So Far, Crenshaw Goes Gentle Into Seniors

The words rebirth, renewal or reinvention--whichever you want to use--don’t seem to connect with a newly minted 50-year-old, at least at first glance. Senior PGA Tour golf, of course, is an exception. It works on both sides, potentially revitalizing the tour with an infusion of new faces and on the other side, delivering a vital career boost to the player.

Case in point: Ben Crenshaw.

Crenshaw, who turned 50 on Jan. 11, will be featured in the $1.45-million SBC Senior Classic, which starts today and continues through Sunday at the Valencia Country Club in Santa Clarita.

This is Crenshaw’s third event on the senior tour. He was supposed to make his debut at the Royal Caribbean Classic in Key Biscayne, Fla., but withdrew because of flu symptoms. In February, he tied for 43rd at the ACE Group Classic in Naples, Fla., and tied for 64th at the Verizon Classic in Lutz, Fla.

“I’m fascinated by the way the players play,” Crenshaw said. “It’s very, very competitive. I feel sort of out of tournament shape, not swinging with a lot of confidence yet....

“I’m anxious. It may take me a little while.”

Crenshaw isn’t the only new high-profile addition. Fuzzy Zoeller made his debut this year and said he plans on making a full-time commitment, playing 20-plus tournaments. According to Crenshaw’s personal Web site, he is expected to play 18 senior events.

Also at Valencia, Wayne Levi, who turned 50 on Feb. 22, will make his first senior appearance. In quiet fashion, Levi won 12 titles and earned $4.69 million on the PGA Tour.

For Crenshaw, a two-time Masters champion, it hasn’t been easy the last few years on the PGA Tour. In the last three years, he made the cut twice, including once in 11 starts last year. He is the guy Fred Couples had in mind when he was talking earlier this week about his proposed Major Champions Tour, which would feature players between 37 and 55 who have won major championships.

“It’s been real cruel for Ben Crenshaw the last three, four, five years,” Couples said. “I don’t think it’s fair. He can’t keep up on the PGA Tour and he wasn’t ready for the senior tour. Those are way too many years to waste [waiting for a place to play].”

Crenshaw spoke Thursday about the struggles, saying: “I need to go back to how I played.” But on the positive side, he has taken advantage of the opportunity to slow down and enjoy life because of his decreased playing schedule.

“Well, you know, someone asked me the other day: ‘What have you been doing all this time?’” Crenshaw said. “And I said, ‘Well, I’ve been living.’

“You know, it’s funny. A golfer, at least in my case, you start out on the tour and you’re totally one-dimensional. You just started tournament golf and you go as far and hard as you can to try to make adjustments, experiment, trials, tribulations, lost tournaments, winning occasionally, because that’s what you do in this game. Those of us who are human, anyway.

“And you relish the things that--the times and the opportunities that you had to win a big tournament, or any tournament, for that matter. And then between the age of 42 to 50, you just start wondering what you’re going to do with the rest of your life, where you’ve been, and you look forward to something else.”

And now, something new is also something old.

“It’s wonderful to see these fellas,” Crenshaw said. “It’s been a long time in a lot of cases.”

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Times staff writer Thomas Bonk contributed to this story.

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The Facts

What: SBC Senior Classic

Where: Valencia Country Club (6,575 yards, par 72).

When: Today-Sunday.

Purse: $1.45 million. Winner’s share: $217,500.

TV: PAX (today, 2-4 p.m., delayed) and CNBC (Saturday-Sunday, 2:30-4:30 p.m.).