The Golden Bear Will Belly Up With the Best

Jack Nicklaus, arguably the greatest golfer who has ever lived, embarks on a new career at the age of 50 this week when he tees off as the “baby” of the PGA Senior Tour.

The Golden Bear readily admits that he does not feel ready yet to go out to pasture on the senior circuit, but the betting is that his competitive juices will start flowing when he goes up against the likes of Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Bob Charles, Billy Casper and George Archer.

These stars, each of whom dominated the sport in his own era, will stage a reunion in The Tradition, an $800,000 event that begins Thursday at the 6,837-yard Cochise course of the Desert Mountain golf club.

The tournament falls the week before the Masters, in which Nicklaus is also playing, giving him the chance to quickly achieve his latest goal of winning a regular and a senior event in the same year.

“Conditions here are very, very similar to Augusta’s,” Nicklaus said. As the six-time winner of the Masters and the designer of the course being used for The Tradition, he should know.

He also knows, however, that it is far from a foregone conclusion that he will lay waste to the senior field and that Trevino in particular will have a say in the matter.

Trevino turned 50 Dec. 1, a little over a month before Nicklaus, who reached the half-century mark Jan. 21, and he greeted the senior tour with relish.

“Why play with the flat bellies when you can play with the round bellies?” he asked in a now-famous remark.

“These are my boys. I can go in the locker room and bum a cigarette. You go inside on the other tour and all they are doing is drinking orange juice and eating bananas.”

With his devil-may-care attitude, Trevino took the senior circuit by storm, winning three of his first four events to top the money-winners’ list with $220,000.

The two met earlier this year as seniors, in the four-man Skins contest with Palmer and Player, and Palmer stole the show by walking away with most of the money.

Since then, however, Nicklaus has been showing the meticulous attention to detail that has earned him 18 major professional championships, two U.S. Amateur titles and 71 PGA Tour victories.

He has been taking lessons from noted golf teacher Peter Kostis and has trimmed down to 183 pounds, which will give him a “flat belly” profile on the tee.

Regardless of what happens this week, Trevino should continue to dominate the senior tour. He expects to play in about 30 senior events this year, while Nicklaus anticipates entering only about five.