Jack's back for first Siebel Classic

Nicklaus hopes to fine tune his game at this week's Senior Tour stop

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. (March 16) -- Jack Nicklaus, feeling healthy and looking trim, hopes to use the first Siebel Classic in Silicon Valley to prepare him for yet another weekend at The Masters. Nicklaus considered playing the Bay Hill Invitational this weekend but decided instead to make the cross-country trip to Coyote Creek Golf Club. He'll face a talented field in Friday's opening round on a course he designed -- a course Nicklaus said will challenge the senior golfers, but won't coddle them.

"I always want to play golf, and I think I'm much better off playing on the Senior Tour anyway,"

Nicklaus said Thursday. "As it got closer to the thing, I said, 'I really should be out there. It's a golf course I did, I should be there.' "

The Siebel Classic in Silicon Valley is new, but with a solid pedigree and a crowded field on a challenging course, several golfers think it has the potential to become a Senior Tour highlight.

In addition to its setting in a fertile valley just south of the San Francisco Bay, the event has solid corporate sponsorship from Siebel, a prominent Silicon Valley software maker, and a number of Bay Area companies.

A $1.4 million purse attracted 24 of the tour's top 25 money-winners -- Gil Morgan is the only absentee -- to the tournament despite the threat of rainy weather. Hale Irwin, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Tom Kite and Chi Chi Rodriguez all are in the field.

"I've been really impressed with this tournament," said Larry Nelson, the tour's top money-winner. "Nothing has gone by the wayside. I look forward to coming here for years to come. There seems to be some real enthusiasm (for golf) in this area."

Nicklaus, 61, checked out the course on Thursday afternoon. He recalled that the first time he played on his creation, he and his son both had trouble breaking 80.

Nicklaus, who earned a reputation early in his design career for challenging -- some said sadistic -- courses, is proud of Coyote Creek. He said its layout and its hard, fast greens set it apart from some of the less-than-challenging courses on the Senior Tour.

"In the last 10 years, I haven't played much Senior Tour golf because it's all been splat-and-putt golf," Nicklaus said. "You throw it in anywhere on the green, and it just stops. The greens aren't very fast. There's no challenge, no rough.

"I don't like that. These guys are still pretty good players, and they want to be challenged." Nicklaus never runs out of challenges. Since competing in the Hyundai Team Matches in December, he has been focused on improving his health and improving his game, all while staying home for more continuous days than he can remember since he joined the PGA Tour in 1962.

"I didn't know how much I was going to play at the start of the year, because I really didn't feel like I was going to be very good coming off last year, which I played horribly," Nicklaus said. "But about 23 months after my hip operation, I finally started to do things with my hip that I didn't think I was going to be able to do."

Nearly two years after surgery, his hip finally feels strong, and he can run again while playing tennis tennis. He also lost 20 pounds this winter with a six-week diet that limited him to 1,500 calories a day and included daily 15-minute walks.

Nicklaus said he's all but certain he'll play next month in The Masters, where he's won six times. He played a practice round at Augusta last month, and he'll be there again before the tournament.

But he admits he isn't a favorite at Coyote Creek, where the competition will be tight. The tournament expects large galleries for the three-day event -- along with a healthy group of wealthy corporate sponsors.

In Silicon Valley, that's no surprise.

"Everyone's watching their money go by," Jim Colbert said with a laugh.

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