Columnist Dean Juipe: It’s down to the wire for Senior Classic

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2001 | 11:16 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.

The Las Vegas Senior Classic needs a sponsor and the only sure thing is that no one has stepped forward yet.

Oh, and the clock is ticking.

"We'll have the (2002) schedule out within the next couple of weeks," PGA Senior Tour director of public relations Jeff Adams said Tuesday from his office in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Pressed for the most pertinent information as far as Las Vegas golf fans are concerned, Adams could only imply that the annual event is in trouble.

"The onus is on the local organizers," he said, referring to obtaining the sponsorship (and prize money) that it takes to keep a Senior Tour event solvent.

The most visible of those local organizers is tour manager Charlie Baron, and he's in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, Ga., for this week's PGA Championship. We trust he's making some meaningful contacts, while knowing he's also apt to be slipping in a round or two of golf.

If he and his cohorts are unable to save the Las Vegas Senior Classic, I, personally, will find it almost unbelievable.

The tournament, which has been held in April at the TPC at Summerlin in recent years, dates from 1986 when it began an eight-year run at the Desert Inn Golf Club. In terms of longevity, it's one of this area's mainstays.

While the event's heyday arguably was during its D.I. tenure, when popular players such as Chi Chi Rodriguez and Lee Trevino won, it deserves a spot in the tour's rotation and it serves an ulterior purpose for this tourist-driven community. When people see professional golf on TV from Las Vegas, they're reminded that Southern Nevada is increasingly viable as a golfing destination.

As such, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority should see fit to fund the Senior Classic if need be, although it has indicated it has no interest in continuing in that role in 2002. The LVCVA, which has chipped in on an as-needed basis in times past, may be the real culprit here if it allows the tour event to fall by the wayside.

From the Senior Tour's standpoint, it is hoping Las Vegas gets its act together. Adams said the tour has no new event pushing for Las Vegas' spot on the 2002 itinerary, and he said "We haven't had that conversation" when asked if the tour would consider financially supplementing the event as it and the PGA Tour have done on a limited and emergency basis in rare instances.

So it's apparently up to Las Vegas to find the $1.4 million the Senior Classic needs for its prize fund.

If a "donor" is found, he, she or it will gain title recognition, as was the case when General Tire (in 1988-89) and later Tru-Green Chemlawn (in 1998, '99 and 2000) were involved in the event. (Here's an intriguing thought: One of Las Vegas' many rich socialites or entrepreneurs could cough up the $1.4 mil and add their name to the event's title. Imagine, for instance, the Las Vegas Senior Classic presented by Arthur Goldberg, or the Bob Arum Open.)

While it seems as if a knight in shining armor needs to rectify this bleak situation, no one has emerged since Baron admitted last spring that the 2002 event was in jeopardy.

If the tour releases next year's schedule and there isn't any reference to Las Vegas, it will be a sad and sorry occasion.