Columnist Dean Juipe: No Watson or Kite, but field’s OK

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, April 19, 2000 | 10:03 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

It would be easy to look at the field for the Las Vegas Senior Classic, which opens Friday at the TPC at Summerlin, and lament its failure to attract the tour's two newest stars.

After all, Tom Watson (34 PGA Tour victories) and Tom Kite (19 PGA Tour victories) have been repeatedly referred to as the "long-awaited new face of the tour" this spring. Each brings a breath of life to the 50-and-over circuit and both have already won Senior championships.

But they're skipping the Las Vegas leg of the tour, which is certainly their prerogative.

Their decisions arguably have a negative impact on the tournament, as they're interesting men who mix well with the media and who would have had feature stories and broadcast reports done on them had they elected to play here. They're also drawing cards, capable of luring fans who might not otherwise make the trip out to Summerlin.

Joining them on the list of players bypassing Las Vegas this year are Chi Chi Rodriguez, Gil Morgan, Raymond Floyd and Gary Player. Rodriguez, 65, has curtailed his schedule; Morgan, regrettably, is injured; Floyd is increasingly less committed to playing competitively; and Player never comes out here anyhow.

But rather than get into a critical or sorrow-laden essay, let's switch directions: Almost to a man, the tour players that are here have interesting tales to tell. And the field isn't all that bad, with 27 of the top 30 money winners from 1999 and virtually everyone on the tour except those mentioned above having made what amounts to a special effort to play in Las Vegas this season in spite of the tour's crazy schedule.

For instance, Irishman Christy O'Connor is playing here for the first time and aside from the fact he won twice on the tour last year during his rookie season, he's the nephew of the fabled Christy O'Connor Himself. The latter was so revered that the word Himself was informally added to his name as a show of respect.

Imagine not only growing up in his shadow, but trying to follow in his footsteps.

Or imagine being Tommy Aaron, who, at 63 years old, and much to his own surprise, made the cut at The Masters two weeks ago. Having won the event in 1973 he's entitled to play every year, yet he almost always shoots a couple of 80s and says his goodbyes. This year, in his 37th Masters, he stayed through the weekend and was ecstatic about it.

Or imagine being George Archer, with an artificial right hip, still playing every week at the age of 60 and having already won a 2000 event. Or being Bruce Fleisher, a PGA Tour journeyman but the Senior Tour's leading money winner since 1998.

Or even being Vicente Fernandez, the tournament's defending champion, who was born with one leg shorter than the other and, consequently, walks with a limp.

You see the point.

What we have here is a tournament with assorted shortcomings that still has the ability to capture and retain the public's attention. Of course it would be nice if Watson, Kite and Morgan were playing, yet those omissions hardly put a damper on everything.

By Sunday, the fact they didn't make an appearance here is apt to be long-since forgotten.