Fleisher Vies For Second Senior Open Title In Three Years

By Brendan Tierney, USGA

Toledo, Ohio – One of the best in the field this week, Bruce Fleisher finds that being competitive can be fatiguing.

At the Inverness Club, the golf will be nothing short of that, as 156 players will strive to become the 2003 U.S. Senior Open champ.

"When I go home," said Fleisher, "I play golf by myself. … When I play with others, I have to beat them, and I get tired of that."

After all, he has a right to be tired, as he plays four or five days a week during the Champions Tour, where there is an abundance of competitive drive among the golfers.

After missing the cut at last year’s Senior Open, Bruce Fleisher said on Tuesday he’s working hard to avoid similar fate this week. (John Mummert/USGA)

A couple of years ago, it was ambition that led Fleisher to the Senior Open title at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Mass. A few decades earlier, he took home his first USGA championship at the U.S. Amateur in 1968, although, he joked, "I forgot about that one."

It was 33 years between championships.

Since the win at Salem, Fleisher has tried to focus on enjoying himself more on the course, which may be helpful at a place like Inverness. "You’ve got to be very patient out there," he said. "Everyone’s going to get frustrated."

With its fast greens (set to 13 on the Stimpmeter, according to Tom Meeks, the USGA’s Senior Director of Rules and Championships) and difficult rough, he sees no easy holes on the course.

"Any hole can come up and grab you," he said. "You just can’t lay down out there. It is imperative that you keep the ball in play."

With this kind of difficulty, Fleisher envisions a golfer with an above-par score walking away with the Francis Ouimet Memorial Trophy.

Last year Fleisher failed to make the cut, a humiliating experience for any defending champion. But his mind wasn’t exactly on the game. Prior to the Senior Open at Caves Valley, doctors did a biopsy on his prostate. Some of the cells came back positive with cancer. After being treated immediately after the Open, he recuperated and rejoined what was then known as the Senior Tour.

Ideally for him, it will work out like it did two years ago at Salem, where he won with even par, besting Gil Morgan and Isao Aoki by one stroke.

"It’s something they can’t take away. It added to my pride and ego, and put some money in the bank," he said.

As for this year at Inverness, he’d take even par again if it meant another victory. In fact, it could make for another exciting finish, just like the last three years. Incidentally, Fleisher was on the losing end in 2000 at Saucon Valley in which Hale Irwin caught him on the final day and breezed on by.

"It could be a horse-race [this year]," said Fleisher. "And it’s more enjoyable for the public if it’s a horse-race."

However, with all of the variables to take into account: most notably the difficulty of the course and the quality and diversity of the field, Fleisher acknowledged that it was difficult to say exactly how this championship would turn out.

So, like all of the other Champions Tour events that Fleisher has played since 1999, his competitive juices will be in full swing at Inverness this week.

"It’s been a wonderful four and a half years," he said of his 16 Champions Tour victories.

With some good shots and a little patience, No. 17 may not be too far off.

Brendan Tierney is a second-year Fellow with the USGA Foundation. E-mail him at btierney@usga.org with questions and comments.