Tuesday, April 17, 2001 | 10:13 a.m.
Rick Talt is having quite a year.
With interest rates plunging, business has been booming for the mortgage banker.
His home life has been blessed as well.
Two months ago, his daughter, Georgina, gave birth to his first grandchild, a girl named Gwendolyn Kate.
More good news came for Talt on Monday.
That's when Talt carded a low round of 69 at the TPC at the Canyons to qualify for the Las Vegas Senior Classic, which starts Wednesday at the TPC at Summerlin with a pro-am and concludes Sunday.
"I putted very well and hit some good shots," said Talt, who had six birdies. "I made a lot of mistakes with my driver, but my putting was the key."
Ed Brooks, Steve Stull and Ray Carrasco emerged from a six-man playoff to join Talt in the tournament.
Talt, a former PGA Tour professional (he earned his tour card for one season in 1975) has been so busy that he only has had time to play six rounds this year.
Because he hadn't been playing well the last couple of years, he started working with Las Vegans Jimmy Bullard and Jimmy Adams to help him with his swing.
"Last night, I got my old feeling back with the putter," Talt said. "I felt good.
"I had a good feeling I would putt good here. Everything came together today."
Talt failed to qualify for the field last year, but was helped Monday by his familiarity of the course. He has tried to qualify here for the last four years.
After the one unsuccessful year on the PGA Tour, Talt decided to put his golf game on hold until the mid-1990s when he began playing again.
"Since I was 12, all I thought about was golf and getting onto the tour," he said. "After I tried it in 1975, I decided to put golf behind me."
But the former Arizona State golfer missed the competition and decided to attempt to qualify for Senior Tour events in his spare time.
Talt, of Laguna Beach, Calif., last made a senior tour field four years ago, the same year he finished 40th in the Senior British Open and competed in the Senior U.S. Open.
Today, he said he tries to qualify for six or seven events a year, mostly on the West Coast.
Had he missed the cut for the Las Vegas Senior Classic, he would have driven back home.
"I would have started drawing up loans again right away," Talt said with a big grin. "Started taking applications."
Unlike Talt, Las Vegan Tom Storey had little to smile about after his round on Monday.
Storey, a former singer/entertainer who has performed in stage shows and lounges, didn't complete his round.
In his fourth attempt to qualify for the event, he called it quits after he hit a ball into the water on the 18th hole.
"On the Senior Tour if you have one bad round, you're out," a dejected Storey said. "I was over par for the day and didn't want to get another ball after mine was in the water.
"I just tried to hook it into the pin, but it was a stupid shot. I just played badly and didn't qualify. That's it."
Storey, 59, has qualified for a PGA or Senior PGA Tour event in six different decades, beginning in 1959 when he was 17.
This weekend, he'll be competing at the London Bridge Open in Lake Havasu, Ariz.
"I don't know what else to do besides play golf," said the reigning Nevada and Wyoming Senior Open champion. "I'm too stubborn to quit."
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