Lietzke Returns to Defend His Title

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. â€”  Bruce Lietzke is playing less and enjoying it more.

“I play where I really want to play and the result is that I tend to play more quality golf. I want to be anxious to play, ready to play, when I get to a tournament site,� Lietzke said before opening defense of his title in the $500,000 Honda tournament.

The tourney, with a field of 144, begins today on the revamped Eagle Trace Club course, one of six stadium golf facilities now used on the PGA Tour.

Lietzke, 33, scored the 10th victory of his career in this event last year, coming from four shots back in the final round and eventually beating Andy Bean in a sudden-death playoff.

It was the only tournament he won during the season, but the game’s most successful cross-handed putter said the year was one of his best.

“In many ways it was my second best year on the tour, second only to 1981 (when he won three times),� he said. “I played well through the year.

“If there was a disappointment, it was in the World Series of Golf. I had a chance to win, but finished second.�

He also was second in the Tournament of Champions and the Texas Open and third at Doral. He was in the top 10 in seven of his 21 starts.

“I expect to play about the same schedule, about the same number of tournaments, this year,� said Lietzke, who is making his fifth start of the season. “I feel the reduced schedule keeps me more enthusiastic about the tournaments I do play.

“I feel like I’m starting to play pretty well at times. And it’s always nice to come back to a course where you’ve won before. My record shows that I have a history of playing well on certain courses,� he said. The record supports him. He has scored multiple victories in both the Canadian and Tucson opens.

Lietzke faces a line-up that, in addition to Bean, includes the principals from last year’s tournament as well as the leaders from last week’s Doral Open--Mark McCumber and the two men he outlasted in the final round, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Kite.

Also, Mark O’Meara, already a two-time winner this season, Hale Irwin, Ray Floyd, Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, British Open champion Seve Ballesteros of Spain, U.S. Open titleholder Fuzzy Zoeller and Denis Watson of South Africa, a three-time winner last year.

Portions of the final two rounds Saturday and Sunday will be televised nationally by CBS.

Patty Sheehan, the LPGA money leader going into today’s first round of the Samaritan Turquoise tournament at Phoenix, says she got used to competition growing up with three brothers in Reno.

“I was always competing against my brothers, and they were always so much better than I was. And older. And bigger,� the 28-year-old says. “I think I always tried just a little bit harder because I wanted mom and dad to notice I was there too.�

Sheehan, who leads in 1985 tour earnings with $46,650, has won the last two LPGA Championships and is only about $85,000 short of the million-dollar list.

She also is one of four top 10 players among the 144 entered in the four-day meet that opens today. Others are with No. 2 Hollis Stacy, at $43,399; No. 4 Betsy King, at $32,237 and No. 9 Jane Blalock, at $28,650. Amy Alcott, last week’s Tucson Open champion, is skipping Phoenix.

But Jan Stephenson, Patty Hayes, Beth Daniel and Anne-Marie Palli, all past champions here, will be among those swinging on the par-72, 6,246-yard Arizona Biltmore Adobe Course.

So will defending champ Chris Johnson. But Johnson, 26, who won the Tucson and Phoenix opens back-to-back a year ago, is trying to recapture her golf game.

Johnson is 61st in money earnings with $2,552. She missed the cut once and finished tied for 33rd, 39th earlier this season. In Tucson, she was tied at 70th place. After her victories in Arizona last year, she missed the cut six times in 20 events, and her best finish was a tie for 15. She finished ranked No. 25 with $70,979.

“Toward the end of last year I was really thinking of quitting,� Johnson said. “I was thinking this, golf, was just something I’ll never be as good at as what I think I can be.�

She said she hadn’t expected to be nervous during the Tucson play but found that she was. “I think it’ll be easier this week,� she said, adding that she was working on becoming more patient.

Sheehan isn’t having those problems. She says it’s nice not to have to worry about paying the rent but that she doesn’t know whether her successes have changed her inside.

“I think I’ve probably matured and realized there’s a lot more to life than golf,� she said. “You can play golf and it’s fun and you win a lot of money, and everything. But it doesn’t seem to change the history of the world.

“It doesn’t seem to help the needy people, except through the charities we play for. I think it’s important professional athletes get involved with charities. Then they can realize there’s more to life than their sport.�

As for the future, she said, “I’m just hoping my bubble doesn’t burst.�