Notebook: Palmer Still Popular
By Kevin McManemin and Alex Miceli
Toledo, Ohio -- While many may not give Arnold Palmer a snowball’s
chance in the baking hot Toledo sun of winning the U.S. Senior
Open, he is still setting records.
On Thursday Palmer will make his 23rd consecutive
start at the Senior Open, setting a new record for appearances
at the event.
And ‘Arnie’s Army’ couldn’t be happier.
The fans still come to ladle adoration on their hero. At
practice rounds, fans cheered his every shot and celebrated
every putt. Dozens congealed around the autograph areas at
Inverness, eagerly clutching programs, photos, hats, notebooks
– anything to snare the signature of one of golf’s living
legends.
"The people out here yesterday were unbelievable,"
said Palmer.
The admiration of his fans is nothing new to Palmer, and
he has remained as impressively devoted to his fans as they
have remain devoted to him.
"I spend a couple hours on the average every day returning
pictures or sending pictures to fans that range everywhere
in the United States and Europe and Japan," said Palmer.
Palmer admitted that his tournament schedule is slowing down
these days, and that he will soon have to face the inevitability
of advanced age and quit the professional tournament scene.
"I’m not playing that much," said Palmer. "I’m
playing the major tournaments right now and that will go away
pretty soon."
He’s played at this year’s Masters and the Bay Hill Invitational,
as well as four Champions Tour events. Showing his game still
has some bite left in it, this year Palmer placed 36th
at the MasterCard Championship with rounds of 73-76-78 – his
best finish in a Champions Tour event since 1997.
"I’m still hitting it a little bit. As long as I can
hit it and walk the 18 holes I will probably [continue playing],"
he said.
Players Size Up Course
Many players expressed their admiration for Inverness as
a fantastic golf course, and affirmed its stature as a worthy
frequent tournament stop for PGA Tour and USGA events. They
also admitted that they, personally, have often struggled
on this course. And they predicted more trouble for the days
ahead.
What exactly makes Inverness such a challenging championship
course? The players agreed on a few key aspects:
Difficult Landing Areas Off The Tee
Long-hitters will be leaving their drivers in the bag for
most of the week. The fairways will restrict length by making
the potential risks of a huge drive much larger than the potential
payoffs.
Senior PGA Championship winner John Jacobs predicts there
are five holes, tops, that he would even consider using the
driver on.
"I don’t even know. Even the holes I can hit drive on,
the thing narrows down so damn much it’s hardly worth it,"
said Jacobs.
Arnold Palmer agreed that winning will require smarts off
the tee, not length. "It’s a golf course that takes some
thinking and distance isn’t a major criteria," said Palmer
Fast Greens
According to course superintendent Tom Walker, greens will
be running in the mid-to-upper 12s on the Stimpmeter. Hot,
dry conditions leading up to the championship will make successful
long birdie putts rare. And success on the greens has always
been a crucial part of winning major championships.
"The greens are unforgiving," said Bruce Fleisher.
Said Tom Kite: "The key thing on this golf course is
the greens. The severity and size of these greens makes this
a very demanding golf course."
Small Greens In Tricky Locations
While players might struggle on the greens, the toughest
test this week
may well be finding them in the first place. Inverness boasts
unusually small greens for a frequent pro tour event stop.
Over-shooting the greens will bring trouble – big trouble.
"There are certain greens out there that you cannot
be above the hole," said Tom Watson.
"If you are going to miss it, miss it in the bunker
short or the rough short or the fairway short."
"You have to keep the ball below the [green] or it’s
goodbye," said Jacobs.
The Gruesome Five-Hole Stretch Starting With No. 3
According to Watson, "That stretch right there is the
most important stretch on the golf course."
This taxing stretch of tough holes will test the mental endurance
of the golfers, and discourage those who get off to a rough
start. Players who navigate these five holes successfully
will put themselves in a great position to climb the leaderboard.
As for handicapping the likely winning score come Sunday,
most vets are in agreement that a player who could finish
with a solid even par would stand a great chance of winning.
Few would be surprised if an over-par score takes the trophy.
"To predict a score, I think over par is going to do
it," said Fleisher. I don’t know how many over par …
it’s just plain hard, guys. It’s just plain hard."
Said Craig Stadler: "If we don’t get any rain I would
think under par would be a heck of a story. I wouldn’t mind
taking 1 under and bagging it right now."
Jacobs Confident
Jacobs, a Champions Tour veteran, saw his golf game thrust
into the media spotlight earlier this month when he won the
Senior PGA Championship. The victory (the most lucrative of
his career) moved him into the top of the points list. Suddenly,
the 58-year-old golfer became the center of media attention
from those wondering if he might be the next big thing.
"People asked me questions that they never asked me
before, so they must have thought I got smarter when I won,"
said Jacobs.
But no one should have been shocked by Jacobs’ win at the
Senior PGA Championship. On the Champions Tour since 1996,
Jacobs is the very definition of a steady player.
He wins one tournament a year (or, at worst, manages a 2nd-place
finish). He finishes somewhere between 18th and
35th on the Champions Tour money list. He is so
consistent that all of this may as well be constitutionally
mandated.
"As far as me, I feel like I’m the same," said
Jacobs. "I think [the] biggest thing is that I know that
if I play good I can win any of these tournaments."
The biggest benefit from his Senior PGA Championship win,
then, is the gift of confidence. Jacobs knows that he can
win the big ones, and he won’t be over-awed by the competition
at Inverness. "I’m sure I kind of thought that before,
but now the doubt is gone," said Jacobs.
This week marks his eighth start at the Senior Open, his
best finish being a tie for 10th in 2000. He failed
to make the cut last year at Caves Valley after shooting 75-76
in the first two rounds.
Debuts
The first U.S. Open at Inverness was held in 1920 when Edward
Ray won with a 295 total. That same year, Bobby Jones and
Gene Sarazen made their debuts in the event.
Sarazen went on to win two years later in 1922 at Skokie
Country Club in Chicago with Bobby Jones finishing one shot
back. Jones would go on to win the following year in 1923
at Inwoods C.C. in New York.
Jack Nicklaus made his U.S. Open debut in 1957 and missed
the cut after getting on the leaderboard early in his first
round. Nicklaus remembered what he could.
"I was playing with Tommy Jacobs and Freddie Hawkins and
I hit 3-wood and 7-iron on the green and holed the putt for
birdie," he said Wednesday. "I parred the next few
holes, my name was on the leaderboard and doubled bogeyed
for a four over, never to be heard of again. I spent the weekend
here after I shot 80-80.
"I remember crawling up and looking between the legs
of the gallery to watch [Roberto] De Vicenzo and [Leonard]
Thompson hit balls. That's about all I remember. I remember
watching [Dick] Mayer and Cary Middlecoff finish on 18."
More Debuts
62 players are making their debut in this year's U.S. Senior
Open. Some of the better-known players are Buddy Alexander,
Lon Hinkle, David Jacobsen, Gary Koch, Rick Rhoden, Jack Spradlin,
Craig Stadler, Danny Yates and George Zahringer.
Going Back
The last three majors at Inverness (1979 U.S. Open, 1986
PGA Championship and 1993 PGA Championship) had progressively
better scores over the 14-year period between 1979 and 1993.
Hale Irwin won in ’79 with a score of 284, Bob Tway in 1986
with a 276 and Paul Azinger in ’93 in a playoff with a 272.
Money Matters
The winner of this year's U.S. Senior Open will win $475,000.
When Azinger won the ‘93 PGA Championship he received $300,000,
or $175,000 less than what the winner of the Senior Open this
week will earn.
Original Design
Inverness is known as a Donald Ross creation, but the course
was formed before Ross ever stepped on the property. In 1903,
Bernard Nichols designed the club as a nine-hole course. It
wasn't until 1919 that Ross came on the scene and expanded
it to 18.
Through the years, A.W. Tillinghast, Dick Wilson, Tom and
George Fazio, and most recently Arthur Hills, made revisions
to Ross' design.
Quoteable
"By far the toughest set-up of all of the Opens I think
that I played, especially on the Senior Tour."
Bruce Fleisher, 2001 Senior Open winner.
Kevin McManemin is a writer with the USGA. Alex Miceli
is a free-lance writer from the Golf Press Association.
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