Kendall’s House, Not His Year, Was Pretty Close to a Disaster

Last Sunday evening, Skip Kendall was having a party on his pool deck at his home in Windermere, Fla., with his wife, Beth, and some friends when the wind suddenly started blowing hard, and he noticed the sky was turning a funny shade of pink.

The Kendalls went to bed, woke up in the morning, turned on the television and learned that a tornado had touched down three miles from their house.

“Every channel was showing all kinds of destruction,” Kendall said. “I said . . . well, I can’t say what I said.”

If Kendall is speechless, he certainly isn’t penniless. In fact, the 33-year-old from Milwaukee is probably one of the biggest surprises on the PGA Tour this year.

He already has won $361,550 and has two top-10 finishes, including a second place at the Buick Invitational in La Jolla, where Scott Simpson beat him in a playoff.

“A lot of people have asked me what’s been going right, and I can’t think of a thing,” Kendall said. “I sure hope it’s my year. I feel like I’ve got the game to be successful out here. And I think I will be.”

For Kendall, it has been a bumpy road. He was co-medalist at the 1992 qualifying tournament but didn’t win enough money in 1993 to keep his card. He played the Nike Tour in 1994 and was fifth on the money list to earn another trip to the PGA Tour. He was back to the Nike Tour in 1996 and earned another trip to the PGA Tour, where he won $320,800 and kept his card.

Eighth at the Bob Hope in Bermuda Dunes, Kendall tied for 14th at Phoenix, then came Torrey Pines and a tie for 16th at Hawaii.

“Skip’s been a solid player,” Justin Leonard said. “I’ve always admired his swing. It’s just real solid, compact. What he’s done doesn’t really surprise me.”

The former high school basketball and soccer star has followed the bouncing ball to the kind of fast start he only dreamed about when he was playing golf at Nevada Las Vegas.

After working hard on his putting and the rest of his game with Rick Smith and James Sieckmann, Kendall has been steady all year. He opened with a 69 at Valencia, four shots off Billy Mayfair’s lead.

“Is my time coming to win? Well, I sure hope so. If I keep working, you never know.”

AN IMPACT PLAYER

Charlie Sifford, who won the 1969 L.A. Open, is the former champion being honored this year. Tiger Woods said Sifford was an important figure to him.

“Charlie is, in my opinion, one of the most courageous men to ever play this sport,” Woods said. “To deal with all the things he had to deal with, with all the racism, from society in general, not wanting him to play golf.

“But he kept fighting, kept fighting, kept fighting and knocked down the Caucasian clause. If not for him and his strong will, who knows? I might not have been able to play golf.”

Sifford was 39 when he became the first African-American golfer to play on tour when the whites-only clause was eliminated in 1961. Sifford, who will turn 76 in June, pointed out the scarcity of black players on the PGA Tour--of 269 players, three are black: Woods is part Thai; Vijay Singh, who is an Indian from Fiji, and Jim Thorpe.

“The game is going backward, not forward,” he said. “I had eight or nine when I was out there playing.

“There ain’t but so much Tiger can do. I’m proud of him, but he has a tough job ahead of him. There are a lot of white people out there who don’t want him to succeed.”

CAPITAL IDEA

Valencia isn’t exactly metropolitan Los Angeles, but it’s pretty impressive to PGA Tour rules official Ben Nelson.

“I’m from Mississippi,” Nelson said. “If this town were in Mississippi, it would be the state capital.”

NO LIES

The hottest club on the market? It’s the Tight Lies from Adams Golf, which in the last year has risen from nowhere to the No. 4 spot in the retail market for wood sales, including drivers, behind Callaway, Taylor Made and Cobra.

At the recent equipment show in Orlando, Fla., Adams Golf wrote orders for $4 million in four days. Tight Lies, a metal wood, is the only product Adams Golf has on the market.

AUGUSTA BOUND

The invitation list for the Masters includes 29 players from abroad, matching the high in 1962. Special invitations were given to four foreign players: Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland, Ignacio Garrido of Spain, Retief Goosen of South Africa and Jumbo Ozaki of Japan.

AUGUSTA BOUND II

Gene Sarazen, who turns 96 today, won the Masters in its second year--1935. Sarazen has been to every Masters since then, a streak of 60 in a row (there were no tournaments in 1943-45 because of World War II).

He’s going to make it 61 in a row too.

“I’m planning on being there, if I’m still alive,” Sarazen said.

The last time he played the Masters was in 1970 when he was 68, but Sarazen still hits a ceremonial first ball, along with Byron Nelson and Sam Snead.

What really keeps Sarazen coming back is the champions’ dinner on Tuesday night of Masters week. It sure has changed, Sarazen said.

“I remember when it used to be about 10 or 12 guys. Now there are about 40 or so. They’re all millionaires with their own jets.”

IT’S SRO FOR CASEY

When disabled golfer Casey Martin plays his first Nike Tour event next week in Austin, Texas, since the court ruling allowing him to ride a cart, there will be no shortage of news reports.

So far, 128 media credentials have been issued. There’s room for 21 media representatives, so an auxiliary tent will be constructed.

Martin is living in Foster City in the Bay Area with former Stanford teammate William Yanagisawa, whose parents live in Long Beach.

MORE MARTIN

He’s doing the right thing by not accepting sponsor’s invitations to play PGA Tour events, according to Woods.

“It would be sort of like rubbing salt in the wounds of the PGA Tour,” Woods said. “There’s a lot of mixed emotions on the deal out here. It’s smart to give everybody some time.”

AND MORE MARTIN

Sarazen said he thinks most PGA Tour players are in Martin’s corner.

“I think if they had a vote, they’d allow him a cart,” Sarazen said. “I know all about the rules, but you can break the rules now and then. Show some compassion.”

Sarazen said anyone who wants to use a cart should bring a letter from his doctor.

“I think Casey should be allowed to use a cart. Casey Martin is a great boy. But personally, I don’t think a one-legged man can win any big event.”

WHAT HORSEPOWER

Just in case he ever changed his mind and didn’t use a cart, Martin said he has received several offers for alternative transportation.

“Some guy from the WWF called up and said he would wheel me around in a chariot,” Martin said.

CHECK, DOUBLE CHECK

Let’s check some bank accounts. After seven weeks on the PGA Tour, who’s averaging the most money per start?

It’s Fred Couples (three events, $140,965 average). The others in the top five are Bruce Lietzke (two events, $124,200), Tom Watson (three events, $119,800), Jesper Parnevik (four events, $113,656), and John Huston (five events, $111,246).

HORTON HEARS A WHO?

The leading money winner on the European Senior Tour the last two years, 56-year-old Tommy Horton of England, isn’t worried about playing the Senior PGA Tour because he isn’t interested.

Horton is worried about Woods, with all the pressure, travel and fame that could take its toll. Horton told the Associated Press that he worries about Woods’ future.

“One of my biggest fears is that Tiger is going to be a very strange person by the time he’s 40,” Horton said. “He’s not had a childhood. He hasn’t enjoyed regular friends and doing the things kids do. . . . He’s losing out, that’s for sure.”

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Peter Pino has resigned as general manager of Riviera Country Club and has taken a position as assistant general manager at Los Coyotes in Fullerton. Gerd Koenig, formerly of the Vintage, is the new general manager at Riviera.

Three years ago, Greg Norman stopped playing the newly named Ericsson Masters, formerly the Australian Masters, claiming it had “lost its luster.” The recent event attracted only six past champions.

Terry Jastrow, who for 25 years was a senior producer-director for ABC’s golf events, was on the other side of the camera Thursday at Valencia. He filled in as a commentator for USA’s telecast of the Nissan Open.

Jastrow worked the seventh, 11th and 15 holes at the invitation of CBS’ Lance Barrow. How did it all work out?

“I probably was guilty of what I told my announcers for 25 years not to do,” Jastrow said. “Talk too much.”