Simi Valley Senior Golf Tournament : At 50, Game Takes On a New Look

SIMI VALLEY — The PGA Seniors Tour, a throwback to the days when sports were more fun and not such big business, begins its brief yearly fling in the Los Angeles area today.

The best field ever assembled for the 50-and-over group will start play in the 54-hole $275,000 GTE tournament at 9:30 a.m. over the long, difficult Wood Ranch Club layout.

Arnold Palmer, for more than a quarter of a century the biggest name in golf, heads a 66-man roster that also includes defending champion Dale Douglass, Gary Player, Bruce Crampton, leading money winner Chi Chi Rodriguez and Billy Casper.

At a time when sports have become big business, athletes are often unhappy and drug problems keep cropping up, the senior tour seems to be a refreshing return to what sports once were--relaxing entertainment.

The seniors exchange quips with fans and fellow players, and seem to enjoy themselves thoroughly. The money, although it is rapidly increasing, seems incidental.

Of course, there is good reason for this. For almost all of the golfers on the senior tour, it is like getting a new lease on life. There is another chance to play against old rivals, and get paid for it.

Palmer, of course, doesn’t need the new tour, although it certainly benefits by having him participate. Several others would still be playing occasionally on the regular tour, but for the vast majority, it is a Godsend.

Bob Charles, the left-hander who won the Vintage last week at Indian Wells, said he would be driving a tractor on his farm in New Zealand if there were no senior tour.

Jim Ferree, almost always among the leaders, said he would be doing his job as head pro at a club on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

“But not last week,” he added. “I would have been at the Meadowlands (for the East Regional in the NCAA basketball tournament) dying with my alma mater (North Carolina).”

It’s the same story for most of them, but the popular Doug Sanders is an exception. Sanders, who is in a 10 o’clock threesome with Palmer and Australian Peter Thomson today, said it costs him money to play on the tour.

“I have businesses and my international junior golf program that I should be attending to,” he said. “But I wouldn’t miss being out here for anything. It is so much fun, playing with old friends and seeing old friends.

“This is my third life in golf. First, there was the junior and amateur life. Then, there was the PGA Tour. Now there is the seniors. You just can’t beat the life.”

Crampton, who was a serious, no-nonsense player on the regular tour, is an amiable, friendly fellow on the senior version.

“There’s less pressure now, especially from a security point,” said Crampton, who won a record $459,299 as a rookie on the senior tour last year. “Also, with fewer players, you don’t have to worry about making the cut.

“It’s a lot easier to travel, too. You fly in and someone meets you. This week, I’m driving a Fleetwood Cadillac. How can you beat that?”

Not everyone is happy, though. Charlie Sifford played in this tournament last year when it was held at MountainGate. He expects to go to court in September on a suit he filed because of nonpayment of $100,000 he says he is due for a hole-in-one on the sixth hole.

“I’m not playing at Wood Ranch,” he said. “I didn’t like the way they treated me (at MountainGate). I’m not happy with the PGA either. They should not have given them a date for this year.”

Sifford, 63, is missing out on a minimum of $1,500. That’s how much the last-place finisher in the Super Seniors will earn. That tournament within a tournament is a 36-hole event for pros 60 and over.

If golfers commit to the Super Seniors, they are not eligible for the top prize of $41,000 in the 54-hole main event.

Howie Johnson, who won the first Super Seniors last week at the Vintage, also had a shot at winning the regular tournament. The ensuing uproar caused a rule change. If the Super Seniors winner wins the tournament, the top prize, instead of going to the pension fund, will go to the next-best scorer.