Simi Valley Senior Golf Tournament : Favorites Go Long Way on Putters

Orville Moody set all sorts of scoring records and won by 11 strokes last week in the Vintage Invitational golf tournament at Indian Wells, but he isn’t even the hottest player on the PGA Seniors Tour.

As the 50-and-older group winds up its visit to Southern California with the 54-hole GTE tournament beginning today at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, the really hot one is Harold Henning, the “other” South African.

Gary Player is home in South Africa, visiting his family this week, but Henning, who played the last 36 holes of the Vintage in a record 15 under par, 65-64--129, is bidding to end a recent trend in Southern California senior events.

In all three previous years, the winner of the Vintage won the Los Angeles area tournament the following week.

The first two were held at MountainGate. Peter Thomson won the Vintage in 1985, then scored again at MountainGate. In 1986, it was Dale Douglass who took both, and last year, Bob Charles, golf’s greatest left-hander, followed up the Vintage by winning the first senior tournament held over the difficult 6,727-yard Wood Ranch course.

The tour is evolving into a battle between unorthodox putters and orthodox putters. At the moment, the “weird” strokers are in command.

Moody and Henning wield the long sticks, and Roberto DeVicenzo, who won the super-seniors’ (60-and-over) competition last week in the desert, uses the sidesaddle putting method made famous by Sam Snead.

Henning and Moody both use the three-sided face designed by the late Dr. Joe Corvi, but the handles on their putters are different. Moody modified his, making it heavier and 50 inches long by inserting shafts from a pair of 2-irons. Henning uses a 49-inch handle that he keeps changing. The one he will use today is not the same as the putter he was so successful with at the Vintage. This one has a stiff shaft and is heavier.

“Everyone seems to think that you can pick up one of these long-handled putters and become an instant success,” Henning said. “But they’re wrong. It has to be custom-fitted to you.

“I tried half a dozen. One of them I was using at Melbourne (Fla.) last November. I played so poorly with it, I threw it into the bulrushes. You should have seen the spectators scramble after it.

“Even last week, I had two of them in my bag and it wasn’t until late in the second round that I realized I had the right one. I’ve been sinking putts ever since.”

Henning, 53, joined the U.S. tour in 1955. His only victory was in the 1966 Texas Open. He had been in retirement for seven years when the senior tour took off. Before he became eligible, he finished sixth in the 1983 British Open. His only win as a senior was in the 1985 Tucson match-play tournament.

Still, he has made more than $500,000. He earned almost $152,000 last year, although he missed a number of tournaments because of a rib injury and a disk problem in his back. He was suffering from the flu in Thursday’s pro-am competition.

“I feel sure this will be an injury-free year,” Henning said. “I finished third in the Aetna two weeks ago, second in the Vintage last week. Does that mean I win this week?

“I haven’t really been competitive because of putting problems. I really believe that Dr. Corvi’s putter has solved my difficulties--although I didn’t do too well with it today on these novelty greens.

“Putting on these tricky greens is like eating dinner in the dark. You don’t know what you have until you’re finished.

“Through the years, I have tried many putters and many styles, even cross-handed. With this one, I have my hands 18 inches apart and swing the putter like a pendulum. It has given me more confidence. I knew that if I didn’t improve my putting I would have to go back to doing what I did before the senior tour--mostly nothing. Nothing is what I do best.”

Moody is a bit concerned about the wind that always seems to blow at Wood Ranch.

“I like to hit a driver every time,” he said. “I’m just not a layup man. But with the wind and the narrow fairways, especially in the driving areas, lots of guys will be laying up.

“This is a difficult course when it’s windy. When you go into it uphill, it will be impossible to reach some greens. And when you’re downwind, it won’t help you that much. All I know is that I’m going to be hitting my driver and hoping for the best.

“But it’s difficult to win a tournament and back-to-back is even tougher. I just don’t want to change the trend.”