Simi Valley Senior Golf Tournament : Mowry and Henning Share Lead but Not Opinion of Course

Larry Mowry and Harold Henning were tied for the lead after 36 holes of the GTE Senior tournament, but they expressed different opinions of the Wood Ranch Golf Course in Simi Valley.

Although the winds died down Saturday, the 6,727-yard layout with the tricky undulating greens and severe rough proved a puzzle to the 50-and-older golfing set.

There were only seven rounds under par, including Mowry’s 69, which enabled him to catch Henning, the first-day leader, at three-under-par 141. Henning had a double-bogey 6 on the 16th and finished with a 1-over-par 73 after his 68 in high winds Friday.

Going into the final 18 holes, there were six golfers within three strokes of the leaders. One behind was Don Bies, who became eligible for the PGA Seniors Tour in December. Bies shot a 69 to tie Mowry for the low round of the second day.

Butch Baird and Orville Moody were at 143. Miller Barber, who birdied three of the last four holes in relative calm; Chi Chi Rodriguez, and Japan’s Shigeru Uchida were at 144.

Dale Douglass was at 145. Defending champion Bob Charles soared to a 78 and was at 148. Arnold Palmer had shot a 6-over 78 and is far back at 154. Walter Zembriski, who was only one shot behind Henning Friday, shot a 77 and is at 146.

Mowry likens Wood Ranch to a U.S. Open course with heavy rough and fast greens. Henning said that the course is difficult mainly because the greens are unfair.

“I can show you 70 guys in the clubhouse that will agree that the greens are unfair,” Henning said. “I don’t agree with Larry that it is a U.S. Open course, nor that the rough is severe.

“This is a beautifully laid out course. It’s just that with the wind blowing all the time, it makes the greens and some of the holes ridiculous.

“There is not much of a base to the greens, so watering doesn’t solve the problem because it runs off or dries up in the wind, making the surface brittle. The greens often made us look like absolute fools.

“I played with Bob Charles, maybe the best putter there is. I don’t think he sank a single putt all day. When that happens, something is wrong.

“Take the 17th (183 yards, par 3). I had a 7-foot downhill putt. But, because of the slope, I was trying to two-putt.

“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but the winner won’t be decided until late in the day.”

Mowry is so excited about his success on the Senior Tour that he can hardly find fault with anything but his driving.

“I consider this a great golf course,” he said. “It is by far the toughest course we play on the tour. It should be very interesting tomorrow. I like to play aggressively, but sometimes on this course you have to back off. Otherwise, you would wind up three-putting from 7 feet on a downhill putt.”

Mowry wasn’t the only one just happy to be here. Bies, who has been eighth twice and ninth once in his previous tournaments, had been looking forward to becoming 50 for a long time.

“Besides giving me a chance to make some money,” he said, “it gave me a chance to be with my friends again. I played with Butch (Baird) today, and he’s been a friend for a long time.

“I am surprised that it’s so competitive out here. Look how many have a chance to win tomorrow.”

There may be considerable disagreement on what makes Wood Ranch such a tough course, but there is agreement on the toughest hole.

It’s the 429-yard first hole, a dogleg in which the golfer’s second shot goes into the teeth of the wind.

All agree it may be the toughest single hole the seniors play.

“Last year, it played downwind,” Mowry said. “But this year, I haven’t reached it in regulation yet. I’ve under clubbed each time.”

In the first two rounds, there were two birdies on the par-4 hole, 56 pars, 59 bogeys and 24 double bogeys or higher. The stroke average is 4.76.

Howie Johnson practically owns the Southern California portion of the Super Seniors.

He added the $7,000 first prize in the 36-hole tournament for the 60-and-older group to his list.

Johnson, although he shot a 2-over 74, won with a 5-over 149 when 72-year-old Freddie Haas barely missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole.

Last year, Johnson won the Super Seniors at both the Vintage and at Wood Ranch.