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.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.