Changes mark Senior PGA start

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

A wide-ranging series of initiatives has been dropped on the Senior PGA Tour to try and breathe new life into its 23rd season.

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2002 MasterCard Championship • WHAT: Senior PGA Tour season-opening event • WHEN: From approximately 7:30 a.m. today, and 8:30 a.m. tomorrow and Sunday • WHERE: Hualalai PGA Tour Resort, Big Island (Par 36-36i72, 7,053 yards) • PURSE: $1.5 million ($258,000 first prize) • FIELD: 33 Senior PGA Tour champions from 2000 and 2001 seasons and major champions from past five years, including defending champion Larry Nelson (9-under 207) • ADMISSION: $10 daily, $20 tournament pass (all week). Children 12-under free with ticket-bearing adult. • TV COVERAGE (all times HST): PAX today 9-11 a.m. CNBC tomorrow and Sunday, 1-3 p.m. • INFORMATION: 1-800-417-2770

"I've been asked how long I'm going to play," Nelson says. "My first answer is, when I make more money than I spend."

The money is there — the seniors will play for more than $60 million this year —but waning interest and exposure caused the tour to announce new initiatives going into this season-opening event.

Changes are structural, involving eligibility, TV air times and schedule, and personal. Fans will be allowed inside the ropes with the last group the final few holes, players will be miked and the tour is exploring creative ways to offer instruction.

And, according to Nelson, it's time to look beyond the usual suspects Sunday afternoon.

He expects Bob Gilder, Bruce Lietzke and Doug Tewell to keep up their rapid rookie pace, and Doyle, Irwin, Bruce Fleisher and Gil Morgan to constantly challenge, again. After that, anything goes.

"There is going to be a change in the guys who play good this year as opposed to the last three or four years," Nelson said. "I think some of us are going to go in and get our share and do some good things. I don't think you'll have the same people dominating."

A fast start in 2001

Nelson, 54, didn't grow up smelling the sweet grass of country club fairways. He started his golf career after returning from military service in Vietnam, breaking 100 the first time he played and shooting in the 70s within a year.

He turned pro in 1971, joined the PGA Tour three years later, and won 10 times between 1979-88, including two PGA Championships. From the looks of the past few years, that was a warmup.

Nelson won five times his first two years with the seniors, despite a herniated disc in his neck. When he finally took eight weeks off to let it heal, he celebrated good health with six victories in 2000 — earning Player of the Year honors — and five more last year. Two came the first two weeks of 2001.

Nelson shot 65 in the final round to hold off Jim Thorpe at Hualalai, keeping up the torrid pace he'd set the previous summer. "You're playing like you're broke already," Thorpe told Nelson.

But after capturing the Royal Caribbean Classic, Nelson's hot game cooled.

"Following up 2000 by winning the first two in 2001, I found myself expecting a lot more than I was actually capable of," Nelson said. "I put a lot of pressure on myself after winning the first two. It would seem to take pressure off, but it put more on. There was a period of about nine weeks where I was not playing well at all.

"I relaxed after that point and won three tournaments to end the year. ... It was like having a good front nine, and faltering."

Breaking the age barrier

The most compelling challenge for the tour's premier players is enlarging the relatively small window of senior opportunity. Good guys turn 50 and find themselves in golf heaven, dominating early in their senior careers. But after a few years, their skills start to slip away and their desire wavers, with the exception of guys like Irwin, who is 56

Nelson hopes Irwin's example, along with improved conditioning and vastly improved equipment, could shatter the "small window" theory.

"Everyone who turns 50 comes out on the senior tour and realizes they've got probably 10 years of productivity to make money," Nelson said. "They also know the first five years will probably be the best part of their senior career.

"I remember playing the regular tour and thinking there's no end. You can't see further than the next tournament. I remember being 28 and thinking I wouldn't even be playing golf at 30 because it seemed so old. But once you get close to 40 you realize you enjoy it so much you want to play."

SHORT PUTTS: The MasterCard Championship is also the first Charles Schwab Cup event. The golfer that earns the most Cup points this year receives a $1 million tax-deferred annuity. Allen Doyle, the inaugural winner last year, donated all his money to seven charities. ... Senior rookies Ben Crenshaw, Tom Purtzer and Fuzzy Zoeller will all play in the first three full-field events, beginning with the Royal Caribbean Classic Feb. 1. Zoeller will also be in next week's Senior Skins Game at Wailea, Maui. ... The Turtle Bay Championship, Hawai'i's other senior event, will be played Oct. 4-6 on O'ahu's North Shore. ... George Archer and Lee Trevino are making a record 10th appearance at the MasterCard. ... Hualalai ranked 35th out of 36 senior courses last year, with an average score of 70.344. Only the Gold Rush Classic's Serrano Country Club had a lower scoring average (70.107). In 2000, Hualalai ranked 11th (72.703). ... If Kapalua's Hale Irwin finishes in the top three this week, he will become the second player to reach $20 million in career tour earnings (regular and senior tours). Tiger Woods was the first. ... Irwin has averaged nearly $90,000 per Senior PGA start. He has been in the Top 10 76 percent of the time.