Golf: Color and spice and everything nice

Richard Dunn

As advertised, former major championship winners Ben Crenshaw and

Fuzzy Zoeller -- the two most anticipated rookies on the 2002 Senior PGA

Tour -- have officially committed to play in the eighth annual Toshiba

Senior Classic.

Zoeller, one of golf’s most engaging personalities, should find

immediate success on the Senior Tour if history repeats itself.

A gallery favorite, Zoeller won his Masters title in 1979 as a rookie on the PGA Tour and during his first visit to the hallowed grounds at

Augusta National.

During Toshiba week March 4-10, Zoeller is scheduled to play in the

Monday Pro-Am March 4 at Newport Beach Country Club and speak at the

Toshiba Classic Community Breakfast March 5 at the Newport Beach Marriott

Hotel.

Zoeller, who also won the U.S. Open in 1984, is the ideal guy for the

Senior Tour and its new policies, which includes expanding the field by

six players; hooking up microphones on players; having players stop to

answer questions that fans submit during the round; and allowing the

gallery to walk down the fairway over the final four holes. Players will

also be asked to conduct clinics.

“After the round, putting on a small exhibition for the people, that’s

a plus because then the people can get up next to you and laugh with you

and have a good handshake and really learn a little bit about the game,”

said Zoeller, who added that miking players will also bring color to

sagging Senior Tour.

Crenshaw, who won 19 PGA Tour events, including the Masters in 1984

and 1995, owns property in Monarch Beach and has been playing the golf

course at Newport Beach for the past year, sometimes with NBCC President

Jerry Anderson.

Crenshaw was also the captain of the 1999 U.S. Ryder Cup team, which

staged the greatest comeback in event history.

“There’s no question that we made it a priority to have Fuzzy Zoeller

and Ben Crenshaw in our field this year,” Toshiba Senior Classic

tournament director Jeff Purser said. “They’re a great addition on the

Senior Tour and we look forward to hosting them and seeing how they fare

against one of the strongest fields on the tour.”

The $1.5 million Toshiba Senior Classic, operated by Hoag Hospital,

has tickets available for the entire week. Details: (949) 660-1001.

Winning a tournament more than once is difficult, and it’s even

tougher to successfully defend a title the next year.

On the Senior Tour last year, only five times did a player repeat as

tournament champion: Bruce Fleisher (at the Home Depot Invitational), Gil

Morgan (Instinet Classic), Larry Nelson (FleetBoston Classic), Nelson

again (Farmers Charity Classic) and Hale Irwin (Turtle Bay Championship).

The Toshiba Classic has had seven different winners in seven years.

Fleisher, who played in the old Crosby Southern Pro-Am at Newport

Beach in the 1970s, has won the Home Depot Invitational in Charlotte,

N.C., three years in a row. If he wins again this year, he’ll be the

first player in Senior Tour history to win the same event four

consecutive years.

Our old friend Larry Ziegler, who has played on the Senior Tour since

1989, lost his exempt status last year but earned his way back onto the

circuit in 2002 by finishing second at the Senior PGA Tour National

Qualifying Tournament.

Ziegler, who also played in the former Crosby Southern, as well as

several times in the Toshiba Classic, finished behind medalist Howard

Twitty, who shot 12-under 276 at the Champions Course at the PGA of

Southern California Golf Club in Calimesa.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.