Toshiba Senior Classic Golf: Fourth straight top-3 finish for Doyle

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Allen Doyle said a fast start was necessary Sunday

in the final round to catch leader Hale Irwin in the Toshiba Senior

Classic at Newport Beach Country Club.

“I didn’t get started quick, and I only played the first eight holes

at 1-under,” Doyle said. “The first three holes on the golf course are

good holes to birdie and you’ve got to make some, but I drove a couple of

tee shots in the rough (and scrambled for par).”

Doyle, the 2000 Toshiba Classic champion and last year’s leading money

winner on the Senior PGA Tour, posted his 11th straight sub-70 round in

as many starts at Newport Beach and finished second to Irwin.

While Irwin won with a tournament scoring record of 17-under 196,

Doyle placed in the top three in the Toshiba for the fourth consecutive

year.

“The scores I get here are like what I get at my home course (in La

Grange, Ga.),” Doyle said. “Shooting (201) wasn’t good enough for this

year. But second ain’t bad. I did as good as I can do. I’ve had a second,

first, third and second here. This tournament has been good to me. Maybe

we should set up a Doyle annuity.”

Doyle, who started this year’s Toshiba Classic as the event’s all-time

money leader, has earned $515,800 in four Newport stops, second now to

Irwin’s $581,615 in six Toshiba starts.

Irwin started Sunday with a three-shot lead, and it was never less

than two in the final round, before winning by five strokes over Doyle,

who shot 66-68-67--201.

“Sometimes it seems like everybody and their brother comes out fast,

then other times, like today, no one comes out fast,” Doyle said. “We’ll

come back next year and try to do the same thing.”

Toshiba Classic co-chairman Hank Adler stood on the 18th green while delivering his post-tournament message to the gallery, and, before

presenting another $1 million check to Hoag Hospital, quipped: “When

someone tells you it’s not about the money, it’s all about money.”

The tournament became the first stop in Senior Tour history to raise

$1 million for charity in three consecutive years.

“We’re pleased to welcome back two great friends this year -- Hale

Irwin as our champion and the sun,” Adler said, referring to inclement

weather during the 2000 and 2001 Toshiba Senior Classics, including a

final-round cancellation two years ago. “Given the economic climate of

the past year, there is no doubt that this donation is the Toshiba Senior

Classic’s finest charitable accomplishment to date.”

The Toshiba Classic has now exceeded $4.7 million in the five years

since Hoag Hospital became the tournament’s managing operator and lead

charity.

The par-3 hole No. 8 at Newport Beach has always been considered

difficult, but for the first time it played as the toughest hole on the

golf course in the Toshiba Classic.

Hole No. 8 ranked No. 1 with a 3.233 scoring average. It yielded only

11 birdies, the fewest in the tournament, and forced a tournament-high 57

bogeys.

It has ranked in the top five in terms of toughness five years in a

row, but its lowest ranking before this year was third in 1998.

Tom Jenkins ran his string of consecutive holes without a bogey to 62

when he became the 12th player in Senior PGA Tour history to play a

bogey-free tournament.

Jenkins had come into the event with eight straight bogey-free holes

in last week’s SBC Senior Classic at Valencia Country Club.

Jenkins, who finished tied for 10th at 7-under 206, is the first

Senior Tour player to play an event without a bogey since 2000, when Joe

Inman accomplished the feat at the EMC Kaanapali Classic.