Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Irwin, Floyd join LV senior field

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1998 | 12:17 p.m.

BRIAN HILDERBRAND is a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter. His golf column appears Tuesdays. He can be reached on the Internet at bh@lasvegassun.com

Defending champion Hale Irwin and 1994 winner Raymond Floyd are among six former champions who have announced their intentions to compete in this year's Las Vegas Senior Classic.

Irwin, the 1997 Senior PGA Tour Player of the Year, and Floyd were joined by past champions Gibby Gilbert (1993), Charles Coody (1989), Al Geiberger (1987) and Bruce Crampton (1986) in committing to play in the 13th annual LVSC.

Irwin snapped Jim Colbert's two-year winning streak in Las Vegas last year by winning the Senior Classic en route to a record-breaking year. The three-time U.S. Open champion won nine Senior Tour titles last year while becoming the first player on either the Senior Tour or the PGA Tour to win more than $2 million in a single season.

Floyd, who has 13 Senior Tour victories, failed to win an event in 1997 for the first time since joining the circuit in 1992. Despite not winning a tournament, Floyd finished 23rd on the money list with more than $584,000 in earnings.

The 1998 Las Vegas Senior Classic will feature an expanded field of 78 professionals competing for a $1.4 million purse. For the first time in the tournament's 13-year history, the LVSC will be played on two courses this year with play rotating between the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin and the TPC at The Canyons, April 23-26.

Both TPC courses will be used during the first two days of the tournament with play being held exclusively at the TPC at Summerlin on Saturday and Sunday.

In addition to the bigger field and two-course rotation, this year's Las Vegas Senior Classic will feature a 72-hole format rather than the 54-hole competition utilized during the first 12 years of the tournament.

* AROUND THE GREEN: Former Boston Red Sox /Chicago White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk recorded a hole in one on the par-3 14th hole at the TPC at Summerlin during Monday's Robert Gamez Charity Classic and won a new Lexus. Fisk was the big winner in the two-day charity event as he also captured Sunday's Celebrity Shoot-Out at the TPC at Summerlin. ... Casey Martin isn't the only professional golfer to be involved in a controversy involving golf carts. LPGA Tour player Wendy Ward was penalized two strokes during the second round of The Office Depot tournament in West Palm Beach for accepting a ride between the ninth and 10th holes at the Ibis Golf and Country Club. The cart was marked "Player Shuttle" but LPGA rules did not permit such transport during the tournament. Ward, the second-round leader, signed for a 68 instead of a 66 and saw her lead shrink from four shots to two. Ward struggled to a final-round 74 and finished tied for third, five shots behind tournament winner Helen Alfredsson. ... Metal spikes quickly are going the way of hickory shafts and persimmon drivers. According to Softspikes, the leading manufacturer of non-metal golf cleats, 60 percent of the players on the three major American golf tours are wearing non-metal cleats and more than 70 of the top 100 courses in America have banned metal spikes.

* UPCOMING EVENTS: The PGA Tour will try its luck this weekend in Southern California with the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Club in the San Diego suburb of La Jolla. Mark O'Meara is the defending champion and the field will include UNLV junior Charley Hoffman, who qualified to play in the tournament as an amateur. ESPN will televise Thursday and Friday; NBC will handle the telecast on the weekend. ... The Senior PGA Tour is in Naples, Fla., for the LG Championship at Bay Colony Golf Club. Hale Irwin won last year's event. ESPN will provide tape-delayed coverage Friday through Sunday. ... The LPGA Tour is off for the second week in a row but will resume next week with the Los Angeles Women's Open at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale.