Golf : Future of Senior Tour Bright, Says Casper

The way Billy Casper looks at it, when Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino join the senior tour in a few months and others such as Raymond Floyd, Dave Stockton and Tom Weiskopf when they turn 50 in a couple of years, the regular PGA Tour may become a steppingstone to the seniors.

“I wouldn’t want to call (the regular tour) the minor leagues,” Casper said, jokingly, “but it’ll be where we get our new talent, sort of the way pro football does from the colleges.”

And, asks the two-time United States Open and one-time U.S. Senior Open champion, who would the public rather see: Nicklaus, Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Chi Chi Rodriguez, or Payne Stewart, Tom Kite, Mark Calcavecchia, Steve Jones and Paul Azinger, the top five U.S. money winners this season?

Casper, 58, has been on the senior tour since its second season and has seen it grow from two tournaments with a $250,000 payout to 41 tournaments with $19 million.

“With Jack and Lee coming in, it can’t help but get better, and better and better,” he said. “We’ve already seen some results. Cadillac has signed up as sponsor of 14 of our tournaments next year.

“Lee says he expects to play in about 30 tournaments a year, and we feel if Jack plays in 10, it will be a tremendous asset to all of us.”

Nicklaus, who will be 50 on Jan. 21, will make his debut Jan. 27-28 in the Senior Skins Game at Mauna Lani Resort in Hawaii. He will play with Trevino, Palmer and Player.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nicklaus play even more, once he gets with us and sees how much fun we have,” Casper said. “It’s a totally different atmosphere from the regular tour, which is so businesslike. I’m having the time of my life. Everywhere we go, we’re treated like royalty, like we’re kings of the hill.”

Casper is in town to participate in his 15th annual charity tournament Monday at Anaheim Hills Golf Club for the Brigham Young University athletic fund and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints missionary fund.

“Most of the golf pros who do charity events are paid a gratuity, but Billy has never taken a dime in the 15 years,” said Lupi Saldana, the tournament founder and co-chairman this year with Dean Alger. “And he’s come back every year, no matter what he’s been doing on the tour.”

The tournament will be a best-ball scrambles for $125, which includes a clinic by Casper and an awards dinner.

“I may enter my own team this year,” Casper said. “It’ll be four of my sons, Billy, 33; Bobby, 29; Byron, 21, and Charles, 19.”

Casper also does a similar event in Silver City, N.M.

“Silver City is where I learned to play golf, on my grandfather’s farm, so I go back there for Billy Casper Day and give a clinic and take part in a charity for the local hospitals,” he said.

Casper, who still has seven children living at home with him and his wife Shirley, recently moved to his old neighborhood in Bonita, in San Diego County, after spending more than 20 years in Utah.

“I felt that if I continue to play while growing older, I needed to be in the sunlight more,” he said. “In Utah, there are a lot of months where you don’t get to play. But the way the senior tour is going, I need to keep warm all year long so I’ll be ready.”

Casper won the U.S. Open in 1959, when he was 28, and again in 1966. He won the Senior Open in 1983.

“I’m often asked how I compare them and I’m not kidding when I say it was just as satisfying to win the Senior Open as it was the U.S. Open, maybe more so,” he said. “Each tournament I win, now that I’m approaching 60, I realize I don’t have that many more wins in me.

“When you’re in your 20s and you win, you think you’ll keep on winning forever, so I think you appreciate winning more when you’re in your 50s.”

Casper didn’t waste time jumping into the senior pool.

“I turned 50 on a Wednesday (June 24, 1981) and played in the pro-am Thursday and teed it up as a card-carrying senior on Friday. I think most of the fellows have that same attitude, especially now that the tour has grown beyond anyone’s expectations.”

Trevino will turn 50 on Dec. 1, which means he will miss playing in the GTE tournament at Ojai Valley by one day. That tournament starts Nov. 30. Trevino is expected to shoot for his first senior paycheck Dec. 5-9 in Hawaii.

Casper says that most of the sponsors and pro-am partners are about the same age as the senior players, so it is easier to closely associate with them than with the mass of younger, lesser known performers. And that, he adds, is largely responsible for the success of the senior tour.

“When the seniors started, many people were skeptical of the playing ability of men 50 years old and older, but I think in the nine years we’ve been playing that we have shown we can still play very good golf,” he said. “That is not true in most sports where the age factor is easily apparent.

“Now we have the super seniors for fellows 60 and older, like Sam (Snead) and Charlie Sifford and Jerry Barber. In two years I’ll be eligible for the supers and I’m already looking forward to it.

“I’m playing more tournaments than I did when I was in my 20s and 30s, and I’m having the time of my life. What more can I ask?”

Golf Notes

Arnold Palmer, Peter Jacobsen and Patty Sheehan will join Annandale GC professional Pat Rielly for an 18-hole exhibition for charity Monday, Oct. 16, on the Annandale course in Pasadena. It will be Palmer’s 13th appearance to help raise funds for Methodist Hospital in Arcadia and the California Medical Center of Los Angeles. He and Sheehan will face Jacobsen and Rielly, who is also president of the Professional Golfers Assn. of America, in a team match after a clinic featuring Palmer. Tickets are $25, but the gallery will be limited to 2,500.

Another LPGA tournament has been discontinued. The AI-Star/Centinela Hospital tournament, which was held at Rancho Park the last two years, will not be renewed in 1990. . . . Jim Petralia, assistant pro at Annandale, has been named SoCal PGA teacher of the year. One of his proteges is touring pro Steve Pate.

Eleven Southern California courses, headed by L.A. North, are listed among the 20 best courses in California by Golf Digest. The top two, as usual, are Cypress Point and Pebble Beach on the Monterey peninsula. The Southland choices, in order behind L.A. North, are Riviera, La Quinta Hotel (Mountain), Vintage, La Costa, PGA West, Bear Creek (Temecula), Pauma Valley, Valley (Montecito), Bel-Air and Mission Hills (Rancho Mirage).

It’s celebrity tournament time for local athletes. The Kings are holding a tournament Monday at PGA West and the Clippers are doing the same Tuesday at Industry Hills. . . . Leigh Krestzschmar, formerly with the Golf Assn. of Michigan, has been named executive director of the Women’s SoCal Golf Assn. . . . Jim Vernon of Lakeside GC is the newest member of the SoCal Golf Assn. board of directors.

The PGA’s new Ben Hogan Tour, designed for players who just miss making the big tour, is scheduled to open at Bakersfield CC Feb. 1-4. It will be the only SoCal appearance of the 30-tournament series, despite earlier reports that tournaments would be held at Moreno Valley Ranch and Rio Bravo. . . . The Buenaventura pro-am is set for Thursday and Friday at the Olivas Park and Buenaventura courses in Ventura.

Suzy Baggs, formerly of Pasadena, is head professional at the nine-hole Twickemham course, outside London. She is one of only five women to hold such a position in England. . . . The 13th Help Youth Foundation charity tournament is scheduled Oct. 20 at Braemar CC in Tarzana. . . . John Young shot 73-74--147 in winning the Seven Hills CC championship for the seventh time. . . . Brian Henninger of La Quinta is the top money winner of the Spalding Golden State golf tour. He won $36,012 in the 14 events. Next were Brad Bell of Sacramento, $29,062 and Jeff Wilson of Vallejo, Calif., $27,301.

Senior time: Jurupa Hills CC in Riverside will hold the SoCal PGA Seniors tournament for the 16th consecutive year Oct. 19-20, after a pro-am Oct. 18. Jimmy Powell is defending champion in the $12,000 event. . . . Bud Bradley of Wilshire will be defending champion in the 38th annual L.A. Senior Men’s tournament, also Oct. 19-20. That 36-hole tournament will be played at Harding and Wilson courses in Griffith Park. . . . Senior tour hopefuls will attempt to get their player cards Oct. 23-27 at Rancho California. Golden State senior tour members will get a tuneup at Rancho California with a 36-hole event Oct. 19-20.