GOLF SENIORS VINTAGE INVITATIONAL : Mike Hill Comes Out of Brother’s Shadow

For Mike Hill, the regular PGA Tour was a case of too little, too late. But his timing on the senior tour has been nearly perfect.

Hill, for most of his career known as Dave Hill’s little brother, is coming off a year most golfers only dream about.

He won five tournaments and almost $900,000. Only one other professional in the 50-and-older group ever had a better year--Lee Trevino, who did it last year. Trevino won more than $1 million and few noticed what a tremendous second season, Hill, 52, had.

“Am I surprised?” Hill asked. “Well, I thought I would have a great year if I won a tournament and maybe $300,000. Yes, I’m surprised.”

One of Hill’s five victories was in the Security Pacific tournament last fall at Rancho Park.

He is off to another good start and will be out to post his first tournament victory of the new season in the $500,000 Vintage Arco Invitational, which opens today at Vintage Country Club.

Hill, fifth on the senior money list with $116,570 after tying for second at San Antonio last week, will play in a field that includes almost all the top seniors except Jack Nicklaus. Trevino, a winner already this season, and Arnold Palmer, a perennial crowd favorite, top the field.

Hill didn’t join the regular tour until 1968, when he was 29. He won three tournaments and more than $500,000. But, mostly, the Brooklyn, Mich., resident was unhappy with his career. From 1980 until he was eligible to join the seniors, he seldom played competitively.

“I became discouraged with my career and decided to make some changes,” Hill said. “I applied for a couple of club jobs, and when I didn’t get them, I went back home to farm our 700 acres. I spent most of my time driving a tractor and doing other farm work.

“A few years ago, we had a chance to get a three-year lease on this nine-hole course in Brooklyn. We wound up buying it, and that brought me back to golf.

“I didn’t really prepare too long to join the seniors, but I wanted to see if I could make enough money to build a second nine. That turned out to be no problem. It will be completed this summer and ready for play next spring.”

In his rookie year on the senior tour, Hill broke out of his brother’s shadow. Now, Dave Hill is becoming known as Mike’s older brother.

“I don’t think it really bothered me all that much being referred to as Dave Hill’s brother, but it kept me from having an identity,” Hill said. “Through the years, I’m not sure people thought I was a good golfer. I am and I finally got a chance to prove it.

“I was sort of a loner on the regular tour. And when Dave was saying all those controversial things, I retreated into a shell. I don’t look at those things as a big deal the way I did when I was 35.”

It was because his brother was such a good golfer that Mike was late taking up the sport. Mike played other sports before turning to golf at 17.

“Dave was so good that I wasn’t about to challenge him,” Mike said. “But, he always encouraged me.

“In fact, after I spent four years in the service, he came home from the tour and told me I was wasting time driving a beer truck.

“He put up the money for me to go to qualifying school. It took me three tries to make it.

“The other guys who came up when I did, Raymond Floyd and Tom Weiskopf, for instance, were four or five years younger. They had a chance to mature.

“It was different on the senior tour. I came up with guys my own age. I think that’s a reason why I’ve done better.”