Toshiba drawing top 30

The reasons are numerous why the Toshiba Senior Classic is so

attractive to players on the PGA Champions Tour, but a sense of

timing might top the list.

Timing as in time of year.

It’s early in the season for the players, their spirits are

renewed and competitive juices are flowing freely, like a smooth

fairway shot with a 3-iron and a breeze behind you.

No matter where they finished on the tour money list in 2002, all

is forgiven and forgotten. Following the February Florida swing, the

tour comes West, beginning in Mexico this week, then to Southern

California for the SBC Classic at Valencia and the Toshiba Classic

March 17-23 at Newport Beach Country Club.

The early player commitment list for this year’s Toshiba Classic,

once again star-studded, includes 30 of the top 31 from last year’s

money list. Isao Aoki, No. 31 on last year’s money list, has not

committed to play. That means for three straight years, the event has

drawn 30 of the top 31 players from the prior year’s money list, a

feat that even some major championships were unable to accomplish.

(There’s still time for Aoki to commit and give the Toshiba event a

perfect record with top-31 players.)

Even during years when the Toshiba Classic was the only event on

the West Coast, it still attracted a strong field -- no doubt also

because of the hefty purse (this year it’s $1.55 million) and

senior-friendly golf course at Newport Beach (6,584 yards).

“The Toshiba Senior Classic has always enjoyed enormous support

from the Champions Tour players,” Tournament Director Jeff Purser

said. “It’s very rewarding to us that the Champions Tour stars turn

out to our event in such great numbers. They are the reason this

event is so highly anticipated.”

The Toshiba event has placed No. 1 among non-major championships

on the tour in terms of strength of field in a study conducted by the

PGA Tour.

The event, which has drawn the top of the class no matter where it

has fit on the calendar, will even host Bruce Lietzke for the first

time this year.

Lietzke, who has never competed in the Toshiba Senior Classic, has

always played a limited schedule and performed well in his career. He

was the envy of the PGA Tour, never competing in more than 20 events

over the course of the year, but always finishing high enough to

retain his card with an exempt status.

Of the top seven money winners from last year, Lietzke played in

the fewest tournaments (22), while winning three events and earning

over $1.5 million. He ended seventh on the money list.

Defending Toshiba Classic champion Hale Irwin heads an impressive

list of committed players for the 2003 event, a field that also

includes Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Fuzzy Zoeller, Gary McCord, Lee

Trevino, Ray Floyd, Ben Crenshaw, Larry Nelson, Allen Doyle, John

Jacobs, Dave Stockton, Jim Colbert, Bruce Fleisher, Doug Tewell, Jim

Thorpe and Lanny Wadkins.

*

Several golf fans will be inside the ropes during the championship

rounds of the Toshiba Classic, and some will even be swinging clubs.

The Toshiba Classic will host a new Honorary Observer contest in

conjunction with two sponsors.

Winners will be allowed to walk inside the ropes with a marquee

pairing of Champions Tour players.

There will be two winners for each day of championship play (March

21-23), a total of six winners. Each winner can also bring one guest

inside the ropes.

Those six winners will join 44 others in the Cadillac Hole-in-One

Challenge on the 18th hole at Newport Beach Country Club following

the final round of play. The participants, who will be firing at a

green encircled by skyboxes and a Sunday crowd, all get one shot at

the hole. The first to make a hole-in-one will win a new Cadillac

Escalade.

If nobody wins the car, a $500 consolation prize will be awarded

to the golfer who is closest to the pin.

Each participant will tee off from a temporary tee set up at the

18th fairway approximately 160 yards from the hole (not the official

18th tee that’s 510 yards away from the green). Each participant

receives two tickets to Sunday’s final round.

“We expect this to be a popular promotion,” Purser said. “We’ve

never had fans inside the ropes for 18 holes, let alone shooting for

the same 18th pin that just challenged the pros.”

For details on the contest or tickets for the event: (949)

660-1001 or log on to www.ToshibaSeniorClassic.com.

*

Two local pros, Eric Woods of Newport Beach and Bryan Saltus of

Costa Mesa, are playing again on the Canadian Tour.

After two events, Saltus is 42nd on the money list at $1,760,

while Woods, a two-time Order of Merit champion on the tour (1993 and

‘94), came home without a paycheck last week.

*

Former Corona del Mar High golf standout Chad Towersey, a regular

on the Southern California Golf Association championship circuit, is

a host on Fox Sports Net’s “54321,” a show focusing on extreme sports

and interviews with those athletes.