CONCORD, Mass. -- Chi Chi Rodriguez has his principles. One
of them is that golf should be fun and the another is that it
should be fair.
The 70-year-old Hall of Famer sat out the Champions Tour season
last year rather than accept a series of sponsor's exemptions he
considered consolation prizes. This year he's back, ready to rescue
the circuit by entertaining fans who showed up at the Bank of
America Championship despite rain that postponed Friday's round and
threatened to scuttle the entire event.
"I missed it," Rodriguez said after a comical clinic on the
driving range for a few hundred people. "I wasn't angry. I was
disappointed that they took my exemption away with a backdoor rule.
"But we all make mistakes. I'm happy now, and I'm back here,
and I'll do anything I can to make the tour successful."
Rodriguez is still one of the most popular golfers of any age
and a 22-time champion on the over-50 tour. But he lost his exempt
status last year as his scores soared and wasn't willing to play
under one-time invitations.
"It was a matter of principle," Rodriguez said. "I earned the
right not to have to be invited."
In response, the tour changed its all-time victory category to
bring Rodriguez -- as a Hall of Famer with 30 combined wins on the
PGA and Champions tours -- back into the fold.
"The Champions Tour is still for entertainment," spokesman
Phil Stambaugh said. "And fans still want to see Chi Chi out
here."
The decision to postpone Friday's first round was made about 8
a.m. after tour officials decided that weeks of heavy rain made the
course unplayable. Play will instead start at 12:30 p.m. EDT on
Saturday, with the goal of finishing at least 18 holes and possibly
36 more on Sunday, Champions Tour tournament director Ben Nelson
told reporters.
"The fairways are just too waterlogged," he said. "You can't
take relief from casual water because there's no where to go."
Paul Miller, the Nashawtuc Country Club's director of golf
operations, said Concord gets an average of 48 inches of rain a
year, but the area has received more than 20 inches since the
beginning of May.
"We have reached a saturation point three times in the last
month," he said.
A regular Champions Tour event is scheduled for 54 holes; 36
holes must be completed for it to count as official.
The problem in Nashawtuc on Friday was not rain -- the sun even
peeked through the clouds, briefly -- but the water left behind.
Five holes were partially flooded, including No. 1, which had much
of the fairway overtaken by the Sudbury River, and No. 9, which
will be shortened from a 543-yard par-5 to a 130-yard par-3.
If it becomes obvious on Sunday that 36 holes can't be
completed, the tour would consider playing fewer. Statistics and
prize money would not be considered official.
"We'll make sure we have some show for them," Nelson said.
Fans got a show on Friday, even it wasn't the one they expected
to see.
While his fellow golfers methodically went through their
practice on the range around him, Rodriguez cracked jokes through a
loudspeaker and performed trick shots like he's done thousands of
times before.
It was the regular Rodriguez fare: shots hit with the tip of his
club, calling hooks and slices; hitting off a tee poked through six
stacked paper cups; hitting from a chair; hitting from one knee;
hitting lefty; hitting righty with a lefty club; imitating other
pros; and using a 7-iron for every shot from a 10-foot putt to a
200-yard drive.
He gave not-entirely useful tips on how to hit the ball straight
(hit it out of a paper cup), and how to add five yards to a drive
(after hitting the ball, take five paces backwards). And then he
signed autographs for every person in the crowd who wanted one
(kids first).
"He's the master," said fellow pro Pat McGowan, who stopped
hitting from the range to watch the show even though he had seen it
dozens of times before.
"Chi Chi makes the game fun. A lot of people can teach you how
to make shots. But he makes it fun. He plays the game for the right
reasons. And he's put a golf club in more kids' hands than
anybody."
^Divots:@ D.A. Weibring became the second player to withdraw,
joining Curtis Strange. Weibring was replaced in the field by Joe
Inman. ... Other holes under water include Nos. 8, 10 and 14. ...
The 2005 Bayer Advantage Classic in Kansas City was the tour's last
event that was shortened to 36 holes. ... The 1992 Concord
tournament was a rain-shortened, 36-hole event won by Mike Hill.