Older golfers making Sony Open one for ages
| • | Holes in one |
| • | Golf notices |
By Bill Kwon
Most, if not all, of the attention, will be focused on a 15-year-old as the Sony Open in Hawai'i tees off today.
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But the PGA Tour's first full-field event of the year at the Waialae Country Club will enjoy a senior moment of its own.
Tom Kite, at 55, is the oldest in this year's Sony Open field. He finished third on the 50-older Champions Tour, but Kite said he feels good enough about his game to play more tournaments on the regular tour.
So much so, that some wags are saying that maybe this year's Sony Open should have a senior flight.
Tom Kite, Peter Jacobsen and Craig Stadler, already established stars on the Champions Tour, are in the 144-player field. They're joined by Scott Simpson and Loren Roberts, who will be 50 and eligible for the senior tour later this year.
Besides Fred Funk, who'll be 50 next year, also whacking away at Waialae this week are European Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer, 1999 Sony Open champion Jeff Sluman and 1992 United Airlines Hawaiian Open winner John Cook, all 47 and eligible for the senior tour in 2007.
"I'm 46 going on 47 next month," said John Morse, whose lone PGA Tour victory was the 1995 Hawaiian Open.
Other oldies but goodies in the field are two other 46-year-olds: Steve Jones, the 1996 U.S. Open champion, and Larry Mize, the 1987 Masters champion. Two previous winners at Waialae — Paul Azinger and Corey Pavin — are 45 along with Tommy Armour III and Tom Pernice Jr.
And we haven't forgotten David Ishii, the 1990 Hawaiian Open champion, who will turn 50 in July and will try the Champions Tour qualifying school in the fall.
Don't count the old guys out this week. They still got game.
Stadler won the Champion Tour money title, earning $2.3 million, and won a regular PGA event, the B.C. Open, just 18 months ago.
Kite, 55 and oldest in the Sony field, finished third on the Champions Tour money list with $1.8 million but decided to play a lot more on the regular tour because he feels good about his game, especially his putting.
"If I wasn't putting better, this (playing on the regular tour) would be something that I wouldn't even consider," said Kite, who last played at Waialae in 1992.
Even then, Kite really hadn't thought about playing against the younger guys again until he was reminded by sports psychologist Bob Rotella that he should use his career top-50 money exemption.
"As soon as he mentioned it, it was kind of like, yeah, I'm exempt. But I hadn't thought about that thing and acting on it," said Kite, who won 19 PGA Tour events, including the 1992 U.S. Open, and seven times on the Champions Tour.
He had been No. 1 on the career top-50 money-exemption list for almost seven years but dropped to 39th by the time of last year's U.S. Open at Shinnecock. At the end of the year he was 44th.
"So this is a one-time shot. If I don't act on it for 2005 then it's gone in 2006. So it's not an option for me," said Kite, who'll be playing in the MasterCard Championship that starts the Champions Tour season next week at the Hualalai Resort on the Big Island.
He will skip the Turtle Bay Championship, the seniors' first full-field event, to play in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic the same week.
Kite is going to play in the Nissan Open after a two-week break, play in a Champions Tour event in Tampa and then stick around Florida to play at Doral, probably Honda and Bay Hill.
"I basically know what I'm going to do through June or up to the U.S. Open," said Kite, who had played in only one PGA Tour event in each of the past two years.
At that time he will evaluate his performance before deciding whether to play the majority of the time on the regular tour or "run like hell back to the Champions Tour."
So the Sony Open should be a good litmus test.
"I'm really taking a wait-and-see attitude to see how everything goes. But I'm pleased with how I'm playing. I'm expecting to do reasonably well," said Kite, who said it was "neat" to see so many of his peers at the Sony Open this week.
"They have a right to be here. I hope they add something to the field," said Kite, obviously counting himself among the number.
"I was surprised to see so many of the (older) guys here."
Simpson can't wait until he turns 50 on Sept. 17. He already knows what four tournaments he'll play on the Champions Tour following his birthday.
You don't have to remind Simpson how old he is getting.
His daughter, Brea, who is caddying for him this week, just graduated from college and is training to become a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines.
Bill Kwon can be reached at bkwon@aloha.net.
