Thursday, April 23, 1998 | 9:32 a.m.
This can't come as good news to Larry Nelson's fellow Senior PGA Tour competitors.
Although he has a staggering eight top-five finishes -- including one win -- in 12 starts on the Senior circuit, Nelson said he is just now beginning to play his best golf since turning 50.
"I joined the tour in September and I feel like I'm actually starting to play a little better, my game is getting a little bit better," Nelson said as he prepared for today's opening round of the $1.4 million Las Vegas Senior Classic. "It makes the prospects of the rest of the year pretty exciting."
Not that his first seven months as a member of the Senior Tour have been uneventful.
Last week, Nelson battled Gil Morgan down the stretch and finished second, by a shot over Morgan, in the PGA Seniors' Championship. His first four outings this season produced his first Senior Tour victory and three fifth-place finishes.
He comes to Las Vegas third on the money list with $471,920.
"It has been real nice," Nelson said modestly of his hot start.
"My iron game was not as good as I would have liked when I came out in September. I've been fighting hitting the ball left and I just really kind of worked on it a little bit and I feel much more comfortable now than I have in a long time. I'm hitting the irons better and that part, I'm real encouraged about."
The fact that Nelson's game has produced such results on the Senior Tour -- not to mention a U.S. Open and two PGA Championship titles on the regular tour -- is rather amazing, considering he had never played golf until he returned from military service in Vietnam at the age of 21.
Nelson broke 100 the first time he stepped on a golf course. Three years later, he turned professional and in 1974, joined the PGA Tour. Among his 10 PGA tour victories were the aforementioned three major titles.
"Based on other guys starting late, I'm real happy with what I was able to do," Nelson said of picking up golf at such a relatively late stage in his life. "I was very fortunate (but) when you start playing golf at 21 you kind of have to learn the right way and I was fortunate that I did."
Upon joining the Senior Tour late last year, Nelson admitted he put a lot of pressure on himself to perform to other people's expectations -- namely, to win right off the bat.
This year, Nelson said he decided to "relax" and not try too hard to win. The result, after a pair of fifth-place finishes in his first two starts, was a victory at the American Express Invitational in February.
"Really, any of the goals I have set for myself this year have been fairly small -- I just wanted to finish in the top 31 and, depending on how the year goes, my goals will probably be more solidified, I guess," he said.
"Right now, I'm just kind of enjoying playing out here. Every golf course I'm playing is new except for (The Tournament Players Club at Summerlin). Most of the other golf courses I'm playing kind of blind. It's a little bit of a disadvantage but I really think next year my play in general will be better, my confidence level will be better, simply because I've played the golf courses."
Which translates to more bad news for the rest of the Senior Tour.
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