GOLF / DAN HAFNER : His Once-in-a-Lifetime Season Comes as a Surprise to Stockton

Since he was captain of the U.S. team that won back the Ryder Cup in 1991, Dave Stockton has been on an incredible roll. And there are no signs that the hot spell is about to end.

After winning the 1992 senior Players Championship and senior tour rookie-of-the-year honors, the former USC star promised to do even better this year.

But even the confident Stockton didn’t expect to do as well as he did. Considered by many the best putter in golf, he seems a cinch to be named player of the year on the senior tour.

Stockton won five tournaments, finished second in three others and was the leading money winner with $1,175,944 in the season that ended last weekend. Only Lee Trevino, with $1,190,518 in 1990, has won more in a senior season.

“I have always been a confident golfer,” Stockton said. “But even I never anticipated this kind of year. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. It’s been a hell of a ride. I already have a goal for next year, though, and that’s to prove this was no fluke.

“I want to do a little hunting to relax, then I’ll be ready to go. It would be nice to open the new season with a victory at La Costa in the Mercedes Championships (formerly the Tournament of Champions, the traditional opener the first full week in January).”

Until he faltered in the last six holes of the season-ending tournament, the tour championship at Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico, it was a tremendous December for the Stockton family.

A bit earlier, Dave Jr., a two-time winner on the Nike satellite tour, had tied for medalist honors in the regular PGA Tour qualifying tournament. Despite his two Nike victories, Dave Jr. did not finish in the top nine in money, so he had to go to qualifying school. In competition tougher than many tour events, he beat a field that included 17 players who had won regular-tour tournaments.

“Now that was exciting,” the senior Stockton said. “I figure, with the win at Palm Springs for my son, that gave the family eight victories this year. Amazing.”

It missed by only a few inches of being phenomenal. A victory in the final event would have made Stockton’s earnings for the year more than he earned in 28 years on the regular tour. Although he won 11 tournaments, including two PGA championships, he earned only $1,275,453. Winning at Puerto Rico would have been worth $150,000. As it was, his fourth was worth $60,000. A third-place finish would have broken Trevino’s record.

Stockton, who led the seniors with an average of 1.74 putts per hole, seemed ready to end his jinx of never having won on Bermuda grass greens.

Going to the 13th hole of the final round at Dorado Beach, he was tied with Simon Hobday, the eventual winner. The 13th was a par five reachable in two shots. Stockton pushed his shot to the right, on hardpan just behind a tree root. In trying to reach the green, more than 200 yards away, he hit a fat shot, landed in water and lost all chance to win.

Stockton played in 33 tournaments in ’93 and was strongest at the end. In the last 14 events, he finished eighth or better in 12, winning three. Some of the old-timers complained that it was a long, tough season. Asked if he was tired, Stockton said: “If you only have to work three days a week (most senior tournaments are 54 holes), how hard is that?”

Stockton, friendly and popular among fellow players, has come a long way since joining the senior tour a few weeks after leading the United States to its first Ryder Cup victory in eight years.

“The first 10 holes I played as a senior, I had eight bogeys,” Stockton recalled. “ ‘Oh, isn’t this wonderful?’ I said. I hadn’t done half the things I did to get ready on the regular tour.

“But I went to work on my game. . . . I’m now hitting the ball better than I ever did in my life.”

One thing he didn’t mess with was his putting. Most pros are not happy with their putting. They change putters, stances and strokes continually. Stockton keeps the same putter and the same style.

“I never take a practice putt,” he said. “Once I figure the line, I just concentrate on getting the right speed. Because I have the right speed almost all the time, I sink a lot of putts. I try to hit the putt so it will never go more than 16 inches past the hole.”

His putting enabled Stockton to lead the seniors in birdies with more than 400, averaging more than 10 a tournament.

Golf Notes

Raymond Floyd, who earned $713,168 in only 14 senior events, said he would play more on the senior tour next season. Floyd, the only player to qualify for both the senior and regular Tournament of Champions last year, will begin his season at La Costa Jan. 5. “I will play in the Masters, the Open and several others with the young guys,” Floyd said. “But it’s more relaxed with the old guys.”

The Nissan Los Angeles Open will hold a qualifying tournament at Yorba Linda Country Club on Monday. A field of 112 amateurs will play for an amateur exemption into the Feb. 6-13 tournament at Riviera Country Club. Half of the proceeds generated will go to benefit the Southern California PGA’s junior golf program.

An hour-long season-ending golf wrap-up show, “1993 Championships of the USGA,” will be shown on ESPN on Dec. 24 at 4:30 p.m. The show will concentrate on ABC’s coverage of the U.S. Open, the Senior Open and Women’s Open, and there will be a segment on the accomplishments of 17-year-old Tiger Woods of Cypress, who won a record third U.S. Junior Amateur championship last summer. . . . The Golden State Golf Tours will reach a milestone next year with 100 professional tournaments.