Golf: Second-best spot not so bad for Toshiba

Richard Dunn

An analysis directed by the Senior PGA Tour to determine the

different tournament fields throughout 2001 concluded that the Toshiba

Senior Classic in Newport Beach had the second-best field on the tour

last year.

The field study, based on the Senior Tour’s top 31 money leaders from

the previous year, placed the event at Newport Beach Country Club No. 1

among non-majors on the Senior Tour.

Last year’s 78-player Toshiba field included 30 of top 31 money

winners, who earn automatic exemptions for the next year.

“The only tournament that had a better field was the Ford Senior

Players Championship, which is a major on the Senior Tour and operated by

the PGA Tour and not a local entity like Hoag Hospital,” said tournament

director Jeff Purser, whose management team has raised $3.7 million in

charitable dollars in the four years under his watch.

“We only missed Bob Murphy, who is a past Toshiba champion (1997),

because he had duties and a contract with NBC to cover last year,” Purser

added. “So we would have had all top 31. The next closest tournament was

29 and there was only one of those, and everyone else was 28 or below.”

Last week, Purser said the 2002 field will be very strong again,

perhaps better than last year.

Arnold Palmer, however, is not expected to be among the 78 players in

the Toshiba field March 4-10.

The King, who played here in 2000 for the first time and created a

stir like Elvis was coming to town, will once again stay close to his

tournament, the Bay Hill Invitational in Florida, which is played on the

PGA Tour shortly after the Toshiba Classic.

“Obviously we would love to have him,” Purser said. “It would mean

everything in the world to us. But it’s just not feasible for him to do

that.”

Still, the Toshiba field should rival last year’s, when the only

in-season professional golf tournament in Orange County had a stronger

field the Countrywide Tradition, a major championship that hosted 29 of

the top 31.

“We appreciate the support of the Senior Tour players,” Purser said.

“Even during the years when we were the only West Coast event on the

early part of the schedule, the players supported this tournament and we

always enjoyed solid fields. Now that we’re part of the three-event West

Coast Swing for the second year, we look forward to hosting just as

strong a field, maybe even stronger.”

In a Toshiba Senior Classic promotion, the event is hooking up with

Roger Dunn Golf Shops (with five Southland locations, including Santa

Ana, Seal Beach, Anaheim and Mission Viejo) on an opportunity drawing to

win a round with Fuzzy Zoeller in the Monday Pro-Am March 4 at Newport

Beach.

The winner of the drawing will play nine holes with Zoeller and

another member of the Senior PGA Tour for nine holes.

Officials from Kraft, which is sponsoring Zoeller and paying him an

appearance fee, will play with Mr. Personality after the turn.

“It’s $20 to enter, and all the proceeds are benefiting Hoag

Hospital,” said Purser, who added that, while it might be tough to reach

the $1 million plateau in charitable giving this year following 9/11,

it’s possible to achieve the benchmark the Toshiba Classic has

established in back-to-back years.

Unlike most years, the golf course at Newport Beach remains very much

the same way it was last year, when Jose Maria Canizares won a nine-hole

playoff against Gil Morgan.

“We really haven’t changed anything from last year,” Newport Beach

Country Club President Jerry Anderson said. “We’ve rebuilt a couple of

tees, but we really haven’t changed anything. We’ve focused more on just

getting the golf course ready for the Toshiba and making sure it’s in

premiere condition.”

Anderson said PGA Tour officials were out inspecting superintendent

Ron Benedict’s masterpiece in early January and had nothing but positive

comments.

“The changes we’ve made over the last few years are really maturing,”

Anderson said. “The landscaping (at the par-3 No. 4 over water) is really

coming out.”

Before last year’s tournament, the course changed the hole at 18,

building mounds behind a newly elevated green for a different look on

players’ approach shots.

While the golf course isn’t long (6,584 yards), it features subtle and

difficult greens, giving the layout some teeth.

“The winning scores here have been 10-to-12-under,” Anderson said. “A

lot of these tournaments are (posting winning scores of) 18-to-20-under,

even for three rounds. So this golf course has held up extremely well for

the Senior PGA Tour players. People are out there having fun. They’re not

burning it up.”

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.