 3,500-seat Sherwood stadium is expected to eclipse that mark.

Players understand the tour’s need to attract sponsors and sell tennis to the public.

Connors is conducting a free instructional clinic for junior players beginning at 4 p.m. today at Sherwood. All participants will receive half-price tickets for tonight’s session.