Toshiba Senior Classic Golf: Watson a hot commodity

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - If you’re seeking a favorite in the Toshiba Senior

Classic, you’d be hard-pressed to look much farther than Tom Watson, who

won Wednesday’s Toshiba Pro-Am with a smooth 6-under-par 65 at Newport

Beach Country Club -- site of the eighth annual Senior PGA Tour event.

Watson, who lost in a two-hole playoff Sunday to Tom Kite in the SBC

Senior Classic at Valencia Country Club, has yet to win a tournament this

year on the Senior Tour, even though he owns the best scoring average

(69.0) on tour this year and is No. 1 on the all-around ranking.

Watson, fourth on the Senior Tour money list after only four events,

has been in the hunt every time he has teed it up in 2002, including

shooting a 14-under 64-66--130 at the ACE Group Classic, the lowest first

36 holes on the Senior Tour this year. He also made a hole-in-one in the

first round at the ACE in Naples, Fla., on the 154-yard No. 16 at Twin

Eagles.

Watson, however, shot a final-round 71 in Naples and finished second,

his second of three straight runner-up finishes.

After shooting 4-under 212 and tying for 12th at the season-opening

MasterCard Championship in Hawaii, Watson tied for second at the Royal

Caribbean Classic in Key Biscayne, Fla., with a 10-under 134 in a

shortened event.

Following Naples, Watson enjoyed the second-round lead at Valencia,

then lost to Kite in a playoff for his third consecutive bridesmaid

finish.

Last year in the Toshiba Senior Classic as a much-anticipated Senior

Tour rookie, Watson shot an opening-round 73, but improved each round

with a solid 68 on Saturday and 67 in the final round to recover and

finish tied for 12th.

Add Wednesday’s 65 to the mix and you begin to think about the former

Stanford great and eight-time major championship winner on the PGA Tour

as a viable contender for the eighth Toshiba title. There have been seven

different winners in seven previous years.

“I enjoy this golf course, because it requires a lot of high-quality

shots, most of which play into the greens, and the greens play a lot

smaller than they are,” Watson said.

“It might be the shortest golf course on the Senior PGA Tour (6,584

yards), but it doesn’t play like it’s that short. And you can get hurt

with some of the winds here, particularly at hole No. 5, the longest of

the par-4s, or the par-3 No. 8 or the par-4 No. 9 (a dogleg right).”

Watson, who won his first senior major at last year’s Senior PGA

Championship, birdied the par-3 No. 4 and the tough par-4 No. 6

Wednesday, then made a string of birdies on the back nine at 13, 15, 16

and 17. His eagle chip at 18 barely skated past the hole.

“I like it,” Watson said of his winning round of 33-32--65. “The

critical part of this golf course is that stretch on the front nine from

holes 5 through 9. You have to play those holes well to win the golf

tournament. It’s easy to make mistakes there.”

Ranked 11th on PGA Tour’s all-time win list with 34 titles and

six-time Player of the Year on the PGA Tour, Watson would be a dream

champion for Toshiba officials. Last year, the title sponsor invited him

to speak at the Tuesday community breakfast and he was insightful,

interesting and just a little controversial.

While it’s impossible to predict a winner because anybody can get hot

in a three-round tournament, Watson is a prime candidate for someone to

watch on the leader board Friday through Sunday.

Watson’s eight major championships include five British Opens, two

Masters and one U.S. Open Championship.