Toshiba Senior Classic: Pain in the neck

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - For Larry Nelson to play in a golf tournament is a

pain in the neck, let alone trying to finish one, or (gasp!) win one.

Last year, because of flare-ups with a herniated disc in his neck,

Nelson withdrew from two of the three Senior PGA Tour events in

California, including the Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country

Club.

“I told Jeff Purser, the (Toshiba) tournament director, that my main

goal was to make it through the whole tournament,” Nelson said Friday,

after shooting an opening-round four-under-par 67, one stroke off the

lead.

“It has a tendency to get cool here at night, or damp, and, maybe it’s

just a coincidence (it flares up in California). I love the weather out

here.”

Nelson, who won three major championships in his PGA Tour career,

including the 1983 U.S. Open, started having trouble with his neck in

1998, his first year on the senior tour.

“Every once in awhile my neck hurts and I just don’t have the strength

in my right arm,” said Nelson, who also withdrew from the U.S. Senior

Open at Riviera. “It first started happening 1 1/2 years ago. My right

arm just flopped.”

Nelson took 10 weeks off in his rookie year on the senior tour because

of the pain, but said there’s no cure. He has good days and bad days. “I

never know if I’m going to make it through,” he said.

Nelson was up and down in the first round, making six birdies and an

eagle on the par-five No. 3, but also had four bogeys. At 67, he’s tied

with Howard Twitty for second place, but, truly, “I just want to try to

finish the whole tournament this year.”

Defending champion Gary McCord shot two-under 69 and is tied for

fifth. “The greens here will spook you,” McCord said. “You’ve got to get

the ball under the hole. Have you ever putted on top of broccoli? That’s

what it’s like. It’s weed, not grass.”

Toshiba Classic co-chairman Hank Adler said the senior tour record of

$938,000 will definitely be broken this weekend, in terms of money raised

for charity (Hoag Hospital).

But the weather will determine whether the tournament reaches its goal

of $1 million.

Friday’s crowd, about 12,500 people, was the biggest first-round

attendance in Toshiba history, “by far,” Adler said.