Jenkins Quietly Collecting Checks

Tom Jenkins could easily be mistaken for a well-dressed spectator rather than a successful Senior PGA Tour player.

After finishing a round of two-under-par 69 Friday at Newport Beach Country Club, Jenkins walked right past a throng of fans and into the scorer’s tent without one autograph request.

What many of those people didn’t realize is that Jenkins had an impressive season in 1999. He had one victory, 17 top-10 finishes and earned $1.7 million, seventh on the money list.

His victory came at the Bell Atlantic Classic in Avondale, Pa., a few miles from the site of his only PGA Tour victory. Jenkins, who played full-time on the regular tour from 1973 to 1985, won the Philadelphia Classic in 1975.

To most, Jenkins is just another in the faceless bunch who have found success on the senior tour. But such thoughts don’t keep Jenkins up at night.

“The name of the game out here is winning,” Jenkins said. “It’s hard to break into that group that TV wants to show. They have their favorites and the only way to [be shown] is to get into the hunt and win. But it doesn’t concern me or anything. I’m out here having fun and doing my thing.”

Jenkins, a co-leader after the first round last year at Newport Beach, had a birdie on the 10th hole Friday to get to three-under. But he made what he called a critical mistake on the 11th when he rammed a 15-foot birdie putt five feet by and made bogey.

He birdied the par-three 13th but gave that shot back with a bogey on No. 17, another par three. Jenkins also had birdie putts at 14 and 18 hang on the lip.

His putt on 18 looked ready to fall and Jenkins held his position, waiting and waiting before finally going up and tapping it in.

Jenkins is playing his sixth consecutive event this season and already has finished in the top seven twice. He has earned $138,000.

“Even though I have played in every tournament I still have a lot of patience and that’s good,” Jenkins said.

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Breakfast with Arnie: The most popular question during the first round was: What hole is Arnold Palmer on? Not surprisingly, the legend, playing for the first time in the event at Newport Beach, commanded the biggest galleries.

Palmer drew loud applause for several shots but finished at eight-over 79 and that puts him on the first tee at 7:50 a.m. today along with Don Bies and Bob Lendzion.

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Feel Good Larry: For the last two years, Larry Nelson has had a neck problem that causes his arm to go numb.

“I never know when I wake up,” Nelson said, “whether I’m going to be 90% or 60%.”

The injury--a protruding disk that puts pressure on nerves in his neck--forced him to withdraw after eight holes of the 1998 U.S. Senior Open at Riviera and after two rounds of the 1999 Senior Classic. So far this week, the neck isn’t bothering him and he shot four-under 67 Friday.

Staff writer Martin Beck contributed to this story.