Recognition Factor Is Minor but Nelson Is a Major Player

Here’s the line of succession in recent Senior PGA Tour history:

From Jim Colbert and Dave Stockton . . . to Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan . . . to Bruce Fleisher and Allen Doyle.

And, of course, there are a few more guys getting in line, players such as Tom Watson (who is already here), and Tom Kite and Lanny Wadkins (who are on their way).

It’s all very simple and orderly, but there’s somebody missing, someone who probably belongs there to take his place as much as anyone else, especially if you consider his resume.

The problem for Larry Nelson, who is playing in the Pacific Bell Senior Classic at Wilshire Country Club this week, is that there aren’t a lot of people who even know he’s around.

You would have to consider that sort of unusual for someone who had won three major championships--the 1981 and 1987 PGA Championships and the 1983 U.S. Open.

The problem for Nelson is that he has a near-zero recognition factor. It’s easier to tell tomatoes apart than to pick Nelson out of a crowd.

Part of it is his own fault, Nelson says.

“I played--and won tournaments--against the Palmers, Trevinos, Players and Nicklauses,” Nelson said. “The people who beat them, the media called them the ‘faceless nobodies.’ I was one of that group.

“Every time I won, it was an ‘excuse me.’ It was pretty much the same for anybody who played in the shadows of Watson, Ballesteros or Floyd. When I won the Open, people wrote I ‘stole’ it from Watson. I stole it with a 65-67 the last two rounds.

“I just never got much recognition simply because of who I was playing--and when. You win three majors in the ‘90s, you quickly become a face.”

So you have to give Nelson credit for facing up to the problem . . . if that’s what it is.

Actually, Nelson has been busy making himself a multimillionaire since he turned 50 two years ago and signed up on the senior tour. He has won five times since--twice this year--and that has to be considered a fairly decent success rate, even if it’s more like an ordinary month for Fleisher or Doyle this year.

Nelson may not be the most well-known player on the senior tour, but he’s certainly one of the most successful. It’s all relative in this business, where there is success and there is big, big success.

Nobody has accomplished more than Fleisher, who has seven victories and conceivably could have 13 since he also has finished second six times. And Doyle, with a cooped-up swing he learned by practicing in a room with a low ceiling, has won four times with four seconds.

If you didn’t see them coming, you’re excused. If you didn’t see Nelson coming, well, he really has been here all along, operating as usual under the cloak of obscurity.

It’s hard to fathom that you’re not well known if you’ve won five times and made more than $3 million in just more than two years, as Nelson has done.

“I’m kind of hanging in there,” Nelson said.

Maybe, but $3 million is a nice place to be hanging. If Nelson has been held back at all, it’s not because of his notoriety. It’s because of the bulging disk that doctors found last July after Nelson was forced to withdraw from the Senior U.S. Open at Riviera.

The strength in Nelson’s right arm was sapped by his disk injury and he didn’t know from day to day how much he would be affected. He might be hurting in the first round or in the last round or maybe all week.

He remembers getting out of bed on the first day of the U.S. Senior Open and having an odd feeling in his right arm. It was extremely weak.

“My arm was just kind of flapping in the wind,” he said.

Nelson pulled out after playing eight holes. He was out eight weeks.

However damaged he was, Nelson still won $1.75 million and was third on the money list, even if not too many noticed.

This year, Nelson has won $1.3 million in 26 events. This week’s tournament is his first since the first week of October after deciding to rest instead of play.

Gil Morgan, who has had his share of injuries with his lower back, said being hurt is not that unusual for a senior tour player, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

“Any time you’re in an injury situation you’re simply not playing up to your potential, how well you would normally do,” Morgan said. “You feel like you’re taking a beating against the field. But Larry is an excellent player and I know he’ll win his share.”

Nelson believes his share could be greater than the five victories he has. He said he thinks he could have won seven or eight more tournaments if he were injury free the last 15 months.

Because of his injury, Nelson was forced to alter his swing and his putting style to produce more power and feel from the left side. He said if he isn’t hurting, his drives are 20 yards farther than when his right side is affecting him.

At 52, Nelson figures to be in contention for several more years as the so-called senior tour window for success--from 50-55--changes shape.

“The window is widening because players are coming out in better health, they’re taking better care of themselves,” Nelson said. “Take Hale, he can win three or four times a year right up until he’s 60 as long as his desire stays there. Some people age a lot at 45 and some people don’t age a lot at 55. I don’t feel any different now than when I came out two years ago.”

Only richer.