Jack and Lee Are Rookies Again : Golf: When they join 'veterans' Arnold Palmer and Gary Player in the Senior Skins, the group will have 130 years of professional experience.

Jack and Lee Are Rookies Again : Golf: When they join ‘veterans’ Arnold Palmer and Gary Player in the Senior Skins, the group will have 130 years of professional experience.

By DAN HAFNER

Jan. 27, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

KONA, Hawaii — When the Lakers’ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was given those well-deserved accolades last season, it was in part because he had been a pro for more than 20 years. But that’s just a start for some golfers.

Now that the Senior PGA Tour is established and growing, a good player can have a career of 40 years or more.

The four golfers--Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Gary Player--who will compete in the $450,000 Senior Skins Game today and Sunday on the Mauna Lani Resorts course, have already accumulated 130 years in their profession.

Nicklaus and Trevino are just embarking on the senior circuit. Nicklaus became eligible to join the 50-and-older set on Jan. 21. Trevino played in the last senior event of 1989.

Palmer and Player are each approaching 40 years as pros and show no signs of retiring.

Collectively, they have won almost $14 million in PGA events alone. They have accounted for more than 200 victories, including 53 majors.

This will be the third Senior Skins Game, a made-for-television show that caught on immediately. Chi Chi Rodriguez, who earned the most money in the first two events, was not included in the foursome. “I’m unbeaten and uninvited,” he said.

In the format for this event, a golfer has to win a hole outright to collect a skin. If two or more tie, the money carries over to the next hole. The first six holes are each worth $15,000, the next six $25,000 and the last six $35,000.

The foursome will play nine holes today and nine Sunday.

Palmer has long been known as “the King,” but here they are all treated royally. Each has a large, separate bungalow with its own pool and spa. And they will be playing on a course with a color scheme that blends lush greenery with black volcanic rock.

Trevino is eager to play with the seniors. Nicklaus, who is not sure, admits he knows almost nothing about the tour. “I don’t even know if they practice,” he said, “so I brought some range balls.”

Palmer, a 10-year veteran of the senior circuit, understands Nicklaus’ misgivings.

“It’s traumatic to turn 50,” Palmer said. “You still think you can win on the regular tour. It’s a shock to go on the senior tour. I know what he’s going through. But the more he sees a Robert Gamez and other 21-year-olds, the better our tour will look. I don’t know whether Jack will play one or 10 tournaments, but he’s a competitor. Within a year or two he’ll be eager, too.”

Player, who predicted four years ago that the senior tour would someday become the biggest, welcomed the “rookies.” He said both Trevino and Nicklaus owed something to the game, and this was a way to pay it back.

“Trevino will be a great asset,” Player said. “He is colorful and a great golfer, too. Jack will learn this is not an old man’s tour. You have to shoot three 67s to win most of the time. That’s not a cinch for anyone.”

The Big Island is mostly arid. Rainfall averages only seven inches a year, but the season’s quota has been reached in the last two weeks. It has made the course green, but also soft.

For Friday’s pro-am, it was clear and warm. Nicklaus began his senior career with a birdie on a par-five hole.