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Seniors'
skills defy the aging process By
Jerry Zgoda Star
Tribune,
August 6, 2003
Amazement and glee greeted Jack Nicklaus' unexpected victory at the 1986 Masters because of his undeniable appeal and advanced age. He was 46 then. Seventeen years later, players aged 50, 49 and 47 have won PGA Tour events this season, and on the Champions Tour -- where 55 once was the age that separated contenders from has-beens -- six of the top 10 money winners are 55 or older. Two weeks ago, Jim Colbert shot his age -- 62 -- at the Senior British Open. "That's what they tried to make us believe," Dana Quigley said when asked if a Champions Tour career wasn't supposed to end at 55. Quigley, 56, won a tour event in January and is fifth on the money list, one slot behind 58-year-old Hale Irwin and three ahead of 57-year-old Vicente Fernandez. There might be many reasons why Craig Stadler and Peter Jacobsen have re-emerged as winners on the PGA tour, why Jay Haas, at 49, is 11th on its money list and why Irwin, when healthy, is the measure by which all other Champions Tour players judge themselves: • Equipment technology has allowed aging players to drive the ball farther than when they were strapping, young lads decades ago. • The Champions Tour's lure has motivated golfers to stay fit into their 50s and 60s, a notion that was absurd before its beginning in 1980. • Courses are manicured more pristinely than 25 years ago, and fairways shaved a half-inch shorter now allow older players extra roll and distance. • Their big-hitting sons playing college and pro golf keep Haas and Champions Tour players such as Stadler, Quigley and Dave Stockton young. • On the PGA Tour, superstars such as Tiger Woods play fewer events so they can concentrate on the four major championships, a fairly recent sea change that allows more players a better chance to win other tour events. But, inevitably, the final answer might rest in the same places as all matters of aging do: In the mind and in the heart. Jacobsen said his victory at last month's Greater Hartford Open was inspired by Stadler's B.C. Open victory the week before. Stadler, 50, attributed his surprise victory to the joy for the game he rediscovered by playing with all his old buddies on the Champions Tour this year. "Technology had nothing to do with that; there's technology for everybody," Quigley said. "Craig said he wasn't having any fun on the PGA Tour the last couple of years and he came out here, saw his old friends and started having more fun. That turned to confidence, which started him making putts. You could see it in his body language, in his whole mindset." Last year, the Champions Tour instituted several "fan-friendly" features -- selectively allowing the gallery inside the ropes, making fans caddies during pre-tournament events, increasing player access through clinics and question-and-answer sessions -- designed to combat waning crowds and television ratings. 3M Championship director Hollis Cavner suggests the crop of PGA Tour players approaching their 50th birthday will make the Champions Tour strong once again. But given their continuing success on the PGA Tour, will players such as Haas, Jacobsen, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Scott Hoch, Mark O'Meara and others switch tours significantly enough to replace such original Champions Tour legends as Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Lee Trevino? The next generation of superstars -- Nicklaus, Tom Watson -- following Palmer's peers have played limited Champions Tour schedules so they can play major championships on both tours and focus on other business interests. "It's going to be interesting to see what happens," said Champions Tour player Andy North, a two-time U.S. Open champion. "A guy like Jay Haas, as well as he's playing, I can't imagine he'd think about giving that up and playing our tour full time. But for our tour to be as its best, those guys, as they become eligible, have to commit 100 percent to our tour." Colbert suggests the Champions Tour require new players to make a commitment: Every player must enter 18 events yearly and each new tour player must play in every tour city once during his first two seasons. "Our leadership seems afraid to say that, but that's what we should do," Colbert said. "The biggest thing this tour needs is a commitment from a new crop of guys, like Arnold and Player and Chi Chi and Trevino did to establish the tour 20 years ago. Guys will come over because of the chance to become champions again. That's the hook. Money is not the determining factor. Longevity in a person's career is the measure of greatness." Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
