Sports: Palmer's struggles continue

Palmer's struggles continue

By BRUCE LOWITT, Times Staff Writer

LUTZ -- It wasn't pretty. Not that it mattered. Nine bogeys and a pair of double bogeys are irrelevant to Arnie's Army. But after a first-round 82 at the Verizon Classic, Arnold Palmer was wondering whether he'd tee off today.

He called Friday's 11-over par at the TPC of Tampa Bay "the coup de gras" in an increasingly long string of poor performances. "It's been tough for some time now.

"I really get not just disappointed and embarrassed but disgusted with the way I hit the ball sometimes," Palmer said. "What is the answer? Who knows? One of these days ... " He paused for a moment. "I'm not going to make any dramatic announcement or anything like that. I'm just not going to show up."

And today? Palmer paused again. "I'll give some thought right now," he said. "But I'll probably be here to play."

He hasn't ranked higher than 101st on the senior tour since 1996. Last year he earned $4,384 in seven events and finished a career-low 167th.

"It's leading up to the ultimate conclusion," Palmer said. "I'm not rushing into it because I've been trying to do some things a little differently. I'm only a few days into it, so maybe I'm asking for too much too soon. But I'm fiddling with my golf clubs and fiddling with my swing and in practice I'm getting very good results. But I can't get it off the practice tee."

IS THAT MINE?: Lee Trevino looked at his scorecard in mock surprise. "I totaled it up and it said 68 and I said, "Must be a stranger played that round.' It's been a long time since I've done anything like that.

"It's amazing. For a while I was putting great and couldn't hit the ball. Now that I'm hitting the ball pretty good I can't putt. The golf gods know it and they're not going to give me a break."

Trevino played a career-low 17 senior tournaments last year, finishing in the top 25 five times. "I may do some renegotiating," he said of his endorsement contracts. "If I didn't have to play 15 I wouldn't be doing even that." It's family that's keeping him away. Were it not for his daughter Olivia Leigh, 13, and son Daniel Lee, 9, he'd play every day, he said.

NEEDLED: Bob Murphy withdrew from Wednesday's pro-am event because of a painful left wrist. He didn't think he would play the Verizon Classic. But "two acupuncture treatments and physical therapy and ice and heat and magnets" got him on the course, pain-free and sound enough to shoot 3-under 68.

"The good news," Murphy said, "is that the orthopedic surgeon said there's no bad arthritis, no carpal tunnel (syndrome) and it's not broken."

SHORT PUTTS: Morris Hitalsky shot par 71 in his first round on the senior tour. ... Charles Bradley, 75, suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed just beyond the 18th green. He was in stable condition at University Community Hospital.