CHI CHI IS BUSY BUSY : The Popular Star of the Senior Golf Tour Is a Man on the Go--Constantly

In a way, it’s a shame there is only one Chi Chi Rodriguez. There is such demand for the new star of the PGA’s Senior Tour that one is not enough.

Rodriguez, who last year became the first golfer in the 50-and-over group to win more than half a million dollars in a season, is one of the favorites in the 72-hole, $350,000 Vintage Chrysler Invitational opening today on two courses at the lavish Vintage Country Club.

The 54-man field, one of the toughest on the tour, is headed by Gary Player, the new season’s leading money winner and winner of the last two tournaments, and defending champion Bob Charles.

Although he is fifth on the money list, Rodriguez, who won seven tournaments last year, hasn’t won one this season and is feeling the pressure caused by last year’s amazing success.

“I’ve really learned to appreciate what Arnold Palmer has had to go through for the last 20 years,” Rodriguez said while trying to find time to get in a practice round before the tournament. “I don’t know how he has put up with all the pressure, all the demand on his time.

“I used to have all the time in the world. I’d do a few clinics, spend some time with my boys’ groups and play golf. All of a sudden, I’m in demand. There just isn’t enough time. People can’t understand it when I have to turn them down when they want me to make an appearance. There’s only one me, and I have only so much time. The pressure is too much.

“I had the flu for a couple of weeks, and my putting hasn’t been too good. But I’m confident and I’ll start winning again.”

When Rodriguez became eligible for the Senior Tour in late October, 1985, he said he would have to hurry and win a lot of money and a lot of tournaments before Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino became eligible.

He did very well in 1986, his rookie year, winning three tournaments and $399,000. That performance, though, paled in comparison to his accomplishments last year. The popular Puerto Rican, a slender 132 pounds but a deceptively long hitter, had a fabulous season.

Besides winning seven times, he was second four times, third three times and finished in the top 10 in 20 of the 27 tournaments he entered. He had the hottest month a senior golfer has ever had, winning three straight tournaments, taking a week off, then winning the next. No other Senior has ever had such a year.

“No, it doesn’t surprise me that I’ve done this well,” Rodriguez said. “I knew that if I putted well, I would win. With all those young guys on the other tour, I became a short hitter. On this one I’m one of the three longest hitters. It makes a difference.

” I am a confident player and I love the challenge of competing with these guys. I feel I can win every week.”

There was a time last spring when Rodriguez’s confidence was at an ebb. He had finished with a 76, and had taken an 8 on one hole in the event at Albuquerque May 3.

Bob Toski, one of the best teaching pros and a top player on the super-seniors’ tour for golfers 60 and older, was in the Fort Worth airport, getting ready to catch a plane for San Antonio to play in a tournament there. He saw Rodriguez, also getting ready to fly to San Antonio.

“I thought he was sick,” Toski said. “He looked terrible. I asked him what was the matter.”

It turned out that Rodriguez, in despair over his poor putting, had spent two days in his hotel brooding about the problem. He asked Toski to play nine holes with him and see if he could find out what was wrong.

“He didn’t want anybody to know about it,” Toski said. “Right away, I saw what was wrong. He was uppercutting his putts. I showed him what he was doing wrong. Chi Chi is such an emotional guy that I just told him, ‘Try it and if it doesn’t work, just forget it.’

“I had to leave after nine holes to conduct a clinic, but Chi Chi said he was going to play the last nine by himself, and please don’t tell anyone. It must have worked, because he saw me after the round and said he made five birdies.”

The rest is history. Rodriguez started his phenomenal string on May 6 in the Vantage. In a month and a day, he won four tournaments and $143,000, which is $30,000 more than he won in any of his 26 years on the regular tour. He played 12 rounds and in the worst shot a 70. He had a 63 and two 65s, going 58 strokes under par for the 12 rounds.

“Once Bob helped me with my putting, I was like a computer out there,” Rodriguez said. “I got to the point I was surprised if the putt didn’t drop. I don’t think I had more than two or three bogeys in the entire month. The money wasn’t important, it was the excitement of winning.”

During his hot streak, Rodriguez had one round in the rain when he made eight consecutive birdies, setting a Senior record and tying the best ever on the PGA tour.

The spree ended in the senior Tournament Players Championship at Sawgrass in Florida, June 10-14. He opened that tournament with a 65, which was a record seven under par. That put him 65 shots under in 13 rounds.

He proved he was human, though, when he shot a par 72 in the second round, then a 74, his first round over par since May 3. He rallied with a 70 in the final round, but when Player sank a 7-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, Rodriguez wound up tied with Bruce Crampton for second, one shot behind.

Rodriguez has not let success go to his head.

“I am a role model for youngsters,” he said. “It would not be right for me to let money go to my head. What good is money if you don’t share it? I’m a person who lives with my needs, not my wants. I like people who share their wealth. If you use money as a weapon, you’re wrong.”

Rodriguez practices what he preaches. When he won the Silver Pages tournament last year, he donated $10,000 to the victims of a tornado that had destroyed the town of Saragosa, Tex. Now, he is sending John Lynch, his favorite caddy, to college.

“John’s 21, and though he is the best caddy I ever had, I don’t want him to be a caddy all his life,” Rodriguez said. “He just started back to Ohio Wesleyan, and we’re helping him.”

In the Vintage, one of two senior tournaments in which amateurs play in rounds that count toward the championship, the first two rounds are played on two courses. Each pro plays a round on the Desert course and another on the Mountain course. The last two rounds are then played on the Mountain course.

As it will be in the GTE tournament next week at Wood Ranch in Simi Valley, there is a super-senior tournament running simultaneously with the regular Senior event. Twelve members of the 60-and-older group will play a 54-hole tournament for a $35,000 purse, the winner collecting $7,000. He can also win money in the regular Senior portion by playing the final round Sunday.