Mathis Senior Golf Tournament : Douglass (Who Else?) Still Leads

Any day now, look for them to change the name of the Senior PGA Tour to the Dale Douglass Tour. That’s how well he is playing.

The youngest player in this over-50 group shot his ninth consecutive subpar round, a three-under-par 69, Saturday at MountainGate Country Club for a 36-hole total of 136 in the $250,000 Johnny Mathis tournament.

Naturally, Douglass leads the tournament. Except for his first round in his three tournaments as a senior, he has led or been tied for the lead after every round.

Leading for eight consecutive rounds is a record for the Senior Tour, though not for the regular PGA Tour. Tom Place, the premiere PGA statistician, recalled that in 1980 Tom Watson did better, leading wire-to-wire in three consecutive tournaments he entered.

If the finely honed machine that is Dale Douglass falters on the final round today, there are challengers ready to make a move. Two strokes behind is Bruce Crampton, after shooting his second consecutive 69. Three behind, at 139, are Chi Chi Rodriguez and two surprise contenders--Mike Fetchick and Ben Smith.

At 140 are left-hander Bob Charles, Art Wall and Harold Henning. Defending champion Peter Thomson, Charlie Owens, Lee Elder, John Brodie and Bob Brue are bunched at 141 and would appear to have only a slim chance.

But the Senior Tour has belonged to Douglass, who has a chance to win more money in his first three weeks after turning 50 than he won in any of his 23 years on the regular PGA Tour.

If he wins top prize of $37,500 today, Douglass will have earned $96,000 in his brief career as a senior. In 1969, his best year on the regular tour, he won two tournaments and earned $91,553. In his debut two weeks ago, he lost a playoff to Owens. Last week he won by four strokes at the Vintage, and here he is leading again. How long will it last?

“I don’t know--I’m just going to keep on enjoying what I’ve been doing,” Douglass said. “I hope I just keep being asked to come in here (the interview room).”

There was some thought that when Douglass faltered slightly on the final holes in the cold Friday afternoon, he was losing the fine edge that is the difference between winning and just playing well. Douglass wasn’t among those with such thoughts, however.

“That thought never occurred to me until you brought it up,” he said. “I would just as soon you wouldn’t bring up things like that.”

The weather turned nice Saturday, with the sun shining most of the time. But there wasn’t any change in the format. Everyone is still chasing Douglass.

Crampton, who won 16 tournaments on the regular tour and played in three senior events last year after becoming 50, is optimistic about his chances.

“Anytime you’re within striking distance, you have a chance,” he said. “If I didn’t feel that way, I wouldn’t be out here. Dale is playing fantastic golf, but maybe his hot streak will rub off on me.”

Joining Douglass in the final threesome today will be Rodriguez. In his sixth tournament as a senior, the popular Puerto Rican is in contention for the sixth time.

“If I was putting well, I could have won several tournaments already,” Rodriguez said. “Winning that first one is tough. After that they just keep coming. I’m looking forward to playing with Dale. Sometimes when you play with the best, you play your best. Besides, he is low key and a pleasure to play with.”

Others may play better, but nobody seems to have a better time playing than Chi Chi, pro golf’s master of the one-liners. Throughout the round, he exchanged quips with the fans. He was with Lee Elder and John Brodie. They had the biggest gallery.

“If I had been a great putter,” he said, “like Arnold Palmer, nobody would ever have heard of Jack Nicklaus.

“I was a great putter until I wrote an article on putting. I was paid $50 for the article, and I’ve paid for it ever since.

“At the 16th, somebody parked a golf cart in the middle of the fairway and I hit it. The second shot on the hole is a blind shot, so I didn’t see the cart. I would have been on the green in 2 and had a shot at an eagle. Instead, I got a cart and a par.

“On those blind holes you go by feel. You should bring a seeing-eye dog.”

The strangest round of the day was the 71 shot by Brodie, the former Stanford and San Francisco 49er quarterback who gave up a career as a broadcaster to try his hand at the Senior Tour. He failed to make it at the qualifying school but received one of his two sponsor exemptions he is entitled to for this tournament.

Brodie made some fabulous shots Saturday but also resembled a duffer on several occasions. On the front nine, for instance, he shot a 38. He had three birdies but also had a triple bogey and two bogeys. On the 427-yard par-4 sixth hole, he needed three shots to get out of deep grass, then missed an eight-foot putt and had a 7.

He also made a 30-foot putt for birdie on No. 11 and hit a shot from a deep fairway bunker on No. 3 to within 12 feet of the cup and sank the putt for a birdie. He has a chance to make a good purse with some consistency today.