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The Week: A Warm and Fuzzy Win The people's choice, Fuzzy Zoeller, overcame a tough course and a long victory drought to take the Senior PGABy Gary Van Sickle
The monster lives. Arnold Palmer christened Firestone's
feared par-5 16th hole the Monster after he drowned a shot in the pond and took
an 8 there in 1960, ruining his chances of winning the PGA Championship.
Forty-two years later Palmer returned to Akron for the 63rd Senior PGA
Championship, and the King made another 8 at the 16th. "That hole has been
haunting me for 45 years," a chagrined Palmer said
afterward.
At 635 yards the 16th is as fearsome as ever, but this time around all 18 holes of Firestone's South course provided a monstrous challenge, forcing the world's best Seniors to reach for the nearest walker. Fuzzy Zoeller, the new Senior PGA champion, wasn't simply the only player to break par for 72 holes on this beast -- finishing at a modest two under -- he was also the last man standing. How tough was Firestone? Even par was good enough for second place, and five over got you a tie for 10th. "This felt more like the U.S. Open than a Senior major," said Larry Nelson, who bogeyed four of the last six holes to finish in a tie for sixth. The brutal conditions and large and enthusiastic galleries (what else is there to do in Akron besides rotate your tires?) created a major championship atmosphere. That brought out the best in Zoeller, the 1984 U.S. Open champ, whose play has been uninspired for most of his rookie year on the Senior tour. But Zoeller was in the thick of things from the start as he fired a first-round 69, and the fans, still loyal despite his infamous comments at the 1997 Masters, rallied in an effort to spur him to his first Senior win. "We had some decent crowds following us, and all you heard was, 'Go, Fuzzy!'" said Bobby Wadkins, Zoeller's final-round playing partner, who tied Hale Irwin for second, two strokes back. "Finally, on 15, Fuzzy's wife hollered, 'Go, Bobby!' It was fun to see people get behind the Senior tour and root for him. This is what the tour needs." The carefree Zoeller was still bantering with fans on the 72nd tee, even though he was clinging to a two-shot lead, and mid-fairway he took time out to autograph a handful of balls for his caddie to distribute to some spectators. Zoeller has embraced the Senior tour's fan-friendly initiatives even as he has struggled this year -- coming into the Senior PGA, he had one second but no finish better than 15th in 11 other starts. "It was his putting," said caddie Eric Schwarz. "Everyone who's seen him swing this year has been saying, Fuzzy's going to win soon, it's only a matter of time." It had been 16 years since his last victory, the 1986 Anheuser-Busch Classic, but some quality time with his daughter Gretchen may have sparked this comeback. She'll enter the College of Charleston on a golf scholarship this fall, and Dad spent the week before the Senior PGA practicing with her at Covered Bridge Golf Club, a course Zoeller designed (and owns) in Sellersburg, Ind., 10 miles from his home in New Albany. "I guess that practicing stuff really pays off," Zoeller joked on Sunday evening. Zoeller interrupted his winner's press conference to call the Covered Bridge clubhouse and announce that he was buying drinks there for the next hour. "This could really hurt me, you know," Zoeller said of a bar bill he feared would be a real monster.
Stealing Beauty? Just who did coax the Black course from the stunning Bethpage State Park landscape? History tells us it was Golden Age designer A.W. Tillinghast, but retired ad man Joe Burbeck has come forward to demand that his father, Joseph H. Burbeck, be given the credit. There's never been any doubt that Burbeck, as park superintendent from 1929 to '64, was instrumental in carrying out master builder Robert Moses's plan for a multicourse complex at Bethpage. That Burbeck conferred with Tillie and oversaw the construction, which was completed in '35, is a given. But his 71-year-old son wants him crowned with architectural laurels too. Unfortunately there are no plans or papers to support the son's claim, only his boyhood memories. Still, he cites the following evidence: that Tillie's title at Bethpage was consultant, not architect; that a 1959 park history says the Black was "designed and constructed under [Burbeck's] direction"; and that Tillie himself said, in a PGA Magazine article published in '37, "it was Burbeck's idea" to develop the Black in the mold of a public Pine Valley. All true, says architect Rees Jones, who oversaw the renovation of Bethpage Black and several other Tillinghast courses. Just not true enough. "An untrained eye could not have created such a magnificent layout," says Jones, who maintains that Burbeck implemented Tillinghast's ideas -- and probably even added to them -- but that the design was Tillie's. Jones says it was not unusual for architects to be called consultants during the Depression. And, whatever Tillinghast's title, he made at least 15 visits to Bethpage, more than most architects of that era would have when designing a course. No blueprints? "Tillinghast was a field designer, doodling on sketch pads," says Jones. "That's why I don't think they can find formal plans." David Catalano, the current park director, agrees with Jones. "A sad mistake is being made," he says, citing an earlier park history, from 1934, that credits Tillinghast as the planner and developer. Finally, there's the non-smoking gun of Joseph H. Burbeck himself. "I know of no instance or of any written document in which he ever claimed to be the architect," says Catalano. "If he had designed the Black, wouldn't he have been asked to design other courses too?" —Jeff Silverman O.B. —Alan Shipnuck Issue date: June 17, 2002 |
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