Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Commentary: Irwin, Floyd men to beat, Trevino says

LEE TREVINO doesn't like his own chances to win this weekend's Las Vegas Senior Classic, although he does attach an asterisk to his personal assessment.

"Maybe I'll come out of my shell," he said, voicing a note of optimism.

But moments later he was back in his self-deprecating persona, saying "Hell, I may never work my way out of this."

Things aren't that bad, of course, for the popular Merry Mex, a winner of 53 events on the PGA and Senior tours. Not counted among those 53 was a win (along with teammate Mike Hill) in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf just a month ago, and his official 1996 earnings of $189,597 ranks him 12th on the Senior Tour.

But last week he settled for a tie for 22nd in the PGA Seniors' Championship, and 22nd along with assorted physical ailments had him talking about retiring.

"Ah, I didn't really mean that," Trevino said Thursday. "My game's not there right now, but I'm not so discouraged I would really retire. What else would I do?"

He's a golfer who has always played a full schedule and he's in the 56-man field for the $1 million tournament that opened today at the TPC at Summerlin. He knows the course, knows the competition.

"Hale (Irwin) looks unbeatable right now, so you have to list him first," Trevino said as he handicapped the field. "And Raymond (Floyd) doesn't take a back seat to anybody, although sometimes his putter gives him trouble. So you've got the two most dangerous guys on the tour playing here. They don't get any meaner than Hale and Raymond."

Beyond the tour's two current stalwarts, Trevino likes Jim Colbert or Jim Dent if the wind doesn't blow and Bob Murphy if it does.

"This golf tournament here is won on the par 5s," he said. "Floyd, Dent, even Colbert because he's hitting much longer than I've seen him, can really capitalize on those holes if there's no wind. The course is fairly easy and favors the big hitters when the wind isn't blowing."

"But right now it looks like it might be windy and hot and that changes everything. If it's windy, I like somebody like Murphy, who's a hell of a wind player. Colbert plays the wind very well, too, but it's hard to win a golf tournament when you're the hometown guy. I don't know how he did it last year."

Trevino is a past champion in Las Vegas as well, taking the 1992 Senior Classic when it was still played at the Desert Inn Country Club. This year he comes to Summerlin at the age of 56 trying to breathe some life into what has been a stop-and-go season.

"You've had more comebacks than George Foreman," Irwin said to him on the driving range, dismissing last week's retirement talk. Trevino's infectious laugh stood as his response.

Of course he's capable of winning again, maybe even by Sunday.

"Well, the Las Vegas night life isn't going to affect me or keep me from winning," he said. "I go to bed so early, I haven't even turned on a light yet. I'm living and playing golf at an elderly pace."

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