Just Getting Into the Tournament Was Tough For Hinkle

Lon Hinkle had reached the point where he had to beg to get into a PGA tournament.

After going 11 years without a victory and finishing 201st in money earnings last year, Hinkle lost his tour exemption. All he could do was write letters to tournament officials and hope for the best.

One of those letters went to Tom Morgan, executive director of the Shearson Lehman Brothers Open, and Morgan took him in because of his local background. Hinkle attended Santana High School and San Diego State.

Thursday, Hinkle seized upon his chance by shooting a six-under-par 66 on the North course at Torrey Pines. He finished the opening round in a six-way tie for second place.

Hinkle’s mother was in the gallery, and as he walked off the 18th green, he said to her, “That’s the best start I’ve had in 10 years.”

When a reporter asked him if this had been his best round in some time, he said, “That wouldn’t take much.”

Hinkle, 41, wasn’t overstating the case. The last time he won a tournament was 1979, when he scored the second and third victories of his career. The last time he placed in the top 25 in winnings was 1981, when he was 22nd. He earned only $26,052 last year and no money at all in 1988.

In Hinkle’s situation, though, the horrendous slump that pushed him into virtual oblivion carried with it the consolation of personal compensation. His father, James, who taught English literature at SDSU for 30 years, supervised his letter-writing campaign just before his death on Dec. 5.

“I wrote letters to 21 tournaments,” Hinkle said. “My father and I spent about three hours composing them on Dec. 4, and he passed away (at 66) the next day. He had heart failure.

“I’m really glad I spent the time I wouldn’t otherwise have spent with him before he died. It was real sudden. He taught classes Tuesday and died Wednesday. SDSU had a real nice memorial service for him on Feb. 8.”

Hinkle recalled that he had taken two courses under his father.

“When he found out I was going to San Diego State, he signed up to teach English 1A and 1B,” Hinkle said. “That was just for me, dumbbell English. When I did pretty well, he asked me, ‘Do you work this hard in all your classes?’ I said, ‘No.’ I was a B-minus or a C-plus student.

“He was a scholarly individual. He followed my golf, but I couldn’t follow his writing and teaching.”

Hinkle said he had sent first batch of letters to officials of West Coast tournaments--in Tucson, Honolulu, Phoenix, Pebble Beach (AT&T;) and Los Angeles in addition to San Diego.

“The AT&T; wrote back and said I didn’t need an exemption because I won it when it was the Crosby,” Hinkle said. “The Hawaii people wrote and said they got my letter. Phoenix called me and said, ‘You’re in.’ And Tom Morgan called me from San Diego last Friday and said Lennie Clements (also from San Diego) and I got the last couple of spots.

“I don’t expect to play in many tournaments out East, but maybe I’ll get into some late in the season.”

Hinkle earned a total of $2,240 in the first two 1991 tournaments for which he was accepted. He tied for 56th in the Phoenix Open and missed the cut in the AT&T.;

Morgan said he didn’t hesitate to accept Hinkle’s application for a sponsor’s exemption.

“Our preference is always to give the edge to local golfers,” Morgan said. “We only ask that they help the sponsors in any way they can. Lon was nice enough to play in Monday’s Pro-Am, and a lot of golfers are not crazy about playing on Monday.”

Although Hinkle still spends most of his winters playing golf in San Diego, his permanent home is now in Eagle Bend, Mont., where he represents the Eagle Bend Country Club.

In reference to his protracted drought on the PGA Tour, Hinkle said, “I’m sure glad I have a job.”

Nevertheless, he had a message for those people to whom he has applied to enter tournaments.

“Basically, I just let them know I haven’t retired,” he said. “But if I start playing well, I could be a real pain in the ear to some of those sponsors.”

Golf Notes

Lon Hinkle compared the longest (1 hour, 10 minutes) of three fog delays in Thursday’s first round of the Shearson Lehman Brothers Open to a tradition observed in Japanese tournaments. “We were lucky,” he said. “We sat around the clubhouse about an hour on a sort of lunch break. It was like playing in Japan--play nine holes, eat lunch and go back and play the back nine.”. . . Steve Pate, whose 67 was second only to Ben Crenshaw’s leading 65 on the tough South course, took advantage of the fog to spend some time with his 4-month-old daughter, Sarah. “We had just finished the sixth hole,” Pate said. “My wife (Sheri) and I were sitting around on the seventh tee playing with our baby. It was nice.” . . . J.B. Sneve of Carlsbad had the best round other than the 66s of Hinkle and amateur sensation Phil Mickelson among golfers with San Diego backgrounds. He shot a 68. Greg Twiggs, the San Diego State alumnus who won the tournament in 1989, had a 69. Tommy Jacobs, the 1962 winner, now director of golf at Rancho State Fe Farms, ended a long absence from tournament golf with a 76. Other scores: Lennie Clements 70, Mark O’Meara and amateur Keith Sbarbaro 71, Scott Mahlberg 72, Craig Stadler, John Cook and Morris Hatalsky 73, amateur James Almand 74 and Chris Starkjohann 75.