COURSE REVIEWS

Watson Helps Nicklaus
Earn Victory at Diners Club Matches

Couples/Calcavecchia and
Inkster/Pepper also win titles.

By Bob Buttitta, Regional Staff Writer

NEWPORT COAST, Calif. - After being a "silent" partner to Jack Nicklaus during Saturday's semi-final round of the 1999 Diners Club Matches, Tom Watson made plenty of noise in the Sunday's championship finals, played at the Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach.

Watson, as Senior PGA tour rookie, made three huge birdie putts to give his team a commanding lead over the team of David Graham and Bruce Fleisher and then the two golfing icons held on over the final three holes to win the senior's division 1-Up.

	Fred Couples

In the PGA division, Fred Couples solidified his spot as the "king" of the late season events, with some help from partner Mark Calcavecchia, as the two men defeated defending champions Jeff Maggert and Steve Elkington 1-Up. It was the third victory of the "second season" for Couples, who in the last six weeks won both the Shark Shoot-out and the Skins Game.

In the LPGA title match, Dottie Pepper and Juli Inkster made it three wins in a row at the Diners Club Matches, posting an with an easy 4 and 3 victory over the favored pairing of Karrie Webb and Kelly Robbins.

The three winning teams from the PGA, Senior PGA and LPGA each received $200,000 to split, while the runner's up split a purse of $100,000. The two-day event featured eight players from the three major tours. This was the first time in its five-year history that it was held at Pelican Hill.

When Watson sank a birdie putt on 14, he and Nicklaus were 3-up and appeared ready to close their opponents out. But Graham and Fleisher, two of the top money winners on the senior tour this year, refused to go quietly.

After tying the 15th and pushing the match to dormi, Fleisher made a birdie at 16 and chipped in for eagle at 17, forcing the match to the final hole. All four players hit the fairway on 18, and both only Watson and Graham knocked their second shots close enough to make a run at birdie.

• Day 1 at the Diners Club Matches • Diners Club Matches preview • Pelican Hill Golf Club review • Past GolfCalifornia.com course reviews

After having made so many big putts throughout the day, Watson failed this time to convert an 18-foot birdie putt, giving Graham the chance to send the match into sudden death if he could make his 12-foot putt. Graham struggled with his putting all day and things didn't change with the match on the line. His attempt slid by the hole, giving Nicklaus and Watson the title.

"Tom played beautifully today," Nicklaus said. "I made a birdie at the first hole today and then I turned it over to him and he played great."

Watson said after watching Nicklaus dominate play on Saturday, it was fun for him to return the favor on Sunday.

"Our roles were reversed today," Watson said. "We took turns the last two days and sometimes that's the way these kind of things work."

Watson's heroics started on 11, a hole where it appeared that Graham and Fleisher might tie the match. Fleisher, who won seven times on the senior tour this season, hit a beautiful second shot that rolled just past the pin, coming to rest 4 feet from the cup. At the time, Watson and Nicklaus were clinging to a 1-up advantage.

Figuring Fleisher would make his putt for birdie and having seen Nicklaus miss his birdie putt, Watson lined up a 15-foot putt from just off the green. Despite facing the slick Pelican Hill greens, Watson calmly rolled the putt into the middle of the cup, preserving the lead.

Watson, whose putter has failed him more than helped him in recent years, came through with the blade on the par 3, 192-yard 12th hole. After a terrific tee shot put him just 8 feet from the pin, Watson converted the birdie opportunity. Graham subsequently missed his 6-foot putt, and Watson and Nicklaus were 2-up.

Finally on 14, Watson drained a 12-foot birdie putt, putting he and Nicklaus 3-up. Since the duo had never gone past 16 holes in any match play event they were teamed in, it seemed as though the end was near. But neither Watson nor Nicklaus was able to make a putt over the final few holes, giving their opponents a chance.

	Jack Nicklaus

"Had they been able to make any putts, we would have been in here congratulating them," Nicklaus said. "We had some chances to shut them out but we didn't do it. They had opportunities about four times to make putts to win holes but they didn't do it. We ended up making more putts then they did and we won."

When Graham hit his second shot on 18, both men thought they might have to work overtime for the title.

"From out on the fairway at 18, it looked like David put his second shot within a few feet of the hole," Watson said. "It wasn't as close as we thought but he hit a real good putt on 18 but it just didn't go in."

The PGA match was tied after nine holes as neither team was able to grab control. That changed on the par 4, 421-yard tenth. With Elkington and Maggert having made par, Couples was facing a 20-foot birdie putt.

"They (Elkington and Maggert) were giving Fred a hard time because he had missed s shorter putt earlier in the round so they were saying he had no chance at making one from that distance," Calcavecchia said. "They shouldn't have riled him up because he hit a great putt to put us 1-up."

Calcavecchia turned hero on the next hole, knocking a sand wedge to within 2-feet on the par 4, 370 yard 11th. He made the easy putt, putting the team 2-up.

Elkington and Maggert finally won a hole as Elkington birdied 17 but he was unable to make a birdie putt on 18. Each team made par, giving Couples and Calcavecchia the title.

"Captain post season was awesome today," Calcavecchia said. "Although he didn't have his best day yesterday, odds of him doing that back-to-back were slim. I just knew he would come out and play great today."

Couples has won $910,000 in the last month or so, nearly $150,000 more than he made on tour the entire year. He said he has no idea why he shines so much in these kinds of events, other than saying that he enjoys them.

"If I could team up with Mark every week, we would win a lot of matches," Couples said. "I enjoy playing these kind of events. We team up well and enjoy playing together because we have similar games."

Of the three championship matches, the LPGA clash was by far the most lopsided. Nearly from the start e Inkster and Pepper dominated play, doing something that hadn't done the previous day, get an early lead.

	Juli Inkster

After Pepper knocked in a key birdie putt on the first hole to halve the hole, Inkster staked her team to a lead that they would never relinquish as she sank a par putt following bogeys by Webb and Robbins. By the time they reached the turn, Pepper and Inkster were 4-up and in complete control.

Even when Webb and Robbins made a big putt to put pressure on their opponents, in most every instance either Pepper and Inkster was able to counter them and keep the momentum from shifting.

"Dottie made those great putts either before or on top of birdies by Karrie and Kelly," Inkster said. "She sank a 10-footer on top of Kelly on the first hole and that really got us going. But the key was probably her putt on 11.

"Kelly made a birdie and Dottie topped it right on her. That swung the momentum in our favor. We didn't want to give them two holes in a row."

They closed out on the match when Inkster made a birdie putt on 15, although Inkster had no idea the putt was for the win.

"Walking onto 15, I did some quick math and knew we needed two more birdies," Pepper said. "And when Kelly missed her putt, I knew Juli's putt was for the win. Unfortunately, Juli isn't that good at math so she had no idea it was for the win."

While neither woman may not be great at math, they were both happy about adding another $100,000 each to their bank accounts, especially after the tournament was canceled last year because of a conflict with the President's Cup.

"It was a bad Christmas without this tournament last year," Pepper joked. "We really had to scale back but now we'll be in upgrade mode again this year."

On a more serious note, both players said their success, as playing partners is a result of many factors, including how much fun they have together.

"This is the only tournament our husbands caddie for us and our families are here, so it's a great time," Inkster said. "We're friends on and off the course. I think the key is we've played together so much - not only in best ball but match-play as well.

"So, I don't have trouble leaving her hanging and she doesn't have trouble leaving me hanging. Plus our games compliment each other. We can feed off each other because our style of play is so similar."

In addition to the three title matches, three consolation matches were played. Winning teams received $60,000 per team and the losing team gets $40,000. The results were:

PGA: Chris Perry and Skip Kendall defeated Steve Pate and Mark Wiebe in sudden death. Perry made a birdie putt to win the match. They had tied the match two holes earlier on a birdie by Kendall.

LPGA: Annika Sorenstam and Lorie Kane defeated Laura Davies and Kelli Kuehne 4 and 3. Sorenstam and Kane were 1-up as they headed into 13, and then made three consecutive birdies to put the match away.

Senior PGA: Gil Morgan and Jay Sigel also needed one extra hole to win their match. They defeated Allen Doyle and Dana Quigley, when Sigel made an eagle on the first overtime hole.