Sports: Challenge just what they need

Challenge just what they need

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer

Perhaps it is a coincidence, but the past two major championships on the Senior PGA Tour have produced some of the best golf of the year. And that golf was played under the most trying of conditions.

Is there something to be learned here?

For all the talk of fan-friendly initiatives and attempts to make the senior tour more appealing, maybe the solution is simply in the setup of the courses. The suggestion is certainly nothing new.

But after attempts to toughen senior layouts early in 2001, the trend seemed to revert to easier setups that produce a lot of birdies -- and a lot of winners the fans don't know.

"The problem with the senior tour is we play too many events and we don't play on tough enough courses," Tom Watson said.

So it was no surprise to see Watson in contention over the weekend at the U.S. Senior Open. He birdied six of the last 10 holes to tie Don Pooley, who made pars from all over Maryland over the back nine. The golf was some of the best of the year, regardless of tour, and it was played over a stern U.S. Open layout.

It was the same situation last month at the Senior PGA Championship, where Fuzzy Zoeller won with the only score under par.

The best ball-strikers typically win on such layouts. Their skills are masked on the birdie-fest courses used during typical weeks.

Watson has stayed away from the senior tour because of the courses. During the past two years, he played in just 13 events each season. This year, he finished seventh at the Colonial on the regular tour and made the cut at the Masters.

"Guys want more of a challenge," said Jack Nicklaus, who has been critical of senior layouts his entire senior career. "We can't have a putting contest every week. Most of the courses we've played on the senior tour are courses I've skipped all my life, where you have to shoot 25 under to make the cut."

TIGER'S ILLNESS: Tiger Woods has the flu, which is why he is skipping this week's Western Open. He may have been able to tough it out and play in the 90-degree heat in suburban Chicago, where he's played every year since turning pro, but Woods decided it would be best to get over the illness now. He is scheduled to leave for Ireland on Tuesday, where he begins preparations for the British Open at Muirfield, which begins July 18.

It means that Woods will not play a competitive round between his U.S. Open victory June 16 and the British Open, where he will attempt to become the first since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open in the same year.

LAST CHANCE: Playing in her 25th U.S. Women's Open, Nancy Lopez, 45, knows this is probably the last chance to win the tournament that is the most glaring omission on her Hall of Fame resume. She was given a special exemption into this year's tournament, and plans a limited schedule after this year.

Lopez has finished second in the tournament four times, including 1997 when she became the only player to shoot four rounds in the 60s but lost to Alison Nicholas by a stroke.

"I knew on Sunday that the U.S. Open was going to be mine," Lopez said. "I was behind by one and just knew I was going to tie her and go to a playoff. ... I cried for months about it."

Lopez, who has 48 LPGA Tour victories, joked about her lack of a U.S. Open title and cited another famous golfer who is without one.

"Sam Snead," she said. "When they talked about his golf (after his death in May), they said he finished second in the U.S. Open four times and never won it. And I'm thinking when I die, they're going to say, 'She finished second four times in the U.S. Open and never won it.' "

MASTERS DONATIONS: Many wonder what Augusta National does with all the money it makes from the Masters. Some goes to charity. The club recently announced donations of $3.3-million, including $1-million for the First Tee program and $1.25-million for local programs in Augusta. The PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, U.S. Golf Association, Royal & Ancient and PGA of America also will receive funds. Last year, Augusta National gave $500,000 to the Tiger Woods Foundation and $100,000 to the Sept. 11 Fund.

Since the club made public its donations starting in 1998, more than $15.5-million has gone to charity.

-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.