Oldies Became Goodies in a Hurry : Senior golf: Tour is thriving as it makes stop at Rancho Park. It doesn’t even have to have Arnie these days, but he’s here.

When the Senior PGA Tour first came to Los Angeles in 1985, it was already a surprising success. What had begun in 1980 as an excuse for some buddies to get together for fun and golf two or three times a year had grown into 27 events with $6 million in purses.

But that was only the beginning. In its return to Los Angeles proper after an absence of four years, the tour for the 50-and-older professional golfers is now big business.

Prize money has more than tripled and a “rookie,” Lee Trevino, has already won more than $1 million. The country may be in a recession, but the senior tour is not. There is a waiting list of sponsors and cities eager to stage tournaments.

Although Trevino officially has earned $922,352, he has clinched the money title, which adds $130,000 to his total.

Trevino will be trying to win his eighth tournament in the $500,000 Security Pacific Classic, a 54-hole event beginning today at Rancho Park.

The tournament is one of the last events of a long season, but almost all the top players are here to challenge Trevino. Only Jack Nicklaus, who has found it difficult to admit that at 50 he can no longer beat the regular touring pros, and George Archer among the top 15 on the tour are absent. Nicklaus has played in only four senior events, two of which he won. Archer won last week at Rancho Murieta and took the week off.

Although he has won seven tournaments, Trevino said he was surprised at how competitive it was in the seniors.

“These guys can play,” he said. “You can’t let up and you can’t make mistakes. They’ll eat you up.”

Not only has the senior tour become a bigger draw with the biggest names, it has become more competitive as well.

In 1985, when the first local senior event was held at MountainGate Country Club, the success depended upon whether Arnold Palmer played. He did not play that year and the tournament suffered. Few fans were there to see Peter Thomson win one of his record nine events.

But today, Thomson is back in Australia building golf courses. At 61, he can no longer compete with the younger seniors.

With Trevino, Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez and other former stars of the regular tour, Palmer’s presence is no longer a matter of life or death for a tournament. Even so, when he tees off today at 10:20 with Rives McBee and Gene Littler, he will have a huge gallery.

There will be considerable interest in Palmer’s play on the 480-yard ninth hole, a par-five. The hole, which is the 18th for those who play the tough city course normally, will live in infamy in Palmer lore. It was there, playing in the L.A. Open in 1961, that Palmer, trying to reach the green in two, hit four consecutive shots out of bounds. There is a plaque on the tee commemorating the event.

And nobody lets him forget it.

The driving range, where two of his errant shots landed, is adjacent to the hole and while he and Trevino were hitting practice shots Thursday, Trevino yelled, “Hey, Arnie, recognize that hole over there?”

Although Rancho, which will be 6,307 yards long and a par 71 for the pros, had a fungus problem on the greens in the summer, the pros pronounced it in good shape.

“This course isn’t bad,” Trevino said after shooting a 67 in practice. “For a course with small greens that has 400 rounds a day played on it, it’s in magnificent shape. Better than I expected.

“I think we’ll have a great championship and I’m looking forward to it.

“After seeing the purse money of nearly $20 million, I thought I had a chance to win $1 million. I need to do well in this tournament and in the last one in Puerto Rico and I’ll make it.”

Senior Golf Notes

Although it doesn’t really mean much, Jack Nicklaus, by not playing in six events, loses his exempt status. By finishing in the top 76, however, he will be eligible for the TPC, which he won last summer. He will qualify for the other senior majors, too, since he will be allowed five sponsor exemptions. “I don’t think he’ll have any trouble getting an invitation,” said Lee Trevino, laughing. “But I don’t think he’ll ever play more than four or five a year.”

Off practice rounds this week, it would appear that Orville Moody, who has not won since the Senior Open in June, 1989, is ready to strike. Moody, who has lacked consistency since fainting while hunting last winter, shot 64-63 in the pro-am. “If I play like I have the last two days, I can win it,” Moody said after sinking a 25-foot putt for an eagle and finishing with a 63, the best warmup round, Thursday. Mike Hill and Charles Coody also seem ready to challenge Trevino.

Arnold Palmer has not played well since he won the Senior Skins Game in late January. He has not had a top-10 finish this year.