Colbert’s not ready to fade away

Steve Addy

Tuesday, May 30, 2000 | 9:57 a.m.

Induction to a sports hall of fame is normally reserved for athletes whose best days are behind them, but PGA Senior Tour golfer Jim Colbert apparently isn't ready to make that concession.

The 59-year-old Las Vegas resident is going into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame Friday night, but he doesn't consider it an invitation to fade into the past tense.

Colbert is barely two weeks removed from the round he calls "the best I ever played," a 61 on May 19 to open the TD Waterhouse Championship in his hometown of Kansas City. Though he let the tournament get away on the last nine holes and dropped to third place, Colbert proved that when his body cooperates, he can still play as well as when he dominated the tour in the mid-90s.

Colbert not only tied the best round of his career, he came mere inches from becoming the first player to birdie every hole on the front or back nine of a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. Colbert's 12-foot putt on No. 18 slid to the right of the hole, giving him eight birdies and a par on the back nine at Tiffany Greens.

All afternoon, Colbert fired darts at the pins, starting his round with an eagle. In his birdie streak, only one of his putts was longer than eight feet.

"It's the best score I've ever shot, definitely the best nine holes I have ever played and the best tournament I have ever played physically," Colbert told the Sun. "The thing is, I didn't even putt well. If I had putted well, there wouldn't have even been a tournament."

Colbert settled for the $93,600 third-place check, bumping his career earnings to well over $10 million, but he emerged with the satisfaction of knowing his game hasn't been fully disabled by physical maladies. He had surgery for prostate cancer in June 1997, and has suffered from back, knee and foot injuries, limiting him to only one victory since 1996.

He won 18 times from 1991-96, including Las Vegas Senior Classics in 1995 and 1996, both at the TPC at Summerlin, and was named Senior player of the year both years. Colbert acknowledges that he's no longer likely to be a weekly challenger, but he's not ready for the La-Z-Boy, either.

"I'm really playing for myself at this stage of my career," Colbert said. "I'm interested to see how well I can still play. I think I can play well, but you still have to go out and do it. That was why that (61) felt so good. It was a milestone at my age. I'm not 60 yet, but I almost shot my age."

After tying for 52nd at last week's Boone Valley Classic in suburban St. Louis, Colbert is skipping this week's BellSouth Senior Classic in Nashville to be inducted into the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame along with Randall Cunningham, Lionel Hollins, Johnny Tocco and Tom Wiesner.

Colbert will also use this week to get his sore right foot examined in Oakland, Calif.

"It's been bothering me for a while. It doesn't hurt my swing, it just hurts when I walk," he said. "I have had five (injections) in there, but the doctors don't want to give me anymore. I could really be enjoying the game if my foot didn't hurt, because I really am playing well."

The hall of fame will be applauding Colbert not only for his golf success, which includes eight PGA Tour victories from 1969-83, but his ongoing support of the sport in Las Vegas. A local resident since 1981, Colbert and his wife Marcia have donated $50,000 to area junior golf programs.

"It's an honor to go into the hall of fame," Colbert said. "It's not a commonplace thing. It means a lot to me. When being honored becomes common, it's time to put me in the box. Las Vegas has been good to me for 20 years. We still live there -- and we could live anywhere we want. We have enjoyed the community and the people. It's such a progressive town, a can-do town."