He acts impervious to his senior struggles, this two-time major champ with the quirky, jerky stroke. Then Hubert Green declares his admiration for the perfectionist with the purest swing.
“Ted Williams. His baseball card was the first one I treasured. I’d trade anything, but not Ted Williams,” Green said. “Sometimes, he was ostracized and criticized for giving his opinion when he was asked for it. And he never said a word about serving his country. He just did it, prime-time, and he just played.”
Green did just that, he just played yesterday, and rang up only his second great round in two difficult years. His 64 pulled him into a tie for the lead at 11-under with Hale Irwin entering today’s final round of the Lightpath Long Island Classic at Meadow Brook CC in Jericho.
Irwin, who has yet to bogey after 36 holes, called Green a “bulldog.” It must have been music to the ears of the man who refused to be pulled off the course, winning the 1977 U.S. Open despite a credible death threat.
Green rekindled memories of his regular tour career and will be seeking his first Senior Tour victory in nearly two years today.
“I just didn’t play very well. I guess my mind wasn’t on it,” Green said of his recent struggles. “I’m driving the ball with a lot more authority. I have shorter shots to the greens now.”
That was about as much as he’d offer.
“I don’t like to analyze stuff. It’s way over my head. I just play,” Green said. “It’s a nice place to walk.”
He’ll be walking with Irwin and Bruce Fleisher in the final group today, hoping that he can continue yesterday’s form.
“Hale plays pretty good every week. I’m playing pretty good in spurts,” Green said.
That might be generous.
The 55-year-old Alabama native struggled last year, finishing out of the Top 50 on the Senior Tour for the first time since joining the elder circuit. He stands 24th on this year’s money list at $575,515.
Green hadn’t had a Top 3 finish since winning the 2000 Kroger’s, until he tied for second at the Ford Senior Players Championship three weeks ago on the strength of another second-round 63. Then he withdrew the following week after going 9-over in two rounds in the Senior Open.
The 1977 U.S. Open and 1985 PGA champ, Green won 19 times in 26 years on the PGA Tour, but has only triumphed three times on the Senior Tour since joining in 1996. Irwin, on the other hand, won 20 times on the regular tour, but owns a record 34 Senior titles, the all-time Senior money winner.
But they start even today and Irwin is wary.
“When he was winning the U.S. Open and PGA and he was in the lead, he was tough to beat. He was a bulldog,” Irwin said.
Green could have held the outright lead but missed a six-footer on 18 that would have tied the course record with an asterisk. Two yards and one stroke were shaved off the course this year, dropping it to 6,840 yards at par-71. Bruce Fleisher and Jim Dent each shot 63s in 2000 at par-72 and 6,842 yards.
“The putt I hit on 18 was the best I hit all day, and on 17, I hit a terrible putt that went in the hole,” Green said.
Irwin, too, was lamenting his putter, and noting that his back again gave him late pain.
“That was probably one of the more exasperating rounds [67] I had in a while. I had 14 putts inside 15 feet for birdie and only made four of them,” said Irwin, who figured he should have shot 63 or 64, easily. “But the bottom of the chart reads tied for first, and that’s pretty good.”
