Purser’s gamble pays off

Richard Dunn

It came down to the art of predicting weather. Toshiba Senior

Classic officials rolled the dice and won.

When players and Senior PGA Tour officials went back to their hotel

rooms after Saturday’s second round, they were scratching their heads,

wondering why Sunday morning’s tee times weren’t doubled on the first and

10th tees in an effort to finish quicker and avoid a rainstorm in the

forecast.

Ultimately, the decision to move forward with original plans and allow

the Sunday leaders to tee off at 11:30 a.m., instead of two hours

earlier, was in the hands of Toshiba Classic Tournament Director Jeff

Purser.

“The tour wanted two tees, but I said no way,” said Purser, whose

command to start Sunday’s round on one tee proved to be a worthwhile

gamble, as Toshiba Classic VII worked its way to near darkness with the

completion of the tournament, as well as a nine-hole playoff, without a

drop of rain.

The Senior PGA Tour wanted Sunday’s final round over by about 1:30

p.m., but Purser insisted that fans and sponsors deserved an opportunity

to watch golf in the afternoon -- just in case the weather stayed dry.

“I know these people go to church, and a lot of them don’t come out

until 12:30 (p.m.) or 1 o’clock, so I said no (to the tour),” said

Purser, who looked like a genius. “The tour officials were supportive (of

the decision to stay on schedule). I told them, ‘I don’t think (the rain)

is coming. I’m rolling the dice.”’

Last year, when the final Toshiba round was rained out and Allen Doyle

was crowned champion of a 36-hole tournament, folks were giving Purser

their sympathy. But he didn’t want it.

“It’s my job -- you deal with (a final-round cancellation) and move

on. I’m not emotionally involved like a lot of people who support the

tournament,” Purser said. “The people I felt bad for last year were the

sponsors and fans, the people who bought a ticket and didn’t get to see

the big putt on the 18th green.”

Purser arrived as tournament director from the Midwest shortly after

Hoag Hospital took over as managing charity in August 1997.

“Hey, I’ve gotten rained out before and I’ll get rained out again,”

Purser said. “I’ve had entire greens under two feet of water and

tornadoes surrounding us (at a tour event in the early 90s at Youngstown,

Ohio). There were five tornadoes within a five-mile (radius), and one

touched down a half-mile away. We had hospitality tents under water. So

what happened last year wasn’t that bad.”

Most players Saturday didn’t think they would be teeing it up Sunday.

“I’ve been here (in California) for five weeks with CBS and we’ve just

gotten killed (by the rain),” Gary McCord said Monday after the Toshiba

Senior Classic Celebrity Pro-Am. “(Tournament officials) took a chance

and it paid off, and it went 27 holes, actually.”

Jake Rohrer, the tournament co-chairman, concurred Monday that

allowing the final round to proceed without doubling tee times was a

“gamble ... but it was one we had to take and it paid off.”

McCord teamed with with Junior Seau and three amateurs to win the

celebrity pro-am.

The wisecracking CBS golf commentator who won his first career PGA

title at the 1999 Toshiba Classic, was one of 24 tour professionals to

play the final pro-am of the 2001 Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach

Country Club.

McCord, Seau and amateurs Mark Simons, Michael Van Gieson and Jerry

Lumpkin had a team score of 120.

The team of Senior Tour legend Tommy Aaron and celebrity Mike Scott,

the 1986 National League Cy Young Award winner with the Houston Astros,

finished second at 123 with amateurs Sonny King, Jim Conner and Bob

Vesely.

Taking third place at 126 was pro Walter Morgan, celebrity Chili

Davis, a former Angel, and amateurs Kevin Murai, Mike Gumbert and Barry

Schwartz.

As advertised, the Toshiba Classic is officially moving next year from

Week 9 on the Senior PGA Tour calendar to Week 10, Purser said.

In 2002, the SBC Senior Classic, played this week at Valencia Country

Club, will follow the Mexico Senior Classic and occupy Week 9, while the

Toshiba Senior Classic will be held March 4-10.

Purser is trying to convince the Senior PGA Tour to move the

three-stop California swing from weeks 9, 10 and 11 to weeks 11, 12 and

13.

“I don’t mind being Week 12. I just don’t want to be first on the

California swing in Week 9,” Purser said. “I wouldn’t be doing my job if

I wasn’t lobbying to the tour.”

Jose Maria Canizares, who took the first and last shot of the 2001

Toshiba Classic, became the third consecutive first-time winner on the

Senior Tour, following Bob Gilder at the Verizon Classic in Tampa, Fla.,

and Mike McCullough at the Mexico Senior Classic.