average. Though he’s competed in just five Champions events, he already ranks 48th on the 2008 money list with $235,000. Not bad for two months’ work.
“Gary’s golf game hasn’t been real swift for a while, but there’s a rejuvenation out here because you’re not intimidated when you’re 50,” said fellow Champions player Dale Douglass, like Hallberg a resident in the Castle Pines area of Castle Rock. “You’re not intimidated by any of the other plays because you hit it further and straighter and you putt better.
“When you look back at the other tour, everybody out there hits it as far as you do and as straight as you do and putts as well as you do, and you don’t know their names. So all these guys who come to our tour, they look around and they know everybody who’s practicing in the senior event.”
Hallberg was once one of the top up-and-coming players in the U.S. He was the first college golfer to become a first-team All-American four straight years -- at Wake Forest -- and he won an NCAA title in 1979.
After earning the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honor in 1980, he won three events, the last coming in 1992. But his game gradually tailed off starting in the mid-1990s. He played primarily on the Nationwide Tour in recent years, but missed his last four cuts in Nationwide events in April and May before turning 50.
Now on the Champions Tour he’s back among the contenders, as he was Thursday when he posted three birdies and two bogeys at the Broadmoor.
Thanks in part to swing work he’s done with Dennis Murray, an instructor at the Ridge at Castle Pines North, Hallberg has regained some of his confidence. His putting stroke is better these days, and with no cuts at most Champions Tour events, Hallberg feels more at ease with the over-50 set. And he’s been welcomed by his peers from his heyday.
“All of a sudden my voicemail is full every two hours,” he said. “It’s been wonderful. Guys come up to me like Tom Kite and Peter Jacobsen. Everyone is happy to see one of their fellow players do well.”
On ice
Colorado Springs resident David Delich, who opened with a 76 on his home course Thursday, used to be quite a hockey player. To this day, he remains the Colorado College career points leader. And he was among the final players cut in 1980 in tryouts for the U.S. Olympic team -- the Miracle on Ice squad which went on to win the gold medal. Delich played minor-league pro hockey for several years, but never played in an NHL game.
“I never felt one ounce of regret or (thought I) should have been there (at the 1980 Olympics),” Delich said. “… I’m just thankful that they had the right guys there at that time to win. It was an incredible event.”
What heat?
R.W. Eaks, who was born in Colorado Springs but now lives in Arizona, was asked about the heat on Thursday.
“This is like spring-time for me,“ he said of the upper-90-degree temperatures. “I mean, it’s 112 or 114 at home. This is nothing. This is refreshing.“
Change is good?
The player who replaced Graham Marsh in the field after Marsh withdrew on Wednesday, himself withdrew before even starting play. Steve Heckel pulled out at 10:35 a.m. Thursday due to arthritis. Chick Berry of Alpharetta, Ga., joined former U.S. Senior Open champions Dale Douglass and Dave Eichelberger for the 1:20 p.m. tee time.
