GOLF / DAN HAFNER : Twilight Years for the Sport’s Biggest Names

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, if Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player didn’t win the tournament, it was an upset.

In the ‘80s, Palmer started the threesome’s domination of the Senior PGA Tour. The others followed. Will the ‘90s finally mark the end of the terrific trio?

Player, who will be 59 in November, is enthusiastic about still being active at the turn of the century. Nicklaus, 54, is not so encouraged by his game. He has always said that if he finds he can’t compete on the regular tour, he will confine his golf to an occasional senior event. He has missed the cut in his last six tournaments with the juniors. And Palmer is downright discouraged, at least temporarily. He is just not playing well.

Palmer, who hasn’t won since 1988, will be 65 in September. It was the Latrobe, Pa., slasher who carried golf into the realm of major sports.

Hard on his heels came Nicklaus, who became recognized as the greatest golfer of all time.

And Player, a winner all over the world for more than 40 years, set a record that may never be equaled. He won tournaments in 27 consecutive years.

Both Nicklaus and Player figure to be around for several years. Palmer, recently named the recipient of the PGA’s distinguished-service award, expects to come bouncing back soon.

“A month ago, I was really hitting the ball,” Palmer said. “At Ojai I opened with a 67, then everything went haywire. It will come back.”

But, if it doesn’t, Palmer, despite the pleas of his fans, probably won’t keep on playing. He has been talking recently of cutting back.

Nicklaus is hoping new equipment might help him.

“They’re building me a new driver and I’ll get it next week,” he said. “It should solve my problem. But for now, I’m planning on taking Barbara on a two-week vacation. It will be the first time. Never before have we been off by ourselves for more than three or four days at a time.

“I won’t be playing until the Memorial (at his Muirfield course in Dublin, Ohio, in late May) and by that time, I hope to have my problem solved. I know it will happen, I just don’t know when.”

Player, who was laughed at years ago for his faith in physical fitness, won at Lexington, Ky., last September and earned $360,000 last year on the senior tour. Now almost all golfers, especially the seniors, have physical fitness programs.

“I think I can continue to win until I’m 64 or 65,” the South African star said. “I have such a good short game that I figure I have a shot to win every week. It’s a little tougher out there, but I can still compete.

“I’m not about to stick around like some punch-drunk fighter. When I don’t have a chance to win, I’ll know it.

“Then, I’ll only play a few super-senior events and maybe I can win one of them.”

Nicklaus won as recently as January, finishing first in the senior portion of the Mercedes Championships at La Costa, the first event of the year.

That victory, Nicklaus’ seventh on the senior tour, gave the trio 185 victories on the two major golf tours.

They played together in a tournament for the first time this year in the PGA Seniors’ Championship here this weekend, each as a previous winner. Palmer, continuing in his slump, shot 77-79--156 and failed to make the 36-hole cut. Despite advancing age, it may be too soon to count some of them out.

Golf Notes

In the days when professional golfers were struggling to earn money and recognition, two of the best were Southern California brothers, Olin and Mortie Dutra. Wilshire Country Club now honors the pair with their two-man team championship. Low gross honors went to Bob Warburton and James Agate with a 135 total for 36 holes. Derek Patao hit an eight-iron for a hole-in-one on the 135-yard seventh. . . . Celebrities for this year’s Padua Village Golf Classic, the 12th annual at Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga April 25, are Walt Zembriski, Ann Meyers-Drysdale, Charlie Pasarell, Pat Haden and Jim Murray. . . In 1964, when he won the first of his six PGA Seniors’ championships, Sam Snead was a mere 51. Nine years later, just before his 60th birthday, Snead won by an incredible 15 shots, posting a 20-under-par 268.