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Zoeller Better Now Than He Used To Be?
By Alex Miceli Town and Country, Mo. – It was 1984 when Fuzzy Zoeller, at age 32, won his second major title and first U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Twenty years later he is again in contention for the 25th U.S. Senior Open. Zoeller has not had the most successful over-50 experiences on the Champion's Tour, only two wins, but one of them was the Senior PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club. Yet Zoeller has had success in senior majors with four top-10s and seven top-25s in 12 attempts. In addition, he believes his game is actually better than his game of 20 years ago when he won the U.S. Open. "I am a more patient golfer than what I used to be," said the 52-year-old Zoeller. "I used to be very, very impatient as a young golfer, and I think that's one thing that young golfers have a hard time figuring out. You've got to have a lot of patience with this stupid game. The older you get, the wiser you get." Palmer Gone
Arnold Palmer, the 1981 U.S. Senior Open champion, played in the event for the 24th time this week. But with the difficult conditions, he could not muster better than an 83-82-165 and missed the cut. "Well you can say that's one good thing about making the cut; I don't have to sweat in 90 degree weather," said Palmer. "I don't know what the temperature was [Saturday], but if it's any hotter it's going to be grueling." Palmer didn't begrudge officials for going with a 36-hole schedule on Sunday. "I played most of my really active career with major championships in 36 holes on the final day and I certainly don't have anything to say against it," said Palmer. "I understand why we don't do it anymore. I certainly don't object to 36-hole finals. If I would have made the cut I would have played 36 holes [Sunday]." After not making a birdie in the first round, Palmer made two on the back nine on Saturday. He broke 40 for nine holes for the first time in the championship. "I finished birdie – par, that was the highlight of the day," said Palmer. "I enjoyed it. I just played terrible and of course it was tough for me. It's hot and I've been playing and practicing a lot trying to get into position to play a little bit better than I did, but it's understandable." Withdrawals Mike Arnold and Ed Fiori withdrew from the second round of the U.S. Senior Open on Saturday. Arnold who shot a 20-over 91 in Thursday's first round withdrew for personal reasons. Fiori withdrew after completing eight holes, citing fatigue; he was 6 over through 26 holes. Hole Locations In the second round the hole locations were generous to a fault. Only one of the 18 had a hole that was four paces or less from either side of the green. That anomaly, the par-3 third, had a hole location that was located four paces from the left side. The remaining 17 had four holes with locations five paces from the edge, five from six paces, and eight from seven paces or more. The easier hole locations and the receptive greens made scoring much easier. In the second round the scoring average was 74.104, more than a full stroke lower than the first round's 75.187 average. Solid Rounds There were four bogey-free rounds Saturday: Jose Maria Canizares (68), Mark James (70), D. A. Weibring (66) and Fuzzy Zoeller (66). Zoeller, Weibring and newly-crowned British Senior Open Champion Pete Oakley had the lowest rounds of the day in shooting 5-under 66s. Low Cut The cut, which fell at 4-over 146, was the lowest 36-hole cut in the history of the Senior Open. The previous low was 147 at the 2000 Senior Open at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa. First Time When the field plays 36 holes Sunday it will mark the first time 36 holes will be played on one day in Champions Tour history. Eagle Sighting Jim White had the only eagle of the day with a sand wedge from 20 yards out on the par-5 17th. It was the highlight of his championship as White missed the cut at 8-over 150. Alex Miceli is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.ussenioropen.com. |
