Field lacks Watson, Jacobsen

Bryce Alderton

In a tournament noted for boasting one of the strongest fields on the

Champions Tour, the 10th annual Toshiba Senior Classic will be void

of its top player in 2003.

Tom Watson, last year’s Player of the Year and leading money

winner in his fourth full season on the Champions Tour, will not play

in this year’s tournament, March 15-21 at Newport Beach Country Club.

Watson, winner of 39 PGA Tour tournaments, has a sponsor’s obligation

and will instead compete in the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando,

Fla., the same week.

Peter Jacobsen, a seven-time PGA Tour winner who turns 50 March 4

and will begin his Champions Tour career a day later in the SBC

Classic at Valencia Country Club, is also scheduled to compete at Bay

Hill.

Jay Haas, who finished third in this year’s Bob Hope Classic, will

not make his Champions Tour debut until June, said Jeff Purser, the

Toshiba Senior Classic tournament director.

Haas will focus his attention on trying to qualify for this year’s

U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Despite the absences of Haas, Watson and Jacobsen, the event will

feature 30 of the top 31 players from last year’s money list,

including Tom Kite, two-time winner Hale Irwin, Craig Stadler, Lee

Trevino, Fuzzy Zoeller and Bruce Lietzke.

Purser remains upbeat about the field.

“It’s disappointing, but there is nothing I can do about [the

absences],” Purser said. “It is [Arnold Palmer’s] last Bay Hill and I

understand that.” Palmer, 74, will play in his final Bay Hill, a

tournament held at the Bay Hill Club, a course he owns.