AZINGER ALOFT : After Losing His PGA Tour Card <i> Twice</i> , He Has Won Three Events--and a Bundle

CARLSBAD —  In last year’s best pro golf magic act, Paul Azinger pulled himself out of a golf bag and made more than $822,000 disappear into his checking account.

He came out of nowhere, basically, to win three tournaments, almost win the British Open and get himself named PGA Tour player of the year.

“I’m sure I surprised a lot of people,” Azinger said.

How can he be so sure?

“Well, I even surprised myself,” he said.

Now, it’s a whole new season for Azinger, beginning today with the first round of the first event on the schedule, the MONY Tournament of Champions at Rancho La Costa. There are 38 golfers in the field, all of them champions from last season’s tournaments, but only one--Curtis Strange--won more money than Azinger.

So, what’s next from this guy the other players call Zinger? A zinger?

Is he going to saw a marshal in half or what? Maybe his golf game will turn out to be like some sort of card trick and we will find out that he’s not playing with a full deck.

One thing’s for sure. Azinger is no longer that guy from Florida who had to go back to qualifying school not once, but twice, to keep playing on the tour. No, Azinger really hit it big last year. His $822,480 in prize money was the second-highest one-year total in PGA Tour history. That was also more than double what Azinger won in his first four years as a pro.

He won two other tournaments, but Azinger hit the big jackpot in Las Vegas, where he earned $225,000. He did it dramatically, too, with a closing eight-under-par 64 and a 25-foot eagle putt on the final hole. He won by a stroke.

That was great, but Azinger was looking even better in the British Open. Needing only to par the last two holes, he bogeyed them both and lost to Nick Faldo by a stroke.

“You can look at it as three great tournament wins and one great big disaster,” Azinger said. “Or you can look at it as three great tournament wins and a great showing at the British Open. The media can choose to look at it either way, and I can accept either way.”

Azinger said he couldn’t stand to look at it, at all, until six weeks later, when he worked up enough nerve to watch the tape. Why did he wait so long?

“I knew I lost,” he said.

Everybody else did, too, but at least all those golf fans know who he is now, and that’s a very different position for Azinger to be in. He doesn’t find it all that uncomfortable, though.

“People are looking at me,” he said. “I’m sure that if I play bad, somebody is getting ready to say, ‘What’s happening to Paul Azinger? Is he falling into the same hole as Bob Tway or what Curtis Strange did the year before or what Greg Norman may have done a little bit last year?’

“I realize that people are waiting on me and watching me a little bit, but I’m not trying to satisfy anybody but myself.”

No one else?

“Well, I like to keep my wife happy.”

Toni Azinger has to be pretty pleased with the way things are going for her husband. After all, things started slowly. Azinger, who just turned 28 last week, couldn’t break 80 as a high school player in Sarasota, Fla. He spent more time pumping gas and painting boats at his father’s marina than he did practicing golf.

But then Azinger got serious about the game. From Brevard Junior College to Florida State University, he got better and better and joined the tour in 1982. That was the good news. The bad news was that he won only $10,665, finished 171st on the money list and had to return to qualifying school.

Azinger didn’t make it at the qualifying school in the fall of 1982, so he played the mini-tour in 1983 and went back to the school that fall. He got his tour card again, but when he finished 144th on the money list in 1984, he lost it a second time.

Once more, Azinger went to qualifying school, again in the fall. He was the medalist.

Azinger won $81,179 in 1985, 93rd on the money list, and jumped to 29th in 1986 when he won $254,019. Still, he didn’t win a tournament until last year’s Phoenix Open, his first competition of the year.

Money is nice, Azinger said, but it does not represent his total goal in golf.

“It’s not the only thing,” he said. “The prize money has really gone crazy the last few years. When I started in 1982, there were only two tournaments with $500,000 in prize money. Now, there are 36. I can see where the potential is there for players to play only for money.

“I’m tending towards agreeing with that (criticism),” Azinger said. “I’ve been reluctant to agree with that because my own personal desires hopefully will not allow that to happen. I would like to be good enough to make a difference in the game of golf. But I can see where a lot of guys might not feel that way.”

This Zinger considers himself something of a conservative. He’s in the stock market, but nothing too risky. “I can probably take a chance but, shoot, why should I? I don’t understand why people want to risk losing money that they’ve already got.”

But it was his daring that got him into trouble at the British Open. He said he rushed his decision on the tee and chose a driver instead of a 3-wood or 1-iron.

“The shot wasn’t horrible, but it was just like, when I hit it, man, I said, ‘Is that enough club to reach that bunker?’ It was. It went in. But I had the lead after two days, I had the lead after three days and I had the lead with two holes to go. I didn’t throw up on myself. I played good, I just lost.”

The British Open is long gone. When it flew out of Azinger’s hands, with it went his chance for his first victory in a major.

“I finally ‘fessed up to the fact that I really did lose that tournament and probably should have won it, but doggone, I did win three others and I finally did contend in a major championship, which I had never done before,” he said.

“So now I’m looking at the British Open as a great plus, hopefully, for future major championships. Gosh, I want to be good enough to contend in some majors.

“I did contend at the British Open, so I’m good enough to contend in the majors. I don’t know if I am good enough to contend at the U.S. Open. You’ve got to drive it pretty straight. I have to prove I’m good enough.”

Surely, La Costa, with its field of nothing but champions, is going to be a pretty tough place to start getting ready for those majors. All kinds of pressure?

“Probably not,” Azinger said.

Why?

“Because last place is $5,000,” he said. “And I’ll tell you what--whatever happens, it will be better than sitting home and watching it like I’ve done the last five years.”

Golf Notes The prize money for the Tournament of Champions is $500,000. There is another $100,000 at stake in the MONY Senior Tournament of Champions, a separate event that will be played concurrently with the main event. The Senior field is headed by Chi Chi Rodriguez, the top money winner on the PGA Seniors Tour. The other seniors are Gene Littler, Billy Casper, Larry Mowry, defending champion Don January, Orville Moody, Miller Barber, Gary Player, Bruce Crampton, Bob Charles, Al Geiberger and Dave Hill.