Tuesday, July 28, 1998

Bruce Lietzke watching son play in Abilene

By Ted Dunnam / Assistant Sports Editor

If, for any reason, one would ever need to hide from Bruce Lietzke, the best place to remain unobserved would be the closet in which Lietzke keeps his golf clubs.

"Dust and rust," Lietzke said Tuesday. "That's all my clubs are collecting right now."

Lietzke is in Abilene this week watching his son, Stephen, compete in the American Junior Golf Association West Texas Junior at Abilene Country Club.

While Lietzke has quietly achieved great success on the PGA Tour (13 victories), the Kansas City native and Plano resident has primarily been known for a couple of things during his 24 years on tour:

One, playing an infrequent schedule and, two, playing superb golf when he does decide to hit the links.

Since 1989, he hasn't played more than 20 events in any season. Lietzke will play only 10 events this year and says he will compete in nine next year.

"I've only played two rounds of golf since the Colonial in May, and I'm not going to play again until the second week in October (the Las Vegas Invitational)," Lietzke said. "I had been playing about 15, but it just keeps getting to be fewer and fewer events each year."

That's because golf is no longer Lietzke's top priority. Early in his career it was, but family, fishing and racing cars all rate a little higher.

"I can still get in a lot of tournaments because of my top-25 career earnings exemption. Plus, being past champion at several other tournaments allows me to play those," he said.

Although Lietzke is incognito much of the time, golf isn't completely on the backburner. The 47-year-old former University of Houston standout is keeping his golf game fresh until he takes his talents to the Senior Tour.

Prior to that, though, he'll have a much more important obligation. United States Ryder Cup captain Ben Crenshaw has selected Lietzke and fellow UH product Bill Rogers to serve as assistants on the 1999 Ryder Cup team.

"Ben's always been a very good friend of mine, and I was honored and flattered when he asked me to help out," Lietzke said. "I'm looking forward to it."

Lietzke is also hopeful that when the 2003 Ryder Cup site is awarded, Colonial Country Club will be the chosen venue. The course rates as his second favorite on tour.

"It looks like it's going to be between Colonial and Pinehurst right now," Lietzke said. "Both are great courses, but we don't have an advantage at Pinehurst since there's no Tour stop there. I think we would have a decided edge at Colonial.

"The talents are so close on the European and American sides that you have to come up with an edge if you can get it. There's no doubt that our unfamiliarity with the course in Spain was the deciding factor in the last Ryder Cup."

Lietzke said he will be involved in the two at-large selections Crenshaw is allowed for the Ryder Cup team. He also said he will monitor on-course progress of the matches.

"Right now, I'd give Colonial about a 60 percent chance of getting it. The PGA of America will make that decision. Hopefully, Colonial will be the choice, but you never know what will happen when corporate sponsorship is involved."

Lietzke says he's glad to see the old guard holding up well against the young guns on the PGA Tour this year.

"It's just something that goes in cycles. Mark O'Meara obviously is playing very well and so is Freddy (Couples)," Lietzke said. "Tom Watson's also having a great year."

Lietzke could also be included in that group - if he'd just play more often.

"The majors have never been a focus for me, although I've never skipped a Masters that I was eligible for," Lietzke said. "The first 8 or 10 years on Tour, golf was very important, very high priority for me.

"But as each year came and went, and when my kids came into the picture, golf kept getting put on the backburner a little more. When I found out that I could hit the ball as well after taking several months off as I could playing every day, it made my decision a little easier.

"I could play two practice rounds before a tournament and be just as prepared as playing all the time. My physical skills were exactly the same. Plus, I was much more mentally refreshed."

And if Lietzke keeps reducing his schedule, he should be plenty ready for the Senior Tour in 2001. Despite not playing since Colonial, he's still 54th on the money list with more than $377,000.

"I think I'll enjoy playing the Senior Tour. You've got a 5-7 year time frame where you really need to make your money when you get on there," he said. "Hale Irwin, Ray Floyd, even Jack Nicklaus at 58 still plays exceptionally well.

"Jack's been my idol since I was a kid, and I hated to see his streak (consecutive majors) end, but it had to happen some time. He just has too many things going on, and his hip is giving him lots of problems."

Lietzke, though, certainly isn't overburdened by having too many irons in the fire.

In fact, if you really wanted to find his irons, all you'd have to do was just look in his closet.

Ted Dunnam can be reached at 676-6771 or sports@abinews.com.