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Players From 1979 Open Still
Strategizing The Same
By Dave Shedloski
Toledo, Ohio – Like many proud old golf courses, Inverness
Club has undergone its share of changes. It’s been pulled
and tweaked and lengthened, though it is virtually the same
type of test that Donald Ross envisioned when he designed
it in 1919.
Despite the nips and tucks, Inverness is somewhat of a familiar
old friend to this week’s participants in the 24th
U.S. Senior Open. Though it stretches to a more modern configuration
of 7,255 yards, the par-71 track is set up at 6,983 yards
for the 156-player field.
That’s just one yard longer than the 1979 U.S. Open set-up.
Though 24 years have passed, the players who competed in
the 1979 Open – won by Hale Irwin – find that their strategy
for playing Inverness has changed little, and, likewise, their
club selection into Inverness’ tricky greens is virtually
the same as it was so many years ago.
If anything is different, it’s the players’ club selection
off the tee.
They’re hitting fewer drivers than a quarter century ago.
"It’s preposterous to think I’m longer now than I was
then, that we all are," said Ben Crenshaw, who opened
with a 77 in Thursday’s opening round. "I’m supposed
to be old and short, but I’m hitting it about the same. Hitting
nearly the same clubs. I think we know how that is happening."
"The ball is a rocket," said ’84 U.S. Open champ
Fuzzy Zoeller, who shot even-par 71. "It’s
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| According to Fuzzy Zoeller, not much has
changed from when he played the ’79 Open at Inverness.
If anything, he said he’s grown wiser. (Steve Gibbons/USGA) |
allowing us to do the same things we did before. The only
difference, other than hitting fewer drivers, is that I’m
smarter than I used to be."
For a genuine reality check on how time has stood still,
consider Arnold Palmer’s assessment of his game compared to
his first major championship in Ohio, the 1957 U.S. Open at
Inverness.
"It’s pretty amazing. I was thinking as I played … remembering
playing here in ’57 versus (now), and my drives were almost
in a lot of cases in the same position they were then,"
said Palmer, 73, who won the 1960 U.S. Open and the 1981 U.S.
Senior Open.
"Now, you think about that. That’s a little over 40
years ago. The equipment, the ball, have increased to the
point that I can almost do the same things that I was doing
then, and the shots I was hitting then. That’s all the technical
advances that we’ve made because my body sure as hell hasn’t
kept up with it."
First-round leader Tom Watson said Wednesday that the strategy
he intended to use this week was similar to that in previous
majors held at Inverness. Watson is one of several players
who played not only in the ’79 Open here, but also the 1986
and ’93 PGA Championships.
His memory was working well Thursday, and so was his putter,
as he opened with a 5-under-par 66, three shots better than
anyone else in the morning round. "I was the Watson of
old," he said, beaming.
With today’s equipment, every player can be close to his
old self.
"I’m 30 yards longer than I used to be. I’m not the
same player, but I can play about the same as far as what
I’m trying to do," said defending champion Don Pooley.
"I don’t remember a lot about how I played this golf
course before, but with the way I can hit the ball now, I’d
say it’s about the same."
Bruce Lietzke, who shot a roller coaster 69 that included
just eight pars, said total recall isn’t necessarily a good
thing when revisiting a familiar layout.
"A lot of these brain cells have died and I really don’t
care," Lietzke admitted. "I don’t want to know what
I did before. Not remembering the strategy I used way back
when, well there may be a benefit to that."
Tom Kite, who shot 1-over 72, said Inverness Club played
more difficult Thursday than Olympia Fields Country Club did
two weeks ago during the U.S. Open. "This is a great
old golf course and it demands that you do certain things.
More important than hitting the same clubs is being able to
play the same type of position golf we’re used to playing,"
he said.
"In some ways the game is exactly like it was, and in
other ways, with the way equipment is now, it’s changed so
drastically," said Lietzke. "The important thing
is that hitting good golf shots doesn’t change. You hit good
shots here and you’re going to score. You don’t and all the
equipment in the world won’t make a difference."
Dave Shedloski is a free-lance writer whose work has
appeared previously on www.ussenioropen.com.
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