Quiet, confident Davis

Richard Dunn

As the golf world turns for the 50-and-over senior circuit, defending

Toshiba Senior Classic champion Hale Irwin is on everybody’s radar on

the PGA Champions Tour, sort of an older side of Tiger Woods and his

sights on the PGA Tour.

Australian Rodger Davis, however, is the one with budding

confidence and a comfortable two-shot lead in the $1.55 million

Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club as the field of 81

heads for the home stretch today in the final round of the 54-hole

tournament, the only in-season PGA event in Orange County and the

Champions Tour’s most philanthropic stop with a record three straight

years of donating over $1 million to charity.

“I hope I’m on their radar,” Davis said, referring to the players

directly below him, after shooting 7-under-par 64 in the second round

Saturday.

Davis, who even spells his first name different, isn’t the marquee

name on the tour like Irwin, Fuzzy Zoeller, Lee Trevino, Gary Player

or Tom Watson. But his thick mustache, knickers and warm accent could

fast make him a star if he wins tournaments.

Considered one of the most popular and colorful players on both

the PGA European Tour and Australasian Tour, Davis, 51, isn’t worried about anyone passing him today in the final round.

“I’m quietly confident,” said Davis, who received an impromptu

chipping lesson from a teaching professional at the Dave Pelz Golf

School on Thursday before teeing off the next day in the first round.

Davis, who has never won in the United States but owns 33 career

titles around the world, said he didn’t remember the golf

instructor’s name who helped him, but he’ll be sure to get it.

Meanwhile, Davis said the lesson, which focused on ball positioning,

has saved him “two or three shots a round.” That was seem to bear

true considering his sizzling 65-64 in the first two rounds to drop

to 13-under for the tournament.

First-round leader Jim Ahern is second at 11-under, following his

round of 67 Saturday, while David Eger and 2001 Toshiba Senior Classic champion Jose Maria Canizares are tied for third at 10-under,

ahead of Irwin and John Jacobs, who are tied at 9-under.

Larry Nelson, who continued his remarkable second-round success at

Newport Beach, fired a 64 to work his way into possible contention at

8-under and tied with Wayne Levi.

In the 2001 Toshiba Classic, Nelson carded a tournament

second-round record 63 and followed it up last year with a 64 in the

final round.

Remarkably, there were only six rounds of 64 or better in the

tournament since 1996 at Newport Beach, including the two by Nelson.

But this year already there have been three rounds of 64 or lower --

Ahern in the first round Friday and Davis and Nelson on Saturday.

Davis, who is suffering from allergies and is one of the few

players using a golf cart this weekend, is not only comfortable with

a two-shot lead, he’s more relaxed than two weeks ago in Mexico City.

Davis and three other golfers were robbed after two men entered an

upscale restaurant and stole watches from the players and two

caddies.

“We thought they were joking,” Davis said. “Then one of them hit

me on the head with a gun and clicked it. It was pretty scary. I

didn’t get any sleep for two nights.”

Davis, who said he put the incident behind him and has played

bogey-free golf for 36 holes at Newport Beach, was going to withdraw

from the Champions Tour event in Mexico City, but “Fuzzy Zoeller

talked me out of it. It’s like when you get kicked off a horse.

You’ve got to get right back on.”

Davis, who hasn’t won a tournament since the 1996 Mauritius Open,

added that good iron players like Irwin will enjoy the best success

on the 6,584-yard par-71 layout at Newport Beach, where staying in

the fairway is critical.

“I think I’m a pretty good iron player,” said Davis, who recorded

seven birdies in the second round. “The easier putts on this golf

course are definitely uphill ... it’s not a long course, but he

definitely have to hit the fairways and stay out of the rough ...

putting was the key for me today.”

Davis added that he’s “won quite a few tournaments when he’s been

leading.”

Ahern, who said he formed mental images of fellow tour player Bob

Murphy’s putting stroke in the first round, continued that pattern

Saturday as he shot 4-under in the second round.

“I was Bob Murphy again,” Ahern said. “Bob Murphy struggled a

little on the front nine, but Bob was there.”

Irwin seemed surprised that people still point to him as a

possible winner today, even though he’s four shots off the pace. In

1998, however, when Irwin captured his first Toshiba title, he

entered the final round trailing by five strokes and with 11 players

ahead of him, but he shot a course-record 62 and leapfrogged past

everyone in one of the tournament’s most memorable moments.

“In as much as I had a pretty good score (5-under 66), it should

have been better considering how I started,” said Irwin, who opened

with four birdies in the first five holes. “So it’s a little

disappointing to be at 9-under ... I’ve got an uphill battle (today)

... I don’t like to be behind starting the last day. I’d rather be in

the lead.”