Simi Valley Senior Golf Tournament : Henning Shoots 68 to Take First-Round Lead

Walter Zembriski struck a blow for dreamers and orthodox putters Friday at Wood Ranch Golf Club, but Harold Henning and his long-handled putter are leading the GTE Senior tournament.

Although he managed to send only one shot with his driver onto the fairway and three-putted twice, Henning, the hottest player on the tour for golfers 50 and older, shot a 68, four under par. He leads former steelworker Zembriski by one shot, defending champion Bob Charles by two and Orville Moody by three.

On a windy day, they were the only golfers who broke par on the 6,727-yard course with the treacherous greens. Four others, including Dale Douglass and Larry Mowry were at par 72.

Most of the spectators followed Arnold Palmer, but he had trouble with the winds and the greens and shot a 76. A local favorite, Al Geiberger, shot a 79.

Zembriski has never won a tournament, either on the regular PGA Tour or the Senior PGA Tour, but his round was no fluke. He won $189,000 last year and has been close several times. The first tournament he played with the old-timers was the U.S. Seniors Open in 1985, and he led after two rounds before the pressure got him.

“I feel I am ready to win a tournament,” Zembriski said. “Every morning I get up and find it hard to believe I play golf with Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and people like that. You talk about a dream come true.

“But I started playing golf when I was 11, and when I was a steelworker, I got off at 3 every day and raced to the golf course. I had it in my mind to join the tour and won my PGA card in 1967.”

Recognition has always been a problem for the 5-foot 8-inch golfer with a weather-beaten face one might expect of a man who worked on tall buildings.

At the U.S. Open in 1978, after making the cut, Zembriski, decked out in red slacks and a white shirt, the attire worn by the locker-room attendants, was lying on a bench resting. Tom Weiskopf tapped him on the shoulder and asked Zembriski to open his locker and get his shoes shined.

“I have the locker next to yours,” Zembriski said. “And if I’m not mistaken, I’m a shot ahead of you, too.”

After Weiskopf checked it out, he apologized to Zembriski. But Zembriski knows he must win a tournament to stop being a virtual unknown.

“I’ll be ready when the time comes,” he said. “Quite a few pros have helped me with my game, but nobody can teach you how to handle pressure. I’ve been through the situations enough times that I can win if I’m in position.”

Of the par-breakers, Zembriski is the only golfer who uses a normal putting stroke. Charles, of course, is golf’s greatest left-hander. Henning and Moody use the long-handled putter designed by the late Dr. Joe Corvi and putt with their hands well apart, using a pendulum motion.

“I don’t want any part of those weird putters,” Zembriski said. “I use a Ping and a regular stroke. That’s all I need.”

Henning, who was 15 under par in the last two rounds at the Vintage tournament last week at Indian Wells, said he was fortunate to be four under.

“I played with Orville (Moody), and he is so good that he’s not very exciting,” Henning said. “I’m all over the place, and I add excitement.

“Considering all the undulations and the wind, I putted rather well again. The condition of the greens is outstanding. The surface is great, but the slope is something else.

“One of my three-putts was on the sixth hole, which I’m sure must have been earthquake damaged. It must be on the San Andreas Fault. It’s a par-5, and I hit my third shot past the pin and up the hill. Coming back, because of the earthquake damage, I had a drop of four stories and I was lucky to three-putt.

“I didn’t realize how good my round was until I saw all those double bogeys.”

Moody, who won the Vintage with a record 25-under par for 72 holes, wasn’t too unhappy with his 71. He missed a two-foot putt on his first hole, the 10th.

“I think the wind makes it tougher putting than anything else,” he said. “The wind dried out the greens and made them crusty around the hole. You really have to be careful.

“But I didn’t really play all that well. I don’t feel I have had a letdown after last week. I got away pretty good with one under.”

Roberto DeVicenzo of Argentina shot par 72 to take a two-stroke lead in his bid to win a second consecutive tournament for super-seniors, the event within the tournament for golfers 60 and over.

DeVicenzo had to overcome a six-shot deficit after shooting a 75 in the opening round at the Vintage.

“But that was a 54-hole tournament, and you can make up that much,” he said. “This is 36 holes, and it’s nice to have a two-stroke lead.”

Freddie Haas and Mike Fetchick tied for second place at 74. Haas, 72, had a good chance to become the only pro other than Sam Snead to shoot his age in a tournament. Haas was one under with five holes left, then bogeyed three in a row.