Columnist Dean Juipe: Mahaffey avoids valid senior topic

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, April 18, 2001 | 10:02 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.

I guess I asked the wrong guy.

But John Mahaffey was just who I was looking for, making him not only the right guy but perfectly suited to field my harmless inquiry.

After all, he's one of four members of the PGA Senior Tour -- Larry Nelson, Dave Stockton and Hubert Green are the others -- who double as members of the nine-man Division Board, which establishes policy for the tour.

I set out Tuesday for the TPC at Summerlin in pursuit of one of the four, and, regretfully, Mahaffey was the only one I came across.

His cart hadn't budged in more than an hour and, as I approached him, Mahaffey was fiddling around with a new box of clubs that had just been opened for his perusal and telling an acquaintance about a new home he apparently had purchased. I waited my turn and asked him, with a good deal of civility, what he and his Senior Tour colleagues thought about the idea of eliminating their cozy no-cut rule, which allows every player in the field to play the entire tournament no matter how poorly they're scoring.

After initially declining to answer a question of any sort, Mahaffey put a quick end to this interview.

"I think if it's not broken, don't fix it," he said, implying that any change in the Senior Tour format went against his best wishes. His tone was haughty if not outright rude and he added "That's my story and I'm sticking with it" as he spun and walked away.

I've been dusted before, so that's no big deal. But I didn't expect it from a man who voluntarily accepted a leadership position and is, in theory, something of an ambassador for his sport.

It's not that Mahaffey's singular point isn't well taken. In its 21 years of existence, the Senior Tour has grown from two events and a cumulative purse of $250,000 to this year's 45 events and $59 million in purses.

The 78 players in the Las Vegas Senior Classic that opens Friday will be playing with $1.4 million available.

But there's talk on the tour -- and in corporate settings -- of enlarging the field and adding a cut, perhaps with the provision that even those players missing the cut will be paid a minimal fee. The plus side of such a move would seem to outweigh the minus in that the aging players with no chance of ever winning again could still play but wouldn't be taking the spot of a younger man who might actually challenge for a title.

It's a legitimate issue, especially when you look at a player such as Walt Zembriski, who is not only playing in Las Vegas this week but who played in 31 events last year while averaging a paltry $1,700 -- or $1,000 more than the minimum -- per event.

Most fans don't want to chase the old, old guys off the tour no matter how far past their primes they may be. For instance, it's always a treat to see an older player such as 66-year-old Harold Henning in the field regardless of what he shoots.

But that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement, as the tour's mediocre TV ratings should demonstrate. Expanding the field and adding an element of competition might be just what the doctor ordered.

Mahaffey -- a rich man, yet one who may be the next Zembriski -- should accept his responsibility to discuss it.

The luxuries on his doorstep would seem to demand it.