Golf / Thomas Bonk : U.S. Senior Amateur Champion Offers a Bit of Advice: ‘Just Have Fun’

When John Richardson of Laguna Niguel won the U.S. National Senior Amateur championship recently, it was a victory for the old guys. Or so said the 66-year-old Richardson.

“It seems like every time somebody breaks through into the seniors at 55, they always clobber the older guys,” Richardson said.

That’s not what happened this time, though. Richardson defeated 56-year-old James Kite of Virginia in the championship match, 5 and 4.

“There were a lot of good players in that field, and I just played pretty well that day,” said Richardson, who had to win five matches at the Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa. The 1961 California amateur champion and two-time state senior champion went through two rounds of qualifying and was the medalist in both.

Richardson’s 71 won the Southern California qualifier and his rounds of 71-74 lead the qualifiers at Saucon Valley, where the field was cut from 144 to 64.

Richardson, who had played in the national senior tournament seven previous times, does not have to qualify for next year’s tournament, having earned an exemption with his victory this year.

Golf wasn’t always his No. 1 sport. Richardson was born in Calgary, Canada, and came to Los Angeles in 1938 to play on the USC hockey team. He also played pro hockey after World War II for the Los Angeles Monarchs of the old Pacific Coast League.

Richardson usually plays once a week at El Niguel Country Club. A golfer for 50 years, Richardson has one piece of advice for those who play the game: “Just have fun.”

This isn’t exactly a secret, but golfers are making more money than ever before on the pro golf tour. In fact, the richest event in PGA history will be happening later this month at San Antonio, the $2-million Nabisco Championships of Golf.

Here is a list of the 10 richest tournaments on the Tour this season:

1, Nabisco Championships of Golf, $2 million; 2, Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational, $1.25 million; 3, The International, $1.023 million; 4, (tie) Doral and TPC, $1 million each; 6, Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, $900,000; 7, Memorial, $860,000; 8, (tie) Masters, Western Open and the World Series of Golf, $800,000 each.

What does the winner of the Nabisco event get? Would you believe $360,000?

The United States Golf Assn. and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, have announced several rule changes. With one exception, they will go into effect Jan. 1.

The size of the golf ball will be standardized at not less than 1.68 inches in diameter, but not until Jan. 1, 1990.

Some of the other changes include:

--An amendment stating that manufactured ice is an obstruction.

--An expansion stating that if a player checks his downswing voluntarily before the club head reaches the ball, the player has not made a stroke.

--An amendment to allow for replacing a club that becomes unfit for play by borrowing a club from another person playing on the course. Currently, borrowing a club from another person playing on the course is prohibited.

--An amendment stating that a lifted ball may be cleaned except when it has been lifted to determine if it is unfit for play, for identification or because it is interfering with or assisting play.

In three years on the Senior Tour, Chi Chi Rodriguez has won almost $1 million. He will give a clinic at PGA West in La Quinta, before the first nine holes of the Skins Game, to show how he’s done it.

The clinic, set for 10 a.m. Nov. 28 on the practice tee of the TPC Stadium course, is open to badge-holders for the Skins Game.

Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Fuzzy Zoeller are competing in this year’s Skins Game. The Skins Game Pro-Am will be held Nov. 27.

A new Pebble Beach course, the Links at Spanish Bay, should be ready to play early next month. Designed by Robert T. Jones Jr., Tom Watson and Frank (Sandy) Tatum, the 6,870-yard course is a Scottish-style layout with narrow rolling fairways and sand dunes as high as 24 feet.

Spanish Bay’s dunes are being planted with native plants such as golden beach poppies, pink sand verbena, lizard tail and yellow bush lupine. Also, coastal marshes and a Monterey pine forest have been environmentally restored, all of which should help make the course interesting.

Golf Notes

The California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation will hold its fifth annual tournament Oct. 30 at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. Scheduled to play are baseball players Don Sutton, Steve Yeager, Doug DeCinces, Bob Boone and California Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp. The CHP 11-99 Foundation was formed to benefit injured, disabled or slain CHP officers and their dependents. . . . The 29th annual Bob Hope Chrysler Classic will be played Jan 20-24 at Bermuda Dunes, La Quinta, the Palmer Course at PGA West and Indian Wells. . . . The Palm Springs Memorial Golf Course is having its 21st annual senior men’s tournament Nov. 12-13, a 36-hole medal play event for players 50 and over. . . . The American Airlines-Tom Niedenfuer celebrity tournament is scheduled Nov. 23 at Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake. Proceeds from the event will benefit California Special Olympics, a year-round sports program for the mentally retarded. For information, call the California Special Olympics at (213) 453-7622. . . . The country music group Alabama is the designated host for the Academy of Country Music Celebrity Golf tournament Oct. 19 at Burbank’s De Bell Golf Course. Proceeds benefit the T. J. Martell Foundation for cancer and leukemia research. . . . The first Celebrity/Alpha Christian School tournament will be played Nov. 6 at the San Dimas Canyon Golf Course. . . . The Southern California PGA senior tournament is scheduled for Oct. 22-23 at Jurupa Hills Country Club in Riverside. Chuck Green is the defending champion. . . . Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky has proposed that greens fees for senior citizens be discontinued at municipal golf courses during off-peak times. The proposal has been referred to the City Council’s recreation, library and cultural affairs committee.