Senior Golf : Bad Back and All, His 68 Is Vintage Palmer

After spending a sleepless night because of the pain from a disintegrating disk in his back, Arnold Palmer went out and shot one of his best rounds of golf in a long time in the opening round of the Vintage Invitational senior tournament here Thursday.

Playing the shorter, tricky Desert Course, Palmer shot a 68, four under par, and is a stroke behind the leader, Dale Douglass, the newest member of the 50-or-over golfing set. Palmer is tied with George Lanning, who shot his 68 on the Mountain Course, which is some 600 yards longer.

Douglass, also playing the Desert Course, started on the 10th hole. He shot a 31 on his first nine, although he had only one par. The nine included a double bogey, an eagle, a hole in one on the 16th, a bogey and four birdies.

On his second nine he parred the first seven holes and finished with a 31-36--67. Two strokes behind Douglass at 69 are Lee Elder, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Howie Johnson and Dan Sikes.

Defending champion Peter Thomson had putting woes and shot a three-over 75 on the short course. Leading money winner Charles Owens, also on the Desert, shot a 73.

About half the gallery followed Palmer, naturally. During the night when he had so much pain, he was afraid he would have to disappoint his army. Three weeks ago, the back was so painful that he had to withdraw from the Senior PGA in Florida.

“I don’t think I had an hour’s sleep last night,” Palmer said after firing five birdies on the first six holes of the back nine to zoom into contention. “I still wasn’t sure I would make it to the tee when I finally got up and did my exercises. I began to show improvement and came to the club.

“Surprisingly, the back didn’t impair my swing at all. In fact, it feels better than it has in several weeks. I hit the ball off the tee as well as I have in a long time. The long and straight drives gave me a chance at even more birdies than I made.

“But, it seemed every time I made a birdie run, I hit an iron too long and made a bogey. I really feel encouraged about my back, though.”

It could be that the 88-degree weather helped Palmer loosen his back. On the other hand, because the format the first two days of the 72-hole tournament calls for each pro to play with four amateurs, it took more than five hours for each group to finish.

The slow play apparently didn’t bother him, or Douglass, a tall, slim player who is getting a new lease on life since he became eligible to join the old fellows just 15 days ago.

In his first tournament last week at Sun City, Ariz., he tied Owens, then lost the playoff on the second hole. The $17,000 he won for finishing second was more than he had earned on the regular PGA Tour in any year since 1979. And now, he is in position to win even more.

“The Senior tour is wonderful for all of us when we reach 50,” said Douglass, who played in 12 tournaments on the regular tour last year and earned only $2,662. “But, anyhow, I came into this tour playing very well. I competed at Phoenix and Hawaii on the regular tour and made the cut in both of them.

“I really had a peculiar first nine. On the first hole I played (a 370-yard par 4) I hit a 6-iron over the green and actually one-putted to make my six. Then, on 12 (his third hole, a par 5 with water guarding the front of the green), I hit a 2-iron 30 feet from the pin and sank for the eagle. On 16 I hit an 8-iron--I figured it was 140 yards. The ball landed two feet past the cup and came back into the hole.

“I’m not sure how many hole-in-ones I’ve had, but I think it is 12 or 13. It was just part of a crazy nine. On the only hole I parred of the nine, the 17th, a par 5, I missed a 10-foot putt for my birdie.”