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.
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