Waldorf Colorful, and a Winner Too

It seems possible that Duffy Waldorf was made to be a golfer, if not on the practice range, then maybe by the animation department.

He could be something from ‘Jungle Book.’ Waldorf is 6 feet tall and weighs 225 pounds, if you don’t count all that color dripping off his shirts, which have sort of become his trademark, just like his graffiti-covered hat and the golf balls inscribed by members of his family.

The Waldorf shirt is noteworthy for its bright hues, and the person inside the shirt for his sunny outlook, plus the ability to drive the ball from here to Tijuana.

Vicky Waldorf said she really likes her husband’s shirts. She has a good reason.

“If I don’t have my glasses on, I can still see Duffy 150 yards away,” she said.

Actually, when the golf season begins again today in the Mercedes Championships at La Costa, Waldorf watchers may notice some changes. Tropical designs have replaced stripes on the shirts and Waldorf is here wearing them.

The Mercedes Championships is reserved for tournament winners and until the last event of 1995, Waldorf had never been one. Then he shot 65 on the last day of the La Cantera Texas Open and won by six shots over Justin Leonard. He drove the green on a 410-yard par four both days on the weekend, once with a three-wood.

It was a Waldorf’s finest moment on the golf course in the 10 years since he left UCLA as the two-time college player of the year on the same team as Corey Pavin.

After four trips to qualifying school and a decade looking for a victory, Waldorf thinks he may have found the right combination at last.

“I think things are different for me now,” he said. “Mentally, you feel like you’ve taken another step up that ladder to being one of the top players.”

“The comfort comes from feeling like you belong. Many times I felt like I had a reasonable year and wondered if I ever was going to be more than someone who contended occasionally and never got that win.”

Waldorf knows he has a chance to be a lot more than that now. At 33, he is a winning pro golfer, not merely a colorful one, although he clearly remains the leader in the clubhouse in that tournament.

He is also known for his hats covered with penned good-luck messages from friends, like Hakuna Matata. After a particularly hot summer, there became a need for a second such hat in his wardrobe.

“The old one was getting kinda old and smelly,” he said.

Then there are the golf balls. Waldorf’s would never be caught with their dimples down in anything so drab as plain white. Vicky and the three Waldorf children like to write things on them.

Shea Waldorf, 4, specializes in map balls. Yes, map balls.

“He says ‘Daddy, I’m going to draw you a map so you can find your way around the golf course,’ ” Waldorf said. “So he scribbles this line all the way around the ball.”

Vicky usually colors about six golf balls a night. She said she is planning a special one for La Costa that will feature something said by son Tyler, 5.

“We were in the car and he heard a song on the radio,” Vicky said. “It was by Hootie and the Blowfish. He called them Hootie and the Goldfish.”

The way it looks, Waldorf is a big fish in a big pond now. Color him tickled pink. He has his first win, an artistic family and he has managed a shirt-hat-golf ball trifecta.

“I’ve got it all going,” he said.

Many believe it couldn’t happen to a better guy. Bel Air pro Ed Merrins, who coached him at UCLA, said Waldorf was the most easy-going player he had in 14 years at Westwood.

“He reminds me of an old dog,” Merrins said. “Everybody likes him. He’s the same guy he always was and always will be.

“He’s a folk hero waiting to happen.”

The more Duffy wins, the faster the Waldorfs can finish the basement of their three-story house in Newhall. Waldorf is putting a new wine cellar in there so he can enjoy his hobby, wine.

There probably aren’t that many actual wine experts like Waldorf on the PGA Tour. The extent of their knowledge of wine often is when their glasses are empty.

Maybe Waldorf will win again soon. In any event, the next time they schedule a tournament in a vineyard, we know who’s going to be favored. It’s the guy in the grape-colored shirt.