COLORADO SPRINGS — Brad Bryant trudged wearily off the course at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa, the 30th-place finisher at the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic on June 1. The next day, he awoke as the defending United States Senior Open champion.
But the upward mobility came at a price — an early-morning flight to Colorado and subsequent ride to The Broadmoor, where upon getting out of his car, the 53-year-old was immediately thrust into approximately 24 hours of interviews, photo opportunities and meet-and-greets with fans, sponsors and officials, along with a touch of ceremonial golf as part of the buildup to next month’s national championship.
So while Bryant smiled gamely at the media event earlier this month, eager to try to please everyone concerned, his wife, Sue, had a different priority: making sure that, amid all the pomp and circumstance, there would be time to wedge in some very necessary massage work on her man’s balky back and arthritic neck.
“Everybody on our tour hurts to a certain extent, some guys more than others,” said Bryant, clutching a plastic cup filled with the liquid portion of his “daily Champions Tour breakfast” — three Advil and a Diet Coke. “All of us have to work a little harder just to be able to play.”
When what used to be known as the Senior Tour started some 28 years ago, it was considered golf’s ultimate mulligan, a golden parachute for 50-plus players willing to go out and putter around before adoring fans eager to rekindle memories of days gone by. But Arnie and Jack are gone, and although he still competes in the Masters and has washboard abs at age 72, Gary Player is largely a memory as well.
Instead, the tour now finds itself in something of a paradoxical place. There are still nostalgia seekers outside the ropes, along with some players looking for a few paychecks to cushion the blow associated with retirement. But there’s also an influx of “younger” talent, major champions like Mark O’Meara and Bernhard Langer, as well as solid players like Jay Haas and Fred Funk, who didn’t quite reach superstar status during their days on the PGA Tour — all of whom not only have names but a desire to show that they still have some game left in their Big Berthas as well.
Bryant thinks striking the right balance can be hard.
“The courses on our tour have gotten considerably more difficult. The guys who are coming out now are kind of a different breed of player,” he said. “They’re playing later into their 40s. Several of them, like Langer and Funk, are basically walking off of the PGA Tour onto our tour and are playing back and forth on the two.
“The quality and competitiveness have taken a step up, and so the golf courses have gotten harder . . . but on the Champions Tour, there are going to be some players that you don’t want to embarrass. When they come to town, if you play a 7,400-yard golf course, with 4-inch rough and real, real fast greens, some of those living legends will be embarrassed — we don’t want Lee Trevino shooting an 89 or 90.”
In May, the senior circuit had its first major of the season, the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. Haas won with a 7-over-par total. Of the 168 rounds played by the 84 golfers who made the weekend cut, there were only four in the 60s, as opposed to the 20 of 80 or higher.
The windy, chilly weather that enveloped upstate New York in the days leading up to the tournament was certainly a harbinger of things to come — almost 30 players, including Bryant, withdrew from the Championship before play even began.
“That made it a lot worse than what the golf course probably would have been, but no one was very happy,” Bryant said.
Of course, such exercises in masochism are usually the province of the USGA. But while terms like diabolical, tricked-up — even Mickey Mouse — have become part of the U.S. Open rota, there likely will be a minimum of complaints when the Seniors arrive at The Broadmoor at the end of July.
“The basic philosophy is the same, the principals are the same, but it’s dialed back just a little bit for the seniors,” said Jim Hyler, a USGA vice president and 2008 chairman of the organization’s championship committee. “The rough is not quite as severe, the course isn’t quite as long, the greens aren’t quite as fast.
“The Senior Open has the widest disparity of players of any event. You have the Mark O’Mearas of the world, and then you have the guys who qualify by catching lightning in a bottle on one day. We’ve had 90-year-olds playing on Thursday and Friday; on those days, we’re really interested in just getting the players around. After that, the guys who have played well and made the cut, usually Champions Tour guys, then we’ll maybe use more challenging pin locations or move some tee boxes back.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
Open door for seniors
The 39th U.S. Senior Open is July 31-Aug. 3 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The road to playing in the Open:
Entries: The USGA received 2,810 entries, including 64-year-old Pres- ton Davis of California, who is the oldest applicant.
Eligibility: Age 50 before July 31 and at least a 3.4 USGA handicap.
Qualifying: There are 43 sectionals between June 23-July 7, including today’s at the Colorado Golf Club in Parker. Cost is $150 to enter.
Open field: 156 players, 74 who have exemptions.
Source: USGA
