Are Days of Dominant PGA Player Over? : Golf: No one has won six tournaments in a year since Tom Watson did it in 1980, but he says it could happen in the ‘90s.

At the end of a decade there is usually a summation of accomplishments in sports.

It’s a long enough time for an entity to rise to the top.

In golf, Tom Watson, who won five major tournaments and 18 tour events in the 1980s, was recently recognized by the Professional Golfers Assn. of America as the player of the decade.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were dominant in the 1960s. Nicklaus was still dominant in the 1970s, with Lee Trevino challenging.

Seve Ballesteros, despite playing a restricted number of PGA Tour events, was also a force in the 1980s with victories in the Masters and British Open tournaments.

Curtis Strange has come on strong in the latter part of the ‘80s with consecutive victories in the U.S. Open.

So, who, if anyone, will be the dominant player in the 1990s, considering the ever-increasing competitive nature of the tour?

Watson and Fuzzy Zoeller were asked that question Tuesday as they prepared for the $1-million Bob Hope Chrysler Classic beginning today on four courses in the desert.

“You’re still going to have your big names,” Watson said. “Right now you have Curtis Strange, Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros.

“You can put a Nick Faldo in there somewhere, but not with those three.”

He also said that Paul Azinger and Mark Calcavecchia are players to be reckoned with.

“The competition is tougher now. There’s no question about it,” Watson said. “Just look at the cut scores. Almost every cut score is under par. When I first played out here, the cut scores were over par. That’s four, or five strokes.

“The reasons for it are that we are playing for so much more money now and people are more serious about it. Thirty-nine guys won $300,000 (or more) last year. You have four or five years in a row like that and you have a nice nest egg for life.”

No one has won more than four tour events in a single season since Watson won six in 1980.

“I still think someone will win six in a year in the next five years,” said Watson, not closing the door on someone coming out of the pack to dominate the tour.

Watson said when he started on the tour in 1971, the average first-place check was $20,000. It was $7,000, or $8,000 for Nicklaus in his early years, he said, and as low as $1,000 for Byron Nelson in the 1940s.

Now, though, the pros will be playing for a first-place check of $180,000 in the Hope tournament and fifth place will be worth $40,000.

Although Watson says someone may emerge as a dominating player in the 1990s, Zoeller, a former Masters and U.S. Open winner, doesn’t believe it will happen.

“I don’t see anyone dominating anymore,” he said. “Curtis (Strange) is doing a pretty good job, but how long is that going to last? Two or three more years and somebody else is going to jump in there.

“Everybody plays a very equal-type game out there. When I first started, there were 25 or 30 players who could possibly win a tournament. Now there are 60 or 70.”

Steve Jones, the defending Hope champion, Calcavecchia and Kite each won three recognized tournaments last year.

“That’s awfully good,” Zoeller said. “The secret is to get off to a good start early in the year. Then, a player can be more offensive-minded, rather than being defensive.”

Watson, 40, hasn’t won on the tour since 1987. He had only two top-10 finishes in 1989 while playing in 18 tournaments.

However, the golfer of the 1980s is enthusiastic about the 1990s.

Watson said his optimism is based on a corrected golf swing and an adjustment in his putting stroke.

He said he was playing here in the desert recently with Trevino and PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman when Beman gave him some advice.

“He told me to just aim way off to the left,” Watson said. “That makes a difference. I started thinking how I used to take the club back more on the line, or outside the line and dropping it down on the line.

“Now the ball starts on the line and not to the right. I also changed my putting to the old way, leading the ball over the clubhead through impact.

“The main thing is whether I can go out there and hit the shots under pressure that I used to hit.”

Watson said that even if he shoots 85 in today’s first round, he can’t wait to put his revised golf swing and putting stroke to the test.

As for his expectations, he said:

“They’ve changed. I want very much to win a golf tournament very quickly. I want to be in contention a lot and I think I will be.

“In the last three or four years, I was just hoping to get in contention and now I feel I will be and will have more opportunities to win.”

Watson said the physical aspect of the game is his first priority.

“If you don’t play well for a long time, it’s hard to make yourself go out and work on something you feel isn’t going to produce,” he said.

Kite, the leading money winner and PGA player of the year in 1989, has said that a golfer is closer to his prime at 40 than he is at 25.

Asked if he agrees, Watson said:

“The main thing is to keep your body flexible. You have a lot more experience. That’s for sure. Experience weighs against your lack of youthfulness. Sometimes it’s more important, other times youthfulness is better.

“But it helps to have that experience. It creates a confidence. And success breeds success.”

Golf Notes

Steve Jones, the defending champion at the Tournament of Champions two weeks ago at La Costa, had to withdraw from the last round because of a pulled muscle in his neck. He almost didn’t play in Tucson last week but, after therapy, he made the cut. His neck still bothers him to some extent but he’ll play here. “What a difference a year can make,” said Jones of his fast start in 1989. “Nothing is guaranteed out here.”

The 90-hole Hope tournament will be played over four courses: Bermuda Dunes, Indian Wells, Tamarisk and the Palmer course at PGA West. The pros will play with their amateur partners for 72 holes with the final round to be played at Palmer, the host course.