A Healthy Colbert Is Strutting His Stuff Again

It’s hard not to recognize Jim Colbert. He’s the one with the “Gilligan’s Island” hat, the shirt with the turned-up collar, a smile so wide somebody must have wedged a flagstick in his mouth and a strut that would make a peacock jealous.

Colbert is stepping lively again, 15 months after surgery for prostate cancer, and might once again be the man to beat at the Pacific Bell Senior Classic, which begins Friday at Wilshire Country Club.

In the last three years at Wilshire, Colbert has two seconds and a fifth and has felt almost as much at home at the place as that weedy, watery barranca in front of the 16th green.

Colbert actually led after nine holes on Sunday last year, but ran out of energy and faded. He offered another explanation for what happened.

“Gil Morgan ran over me,” Colbert said.

After his bout with cancer, it’s sort of nice that Colbert is back in the way again. He won the Transamerica at Napa three weeks ago to end a two-year streak without a tournament victory and also end more than a few doubts.

“You’re almost two years older playing the senior circuit and you’re coming off prostate surgery and you wonder if it had anything to do with not winning for two years or if it’s a combination of both,” Colbert said.

“[That] creates a little doubt. Then, after you win, people think you’re back.”

Oh, Colbert is back all right. The Pacific Bell is the sixth consecutive tournament for Colbert, who will make it seven straight weeks when he plays at the Senior Tour Championship. He already has won $1.06 million, which puts him No. 7 on the money list.

Such a physically demanding schedule proves to Colbert that he has recovered from his cancer surgery. It’s also a signal that he still can compete with the Senior PGA Tour’s stars at 57, the time when the “window” seniors such as Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan always talk about usually begins to close.

Colbert has won 19 times on the senior tour and more than $8 million since he turned 50. It’s obviously a good way to make a living, because Colbert has won almost as much money this year as he did in his 25 years on the PGA Tour.

It would be wise not to count him out just yet, Colbert said.

“Actually, my game is as good as it’s ever been, but Hale and Gil have raised the standard. My game is not the standard anymore. It has to be better, and with [Tom] Watson and Lanny [Wadkins] and Tom Kite coming out soon, and Morgan and [Larry] Nelson, the standard already has gone up. That’s how it should be. The good players demand that.

“How long can you do it successfully? With the money out there, sometimes you play longer than you should.”

Irwin, the leading money winner this year with $2.5 million, isn’t playing at Wilshire, but 16 of the top 20 on the money list are entered. The exceptions are No. 4 Jay Sigel, No. 13 Vicente Fernandez, No. 17 Bob Duval and No. 18 Tom Wargo.

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Arnold Palmer, who has undergone seven weeks of treatment for prostate cancer and hasn’t played since the first week of August, will play Friday’s first round with Colbert and Nelson. Palmer, 69, is the second-oldest player in the field. Charlie Sifford is 76.

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Maybe the ball was the wrong size. David Ray, the former kicker for the Rams, and former Laker Happy Hairston failed in Monday’s qualifying. Ray shot an 83 and Hairston an 88.

The four qualifiers are Robert Gaona, Jimmy Adams, Bobby Cole and Allen Doyle. The 50-year-old Doyle, who became eligible for the senior tour in June, has two top-five finishes in his last four senior events.

A former hockey player with an unorthodox golf swing developed by practicing in a room with a low ceiling, Doyle became the oldest PGA Tour rookie in 1996 at 47 when he earned his tour card by placing second on the Nike Tour money list.

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Classic Undertaking

What: Pacific Bell Senior Classic (54 holes).

When: Friday through Sunday.

Where: Wilshire Country Club.

Prize money: $1.1 million ($165,000 to winner).

Defending champion: Gil Morgan.

TV: Channel 9, Saturday 1-3:30 p.m.; Sunday 3-5 p.m. (delayed).

Tickets: $12 daily.

Parking: $5 at Pan Pacific Park, Third Street between La Brea and Fairfax avenues, shuttle to Wilshire.