Golf : Watson Hopes Vacation Will End His Two-Year Winless Streak

Tom Watson set another PGA tour record in 1986, earning $200,000 for the 10th straight year.

But as he began his 1987 season last week at the Bob Hope-Chrysler Classic, he had another streak on his mind. He has gone more than two years without winning a tournament.

For someone who has won 36 tournaments, including 8 majors, in 16 years on the tour, that constitutes a crisis.

So Watson, 37, took a crisis measure at the end of last year.

He took a vacation.

“I took time off from the game without touching a club,” he said last week.

“I went five weeks without playing, went to San Antonio for a tournament and Japan for another one, and then didn’t touch a club for two more weeks.

“The last time I went that long without playing was when I was a sophomore in college.”

Listening as Watson talked was Fuzzy Zoeller, who asked, “Were you burned out?”

“I was frustrated,” said Watson, who finished in the top 10 in 10 tournaments last year but never better than third.

“After trying to fight through it by working harder, I tried the alternative and didn’t work at all. People said, ‘He’s given up.’ But I needed a big breath of fresh air.

“Even my wife said, ‘When are you going to start again?’ I told her the whole idea was to spend a lot of quiet time. I thought about the game some. There were times when I wanted to be on the golf course, but I took myself out of the ballgame and stayed out.”

Watson said it’s too early to tell whether the rest helped, but he did have a hole-in-one on New Year’s Day.

“I hope that’s a good omen,” he said.

Zoeller said he never fails to take time off at the end of the year.

“I figure that if I work my butt off for 10 months, the last two months are mine,” he said.

“I’ve played in the Skins Game the last two years, but that’s the only time my clubs are unpacked until January.”

Someone suggested that Zoeller must have been pumped up for the tour opener, the MONY Tournament of Champions at La Costa.

“No,” he said, “I was trying to find my ball.”

Zoeller finished 22nd in a 29-man field at 292, four over par.

Trivia Question: Besides winning the tournament, what do the last five champions of the Hope have in common?

In a State-of-the-Tour address last week, PGA Commissioner Deane Beman said that the men’s pro game has never had a better year than in 1986.

“Last year at this time, there was a lot of concern about how healthy the tour was,” he said. “The concern was that too many no-name players were winning and that the name players were not doing as well.

“One year later, there is no controversy. Even though there were more first-time winners (11) in ’86 than in ‘85, I haven’t heard one word about that.

“We had young players, like Bob Tway, emerging, while our veterans, like Ray Floyd and Jack Nicklaus, won significant tournaments. That’s the basic fabric of the tour, the veteran players coming to the forefront and the young players challenging them.”

Trivia Answer: Ed Fiori, Keith Fergus, John Mahaffey, Lanny Wadkins and Donnie Hammond all won in playoffs.

Mac O’Grady, who was fined $5,000 and suspended for six weeks last year for conduct unbecoming to the tour, has promised to stay out of trouble in 1987.

Beman said that was a victory not only for the tour but also for O’Grady.

“The major thrust of what he’s said is that the matter is behind him and he wants to play golf,” Beman said. “That’s the way it should be. I much prefer to see players on the sports pages for the way they’re playing.

“I applaud his interest in making his clubs do the talking. Nobody can deny that, as long as he concentrates, his clubs can do considerable talking.”

On the subject of considerable talking, here’s the quote of the week from--who else?--Fuzzy Zoeller.

Discussing his frequent back problems, he said: “I wouldn’t wish a bad back on anyone, except the nun I had for a teacher in the first grade. Her, I don’t care about.”

Golf Notes

Players can still enter the first Michelob Major League Baseball Players Alumni Assn. benefit golf tournament, Feb. 9, at Mission Viejo Country Club. Proceeds will benefit the Orange County Burn Assn. and the MLBPAA Benefit Fund. Among players and former players who have committed to play are Ernie Banks, Billy Martin, Don Sutton, Bert Blyleven, Graig Nettles, Jay Johnstone and Rod Carew. Also playing is Tony Muser, Milwaukee’s third-base coach who was severely burned in an explosion last year at the Brewers’ spring training facility. He was treated at the UC Irvine Burn Center, which supports the Orange County Burn Assn. Anyone interested in playing should call John Hopkins at (714) 640-1770. Sutton is the host of his own tournament Monday at the Pala Mesa Resort in Fallbrook. . . . Sutton’s former teammate, Steve Garvey, will host his own tournament Jan. 26. The fourth annual Steve Garvey Celebrity golf tournament, a one-day event at Bernardo Heights CC, was originally scheduled for Jan. 5, but was postponed because of rain. . . . For $45, players of all handicaps can participate in the Ben King Golf School, an instructional course held one Saturday a month at the Bellflower Golf and Tennis Club. The registration fee also includes lunch. For details, contact Al Bertrand at (213) 920-8882.

Gene Littler, Lloyd Mangrum, Fred Sherman and Joe Warburton have been nominated for the SoCal PGA Hall of Fame. A maximum of three will be inducted at a dinner Feb. 10 at the Hacienda Golf Club in Whittier. . . . On the Tuesday before the LPGA’s GNA/Glendale Federal Tournament, March 2-8 at Oakmont Country Club, there will be an 18-hole skins game involving five players. The players have yet to be announced.

Kay Cockerill, the U.S. Amateur champion and former UCLA player, has been inducted into San Diego State’s Lady Aztec Golf Hall of Fame. She won the 1983 Lady Aztec. Also inducted was Mark Gale, San Jose State’s golf coach. . . . GTE has signed to sponsor the Senior PGA tournament at the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, March 23-29.