Snead, Hall Revel in Long Birdies

J.C. Snead and Walter Hall might not be in the heat of contention after Saturday’s second round of the Toshiba Senior Classic at Newport Beach Country Club, but they’re still enjoying themselves.

After a delicate pitch from off the green at No. 16, a 437-yard par four, Snead made a slippery, eight-foot downhill putt to save par. Hall then plucked the ball out of the hole for Snead.

“When you’re that old, you have to have someone get your ball for you,” Hall joked to the gallery as he tossed the ball to his grinning playing partner.

Maybe the 60-year-old Snead should have Hall serve as his ball retriever all the time.

On the next hole, Snead made the crowd around the par-three 185-yard 17th roar after he sank a 60-foot putt for birdie. Then Hall got his own ovation, following Snead’s putt by making a 40-footer for birdie.

On the par-five 18th, Snead put his third shot, a 30-yard pitch, to within a foot and made the putt for another birdie.

Snead shot 72 Saturday and is at one-under 141. Hall shot 69 and is at three-under 139, nine shots behind leader Terry Mauney.

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Snead finished three shots out of the lead in the Super Seniors competition, which concluded Saturday with Dale Douglass shooting his second consecutive two-under 69 to win the $34,000 prize for the lowest two-round score for players 60 and older.

Heading into the tournament, Douglass had won only $15,937 in three events this season. Saturday was his 11th Super Seniors title to go along with 11 Senior PGA titles.

Douglass beat Bob Charles and Lee Trevino by two shots. Trevino shot 72 Saturday after a first-round 68.

Douglass moved to five under par for the tournament after a birdie on the short, par-four 11th, but an errant tee shot into the left-side rough on the 14th, a 397-yard par four, forced him to chip out to the fairway and he made bogey. Douglass rebounded with a birdie on the par-five 15th.

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Tom Watson birdied three of the first five holes, but he couldn’t sustain the momentum to post a round that could vault him into contention.

“I’m done for this tournament now,” said Watson, who shot a three-under 68 Saturday but couldn’t overcome a first-round 73 that left him 11 shots off the lead.

Watson had a birdie, a bogey and 11 pars on the final 13 holes, although he gave himself plenty of birdie chances. He put approach shots to within eight, 10, 12 and 20 feet on Nos. 14-17, but made his only back-nine birdie on No. 16.

“I made an adjustment in my set-up,” Watson said. “But it came with about six holes to play, a day late and a dollar short. A lot of people are missing putts today. These greens are a little wet and a little bumpy.”

Another fan favorite, Tom Kite, had his share of missed opportunities. Kite shot 66 to finish at seven-under 137, five shots off the lead, but he also had a frustrating finish.

His 15-foot putt for eagle on the par-five 15th slid barely to the left and he settled for birdie. He also narrowly missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th. And Kite had another eagle putt on the 18th, but he three-putted from 40 feet.

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The first tee times for today’s final round have been moved up one hour to 7:30 a.m. Officials expect play to conclude by 4 p.m., weather permitting.

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Tee Times

Starting times for today’s final round of the Toshiba Senior Classic at the Newport Beach Country Club:

7:20 a.m.--Harold Henning, Orville Moody, Billy Casper

7:30--Kikuo Arai, Miller Barber, Joe Inman

7:40--Tom Shaw, Walter Zembriski, DeWitt Weaver

7:50--Rocky Thompson, Hubert Green, Bill Holstead

8--Gene Littler, Jimmy Powell, Paul Parajeckas

8:10--Bob Duval, Walt Morgan, Leonard Thompson

8:20--Don Bies, Jesse Patino, Howard Twitty

8:30--Chi Chi Rodriguez, Charles Coody, Graham Marsh

8:40--Jerry McGee, Gibby Gilbert, Isao Aoki

8:50--John Jacobs, Steve Veriato, Tommy Aaron

9--Bobby Walzel, Jim Thorpe, Andy North

9:10--Tom Wargo, John Schroeder, Al Geiberger

9:20--Sammy Rachels, Doug Tewell, David Lundstrom

9:30--Terry Dill, J.C. Snead, George Archer

9:40--Jim Albus, Tom Jenkins, Bob Eastwood

9:50--Tom Watson, Mike Smith, Jim Dent

10--Ted Goin, John Mahaffey, Lee Trevino

10:10--Tom McGinnis, Bob Charles, Vicente Fernandez

10:20--Stewart Ginn, Bruce Summerhays, Jim Ahern

10:30--Ed Dougherty, Hugh Baiocchi, Walter Hall

10:40--Ray Floyd, Gil Morgan, Jim Colbert

10:50--Mike McCullough, Dave Eichelberger, Dale Douglass

11--Dana Quigley, Gary McCord, Allen Doyle

11:10--Jose Maria Canizares, Hale Irwin, Bruce Fleisher

11:20--Tom Kite, John Bland, Dave Stockton

11:30--Terry Mauney, Bob Gilder, Larry Nelson