Final round of Toshiba Senior Classic canceled

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Talk about raining on someone’s parade.

Sunday morning’s storm was so vicious -- heavy rain and gusts up to 20

mph -- it forced the cancellation of the final round of the Toshiba

Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country Club and created a gloom never

before experienced in the six-year history of the Senior PGA Tour event.

Instead of golfers shooting for birdies in the $1.3 million event and

thousands of fans roaming the fairways, grandstands were being taken

apart and players were huddled in the locker room, watching television

and playing backgammon, trying to kill time while waiting for their

flight to Cholula, Puebla, Mexico, site of the next senior tour stop.

“Somebody on the staff (Sunday) morning said it was like a death in the

family,” Toshiba Classic co-chairman Jake Rohrer said.

“Normally, a storm rolls through and everything regroups. Obviously,

we’re disappointed, because there are hours and hours of work that go

into the event.”

Benefiting the most was Allen Doyle, who earned a first-place check of

$195,000 without teeing off. Doyle shot four-under-par 67 on Saturday to

take a one-stroke lead over Howard Twitty and Jim Thorpe, then received

word about 10 a.m. Sunday that the third round was canceled.

Twitty and Thorpe each won $104,000 by finishing in a tie for second

place.

“It happens, but it doesn’t happen often,” said Doyle, referring to his

36-hole victory. “I’m thrilled to win under any circumstances.”

No players teed off Sunday. The event was delayed about 45 minutes,

before Senior PGA Tour official Bruce Sudderth announced to the players

that the final round would be canceled. Doyle said he was informed of the

cancellation about 10 a.m.

“The golf course was totally unplayable, and that’s what made our

decision,” Sudderth said. “Three holes were totally unplayable (Sunday),

including No. 18, and (Newport Beach Country Club) superintendent (Ron

Benedict) said he wouldn’t have been able to get it playable.”

If Doyle had been tied with another player, a playoff would’ve taken

place on a par-three hole.

Tournament officials were so concerned about finishing the event that

Sunday’s format was changed. They had planned to send 13 threesomes off

the front nine and 13 off the back nine, beginning at 7:45 a.m. and

concluding at 9:33 a.m. But the flights never got off the ground.

For Doyle, who had a crazy round Saturday, it was his first senior tour

title of 2000 and the fifth of his career, following four wins last year

as a rookie.

“Amen,” Doyle said of his four-under 67 in the second round to take the

lead, when he birdied three of the first four holes, then made three

bogeys on the next four holes as heavy rain began to fall, then came back

with five more birdies on the last eight holes, including consecutive

birdies on 17 and 18.

“It was an odd round,” Doyle said Sunday, after the rain had stopped and

the sun began to peek through the gray clouds, while strong winds

continued to clock the area, blowing tents apart and knocking down signs

on the golf course.

Doyle, who was part of the four-man playoff last year at the Toshiba

Classic and was eliminated on the first extra hole when John Jacobs and

eventual winner Gary McCord both made eagles, said he was aware of the

possibility of a rain-shortened tournament when he arrived at the 18th

hole Saturday tied with Twitty and Thorpe.

“I was very conscious of that,” said Doyle, whose birdie at 18 put him at

six-under-par for the tournament, one shot ahead of Twitty and Thorpe.

“You had it in the back of your mind that this could happen,” said

Twitty, who was hoping for a chance Sunday to win his first title on the

Senior PGA Tour.

Doyle said when he woke up Sunday and heard the weather report, “you had

a pretty good idea (a cancellation) might happen.”

It’s the first time in Toshiba Senior Classic history that a round, final

or otherwise, has been canceled.

“(The weather) is the only thing that could’ve stopped it,” tournament

publicist Chris Premer said.

George Archer, 60, who won Saturday’s Georgia-Pacific Super Seniors event

for professionals 60 and over, has been battling a nasty cold.

While standing by his car in the Newport Beach parking lot Sunday, Archer

said that he would prefer the temperatures, which were in the low-to-mid

50s Sunday, to be higher than his age while visiting sunny Southern

California. “I’m looking forward to going to Mexico and getting well,”

Archer said. “How’s that for a switch?”

This year, for the first time, the event was moved up a week earlier on

the senior tour schedule, mainly because of openings at that time.