Columnist Dean Juipe: Senior Tour searches for its stars

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

Jim Colbert's victory in the SBC Senior Classic in Valencia, Calif., over the weekend was a wonderful personal triumph for him after the medical setbacks he has experienced the last couple of years.

Less than a week after turning 60 years old, he proved he wasn't through. His Sunday victory, aside from the $210,000 it brought him, was the 20th for the Las Vegan on the PGA Senior Tour and was as emotional as any that preceded it.

It was a pleasure to see.

But it also further drove home a point that has dogged the Senior Tour this year and may become even more evident as the circuit winds its way to Las Vegas for the April 20-22 Senior Classic at the TPC at Summerlin.

The tour is self-conscious about this, yet facts are facts: Its star power is down, as is its attendance and TV ratings.

And it's easy to see precisely who is to blame: Tom Watson and Tom Kite.

Unfortunately, these are two of the nicest guys and greatest golfers you could ever hope to meet. But neither is dominating the tour as they were expected to after each turned 50 late in 1999.

The failure of either to emerge as the tour's brightest star has created a void that is only accentuated by Hale Irwin's increasing age and Bruce Fleisher's lack of color. The end result: Larry Nelson and Gil Morgan remain the tour's stalwarts and four of the tour's seven events so far this year have produced unexpected winners.

Journeymen such as Bob Gilder (no wins on the major tours since 1983), Mike McCullough (no wins in 401 starts) and Jose Maria Canizares (no wins in 109 starts) have entered the winner's circle after years of coming up short.

That's OK and loyal golf fans are happy to see it. Yet in terms of selling the tour and adding to its widespread appeal, none of those wins -- nor the fact former TV sports anchor Terry Mauney was in contention two weeks ago -- has offset the public's desire to see established stars from yesteryear like Watson and Kite do well as seniors.

The situation is so bleak that a radical proposal has been floated: Lowering the minimum age from 50 to 45.

While such a move has encountered terrific resistance from those already on the Senior Tour and is very unlikely to actually happen, it does reflect a desperation that the tour has not experienced in its 21 years of existence. A golf tour with an abnormal reliance on stars isn't so much lacking those stars as it is seeing them fail to play as well as everyone had envisioned.

A look to the horizon offers a glimmer of hope in the person of Fuzzy Zoeller, but he doesn't turn 50 until Nov. 11. He'll be a popular addition, but he'll only make a significant impact on the tour if his game is up to the challenge.

Two other established pros hit 50 this year but Bruce Lietzke (July 18) has lost interest in playing regularly and Tom Purtzer (Dec. 5) is apt to have his moments without causing a great deal of commotion.

The Senior Tour has a built-in need for its youngest and best-known members to dominate. That predictability is its bread and butter.

The failures of Watson and Kite to meet that standard is unsettling for a sport with TV ratings the equal of the increasingly despised XFL.

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