Golf: Hoag managing close to home these days

Richard Dunn

In my final column before Hoag Hospital’s Dr. Lisa Worsch induces

labor on my wife and delivers our first child this weekend, here are 10

wishes for the Toshiba Senior Classic, which also has a pretty big stake

at Hoag these days:

1) That Arnold Palmer plays again. Even if the King’s scores weren’t

exactly as low as he would like in his Toshiba Classic debut last year

(79-74--153), his appearance was the highlight of the tournament.

This year, tournament officials are hopeful Palmer will return to

Newport Beach Country Club for Toshiba Classic VII.

2) That the Toshiba Classic, the only PGA Tour-sanctioned event in

Orange County, raises another $1 million for Hoag, the managing charity

of the most philanthropic stop on the Senior PGA Tour.

3) That there’s another playoff. The Toshiba Classic had memorable

playoffs in 1997 and ‘99, but most forget a third was played last year in

the Super Seniors as George Archer birdied the second extra hole, No. 17,

on Saturday to defeat legendary Lee Trevino.

4) That Allen Doyle, the defending champion of the rain-shortened 2000

Toshiba Classic, isn’t asked every time he’s interviewed if he feels last

year’s title here was tainted because of only 36 holes of play.

“If Gil Morgan will give back his trophy (after winning a shortened

event at Indianapolis), then I’ll give back mine,” Doyle quipped during

Media Day in January. “But you’ll have a harder time getting it from Gil

than you would me. So if you can do that, I’ll do what he does.”

5) That ’97 Toshiba champion Bob Murphy, who will not play in this

year’s Senior Classic for the second straight year because of his

television duties with NBC, will one day make another 80-foot birdie putt

at 17.

It was Murphy’s incredible, uphill python putt on a two-tiered green

that ended a nine-hole playoff over Jay Sigel in ‘97, at the time the

longest playoff in Senior PGA Tour history.

6) That ’99 champion Gary McCord and runner-up John Jacobs get paired

up in a round and tease each other like they did in their hilarious

five-hole playoff.

7) That Jacobs, like he did last year, or some other Senior Tour pro,

sinks a hole-in-one during a pro-am round to the delight of amateurs in

his group.

8) That no one will get injured in a golf cart during a pro-am round

while attempting to drive under the ropes.

Last year, an accident involving a Toshiba employee in Larry Ziegler’s

group is still being investigated.

9) That legendary Tom Watson, making his inaugural Toshiba Classic

appearance in 2001, will help improve my golf game during his three-hole

Walking Clinic at Newport Beach Country Club Feb. 27.

10) That Doug Tewell will forget what happened last year at the

Toshiba Classic and not do what he said last April at the Las Vegas

Senior Classic.

Tewell was an alternate in last year’s Toshiba and didn’t make it into

the 78-player field because of his nonexempt status. He also did not

receive a sponsors exemption to join the field.

But Tewell went on to win three tournaments on the Senior Tour in

2000, including a major, and finished eighth on the money list.

Six weeks after the 2000 Toshiba Classic, and one week after his first

victory at the PGA Seniors Championship, Tewell said he wasn’t coming to

the 2001 Toshiba Classic. Hopefully, the wounds have healed and Tewell

will add to the already strong field in this year’s event.

My biggest wish, of course, is for a happy and healthy baby, and that

yours truly returns in time to cover the Toshiba Classic Feb. 26 through

March 4.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.