Toshiba Senior Classic Golf: It’s tournament time

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Almost any professional golfer can catch fire for a

weekend and win the eighth annual Toshiba Senior Classic, which opens for

Senior PGA Tour members today in the first round at Newport Beach Country

Club.

“It’s whoever gets hot,” said veteran Larry Ziegler, who should know,

considering how his sizzling putter propelled him to second place at the

Senior Tour National Qualifying Tournament last fall, becoming the second

oldest player at 62 to earn an exemption at Q School, after he lost his

card last year.

Ziegler, one of 78 pros in one of the tour’s strongest fields today

through Sunday, said Tom Watson, Hale Irwin and long hitter John Jacobs

should be some of the guys to watch atop the leader board this weekend.

But Ben Crenshaw, one of the most anticipated rookies on the Senior

Tour in 2002, could finally be a factor, since Newport Beach is one of

the few golf courses with which he’s familiar.

“At least it’s one of the few golf courses I’ve played,” said

Crenshaw, who is still trying to find his swing since playing a limited

PGA Tour schedule the past few years.

Crenshaw, 78th on the Senior PGA Tour money list after three events at

$17,520, and Fuzzy Zoeller -- the tour’s other marquee rookie with major

championships to his credit -- have both struggled since the season

started.

But Crenshaw, a part-time Dana Point resident who has played several

rounds at Newport Beach with club president Jerry Anderson, said he has

watched the Toshiba the last three years on television.

“Some people think the scores should be lower, upon looking at the

golf course, but it doesn’t end up that way,” Crenshaw said after his

pro-am round Thursday. “You’ve got to place the ball well on these

greens. It’s a nice little defense for the golf course. Jerry Anderson

always says it looks like you can tear it apart (at only 6,584 yards, the

shortest on the Senior Tour), but the scores aren’t as low as you’d

think.”

Added Ziegler: “For a short golf course, the greens are a great

equalizer ... you won’t see a bad putter here as the winner. The greens

get you crying pretty quick. The golf course is in great shape, too. The

rain helped tremendously, because it’ll soften the greens ... the greens

here will bring you to your knees.”

The tournament’s official weather report for today mostly sunny skies

with temperatures in the mid-60s and 5-to-10 mph southwest winds.

In other words, ideal conditions.

“The golf course is in great shape,” Irwin said Thursday. “It’s

probably in its best shape since I’ve played here (every year since

Newport Beach took over as host in 1996, after Mesa Verde Country Club

held the inaugural Toshiba Classic in ‘95, one year before Irwin was

eligible for the 50-and-over circuit).”

The Toshiba Senior Classic, widely considered one of the best stops on

tour, has featured playoffs in three of the past five years and

one-stroke victories every year except one (1996, when Jim Colbert won by

two strokes).

Jose Maria Canizares, who beat Gil Morgan in a nine-hole playoff last

year, is the defending champion.

Second-round action is Saturday, with the final round Sunday.

For the second year in a row, the Toshiba Classic has attracted 30 of

the top 31 money leaders from the previous year, a fact usually reserved

for major championships.

But the purse ($1.5 million), timing of the event (early in the season

and the second of a three-stop California swing) and traditional style

golf course are a few of the reasons why players like coming here.

George Archer won the first Toshiba Classic, followed by Colbert, Bob

Murphy in 1997, Irwin in ‘98, Gary McCord in ‘99, Allen Doyle in 2000 and

Canizares last year.

Murphy won a nine-hole playoff over Jay Sigel, McCord beat Jacobs in a

memorable five-hole playoff and Irwin shot a course-record 62 on Sunday

to come from five strokes back and leapfrog past 11 players to win.

Irwin was also helped at 17 by the Famous Bunker Rake, which stopped

his ball from rolling into a lake, allowing him to get up and down for

par on his way to victory.