Toshiba Senior Classic Golf: Blue skies and green at the gate

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - With a booming first round at the gate, organizers

of the Toshiba Senior Classic are feeling pretty good these days about

achieving their goal of raising over $1 million in charity for the third

year in a row.

Whether it was the weather Friday or the onslaught of pre-tournament

publicity and advertising, the opening round of the eighth annual Senior

PGA Tour stop at Newport Beach Country Club had one of the biggest crowds

in recent memory.

“It was a huge crowd,” said Hank Adler, the Toshiba Senior Classic

co-chairman with Jake Rohrer. “It has to be the biggest Friday crowd

we’ve ever had. It’s been a spectacular crowd on a spectacular day. It’s

as good as it gets, and (today) is supposed to be even better.”

Tournament director Jeff Purser’s educated-guess estimate for Friday’s

crowd was between 17,000 and 18,000, perhaps rivaling the 1999 opening

round.

Someone over the Senior Tour intercom radio was heard commenting on

the size of Friday’s galleries.

Sammy Rachels had the first hole-in-one in tournament history when he

aced the par-3 No. 13 with a 6-iron from 167 yards. It was the sixth

hole-in-one of his career.

Dana Quigley is playing in his 159th consecutive tournament on the

Senior PGA Tour and the 173rd for which he has been eligible.

Defending champion Jose Maria Canizares opened with a 6-over-par 77 in

Friday’s first round and will tee off first with 71-year-old Gene Littler

at 7:50 a.m.

Gibby Gilbert withdrew following Friday’s round with an injury.

The most difficult hole in the first round was the par-3 No. 17 with

an average score of 3.308. Only four players posted birdies at 17 --

Wayne Levi, Al Geiberger, Vicente Fernandez and Larry Nelson.