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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, January 30, 2003

Fun-loving Jacobs is one to watch for at Hualalai

 •  Holes in one
 •  Champions Tour opener down to 37

By Bill Kwon

KA'UPULEHU, Hawai'i — If John Jacobs wins the MasterCard Championship at the Hualalai Golf Club on the Big Island's Kona Coast Sunday, he will have the victory wave with his golf cap down pat.

John Jacobs turns 58 in March. "So, I figure that I probably have two or three solid years left," on the Champions Tour, he says.

Associated Press

He did a mock salute to a phantom gallery by the 18th green Tuesday after a practice round with John Schroeder and a couple of media types from Honolulu, including yours truly.

After all, what are Tuesday practice rounds for?

It's not a stretch that Jacobs could win the Champions Tour (formerly known as the Senior Tour) 2003 season-opener. A wire-to-wire winner in 1999 and runner-up to defending champion Tom Kite last year, Jacobs loves the place.

"I've had some success here. I like the golf course and I like the people. Hualalai is so relaxing, it brings out the best in me," said Jacobs, one of the leading contenders for the $250,000 top prize in the $1.5 million, 54-hole event that begins tomorrow at the Jack Nicklaus-signature course.

Among the others to watch in the 37-player field are Kite, who won by six strokes last year; Bob Gilder, a four-time winner in 2002 with a pair of back-to-back wins; World Golf Hall of Famer Tom Watson, winner of eight majors; and, of course, Hale Irwin, the tour's first $3 million man.

Jacobs is keeping a wary eye on Irwin.

"Hale has kept himself in better shape than the other guys do. They tell me that he's worked out with a vengeance during the offseason," Jacobs said.

"I'm sure he'll be firing away this week. Plus, after not winning the Skins Game last week, he's probably got added incentive. He's now going to take it out on all of us because he didn't win."

Coming off his best money year ($1.2 million), Jacobs is looking forward to an even better 2003.

"I'm going to be 58 in March," he said. "So I figure that I probably have two or three solid years left. Hopefully, I can win a few more tournaments. Last year I finished second three times and won once. Hopefully, I can turn those seconds into wins this year."

Jacobs' strength is his length.

2003 MasterCard Championship

• WHAT: Champions Tour season-opening event

• WHEN: From 11 a.m. tomorrow and Saturday and 10:30 a.m. Sunday

• PRO-AM: Today from 7:30 a.m.

• WHERE: Hualalai PGA Tour Resort, Big Island (Par 36-36i72, 7,053 yards)

• PURSE: $1.5 million ($250,000 first prize)

• FIELD: 37 Senior PGA (now Champions) Tour winners from 2001 and 2002 seasons and major champions from past five years, including defending champion Tom Kite (17-under 199)

• ADMISSION: $10 daily, $25 tournament pass (all week). Children 12-under free with ticket-bearing adult.

• TV COVERAGE: Golf Channel, 3 p.m.-5:30 p.m. daily, HST

Except in 2001 when he played with a different sponsor's equipment — he won't say which sponsor it was — Jacobs has been among the top three in driving distance for the past seven years.

"Thorpey (Jim Thorpe) hits it pretty good and Gil (Morgan) when his back is good (hits it long). But I imagine I'm still the longest hitter out there," said Jacobs, who averaged 284.5 yards off the tee last year.

Jacobs' longest drive of the year — 377 yards — came at the par-5 10th hole while playing with Kite in the final round of the 2002 MasterCard Championship. Jacobs then holed an 8-iron from 189 yards for a double eagle.

"When they asked me, I told them, 'Geez, I've never really thought of one, I've never seen one, I've never even been in a tournament when anybody's made one.' It was pretty exciting," Jacobs said.

It was a rare treat playing a Tuesday practice round with Jacobs, who does it with his gang of usual suspects, namely Schroeder, Gary McCord and Dave Eichelberger.

"We play for a little money, but the money changes hands every week," said Jacobs, whose $25 bet with Schroeder on Tuesday was all even. Jacobs had him on another side bet, most birdies.

"It's not the money, it's the needling and the camaraderie that's fun," Jacobs said.

"You've got to have fun. The competition from Friday through Sunday is what we thrive on. But the traveling part can be so repetitious and boring that our Tuesday round is our fun day."

And Jacobs, one of the tour's most garrulous players, likes his fun along with fine cigars and good merlot wine.

Getting a chance to play a Tuesday practice round with John Jacobs, left, was a treat for columnist Bill Kwon.

Hualalai photo

"I've had fun doing a lot of things. I want to treat people the way I want to be treated. It's done me well over the years," he said.

He is also enamored of the name change to the Champions Tour.

"I like it. I think the Senior Tour made us all sound a little old. I think when it originally started, it was senior guys. But now nobody seems to stop. Everybody's playing until they're 50 and the competition is unbelievable out here now," Jacobs said.

"You don't shoot 68 or better out here, you don't beat anybody anymore."

Of course, during the practice round, Jacobs and Schroeder, along with KHNL's news anchor Howard Dashefsky, played from the championship tees. No dummy, I teed off from the regular tees and easily took "Dash's" money.

That brought up the subject of LPGA superstar Annika Sorenstam and the possibility of her playing in a PGA Tour event where she would have to play from the same tees as the men.

Jacobs hopes she doesn't demean herself by playing.

"I've been around Annika a little bit. We've done some outings together. She's a great player, but I think she'll be definitely out of her league if she tries to play," he said.

"I hope she doesn't try to play the kids' (PGA) tour because it's not going to be pretty. It's a novelty, a freak-show deal. I don't think there's a place for it. I think Annika has too much class to get involved with it."

Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.