Seniors start off pro run in Hawai'i

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

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Turtle Bay Championship WHAT: Senior PGA event WHEN: Friday-Sunday, from approximately 7:30 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday-Sunday WHERE: Palmer Course at Turtle Bay, formerly Links at Kuilima (Par 36-36i72, 7,088 yards) PURSE: $1.5 million ($225,000 first prize) FIELD: 78 Senior PGA Tour players, including Hawai'i's Steve Veriato and Lance Suzuki PRO-AM: Tomorrow-Thursday, shotgun starts at 7 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. ADMISSION: $10 daily beginning Friday, $20 three-day pass TV COVERAGE (all times HST): Friday, 8-10 a.m., PAX TV; Saturday-Sunday, noon-2 p.m., CNBC.

Before the LPGA reaches Hawai'i in February, the men will have six events, counting Turtle Bay:

• The winners of this year's majors — Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen, David Duval and David Toms — will be on Kaua'i for the PGA Grand Slam, Nov. 20-21 at Po'ipu Bay;
• The PGA Tour's 2001 champions come to Maui for the Mercedes Championships, Jan. 3-6 at Kapalua's Plantation course;
• The Sony Open in Hawai'i will be the following week at Waialae Country Club on O'ahu;
• The Senior PGA Tour opens its 2002 season Jan. 18-20 at Hualalai on the Big Island with the MasterCard Championship;
• The following weekend, the Senior Skins Game returns to Wailea's Gold course on Maui. The foursome is scheduled to be announced next month. Likely possibilities include Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and Fuzzy Zoeller, who turns 50 on Nov. 11.

Irwin is the "defending champion" this week at Turtle Bay. He won for the second time in four years last October in Ka'anapali, turning a four-shot deficit into a two-shot advantage the first four holes of the final round.

Irwin, who has won a record $8 million since joining the senior tour, comes here third on this year's money list. The two ahead of him — Allen Doyle and Bruce Fleisher — are also here. The field includes 13 of the Top 25, along with Isao Aoki (28), Hilo's Steve Veriato (33) and three-time Ka'anapali champion Bob Charles.

Yesterday, Kailua's Larry Stubblefield qualified for the 78-player field. Stubblefield, who was inducted into the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame this year, shot 2-under-par 70. The medalist was Harry Toscano, from Pennsylvania, who shot 67. Ed Brooks (Ft. Worth, Texas) and James Mason (Dillard, Ga.) also qualified, shooting 70.

Also yesterday, former Maui resident Dick McClean was given a sponsor's exemption, along with Jay Overton. Two weeks ago, Overton was a Monday qualifier at the SAS Championship in North Carolina, and went on to finish tied for sixth, with Irwin, Fleisher and Larry Nelson.

Today, Doyle, Dana Quigley, John Jacobs and Ed Dougherty will compete in a Skills Challenge. The exhibition begins at 1:30 p.m. and is free. It will be held on the 18th hole of the Fazio (original) Course, near the renovated clubhouse. The winner gets $4,500.

The tournament will be played on Turtle Bay's Palmer Course, which opened in 1992 as The Links at Kuilima. The course was designed by Arnold Palmer and Ed Seay and built on the Punaho'olapa Marsh, which also serves as an endangered species bird sanctuary. The final four holes were used as a landing strip during World War II.

With four official tournaments remaining this season, Doyle — who was second the past two weeks — leads the Charles Schwab Cup race. The season-long bonus program will award $2.1 million in annuities to the top five, with the winner getting $1 million.