Golf: Getting ready for some of life’s warm fuzzies

Richard Dunn

There will be a lot more warm fuzzies this year on the Senior PGA

Tour, and not just because of the fan-friendly rule changes.

Fuzzy Zoeller, Mr. Personality himself, is a rookie on the Senior Tour

and will make his Toshiba Senior Classic debut at Newport Beach Country

Club in March.

While television producers and sponsors are banking on Zoeller to help

spice up the sagging tour, the gallery favorite and two-time major

championship winner is simply thrilled to be playing on the 50-and-over

circuit, which will stop in the Newport-Mesa community for the eighth

straight year.

“Well, I think I’m going to have to fight my caddie for the cart,”

Zoeller quipped Wednesday in a national conference call. “That’s the only

problem I see ... (the Senior Tour) is going to be a little bit

different.”

Zoeller, the 1979 Masters champion and 1984 U.S. Open winner, appears

ready to take the spotlight and provide the tour with a ratings boost.

“Hopefully I can bring a few more smiles out there,” Zoeller said.

“That’s kind of the way I play the game. Whether it’s good or bad, I’m

still smiling and gagging like everybody else. But if we can make one

person smile, (then) maybe make the guy next to him smile, it will kind

of bleed on.”

People, of course, have tried hard to wipe that smile off Zoeller’s

face, especially after he joked about the food Tiger Woods might order at

the champions dinner after winning the 1997 Masters. Nobody laughed.

Sponsors dropped him, but Zoeller, at the time at a difficult point in

his PGA Tour career in his late 40s, has recovered nicely from his public

relations nightmare and put it all behind him.

And, now, he’ll be among the most sought-after players on the Senior

Tour, which has new plans this year to mike-up players during rounds and

have them stop to answer questions that fans submit during the round.

“Anything we can do to get the people more involved is a plus,” said

Zoeller, a 10-time winner on the PGA Tour who ranks 65th on the tour’s

career money leaders. “(People will) find out that we’re all just not a

bunch of clones. We are human beings out there.”

Zoeller, known for his bubbling personality and approachability, is

also excited about the general format of the Senior Tour, besides the

optional use of a golf cart.

With no cuts and only three rounds, life just got a little easier.

“I think when you get older, especially some of the older guys who

come out on the PGA Tour tower and try to compete, they do well for three

rounds,” Zoeller said, “but it’s that fourth round that kind of gets

them. So that three rounds of golf, to me, makes it just very easier. Not

necessarily to pick up shots on anybody, but just as far as stamina. Just

seems like it’s much easier to play.”

Zoeller, in the rookie class with Ben Crenshaw, Tom Purtzer and Wayne

Levi, will make his Senior Tour debut at the first full-field event, the

Royal Caribbean Classic, Feb. 1 at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Zoeller, scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the annual Toshiba

Classic community breakfast on Tuesday March 5, said he plans on playing

“in about 28 tournaments this year,” including the three-stop California

swing in March at the SBC Senior Classic in Los Angeles, the Toshiba

(March 4-10) and the Siebel Classic in San Jose.

Over 300 memberships have reportedly been sold at Pelican Hill Golf

Club since early December when a special 10-year anniversary program was

launched.

The high-end daily fee resort course offers special benefits and

privileges to its members.

Membership in the 10th Anniversary Club is available to anyone for a

one-time fee of $350 and offers a variety of benefits, including $150

green fees on Sunday; 20% off range balls and merchandise in the golf

shop; invitations to special events for club members; membership in

Southern California Golf Association for handicap posting services; and a

commemorative bag tag. Details: (949) 760-0707.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.