Champions Tour Insider: Sigel's ready to return

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Jay Sigel's best finish in 2008 came at the Toshiba Classic, when he tied for 13th in early March.

Feb. 18, 2009
By Vartan Kupelian, PGATOUR.COM Contributor

There are some things that Jay Sigel refuses to do. He won't feel sorry for himself or look back at all the surgeries and say, "What if?"

And there are some things that he absolutely must do. When wife Betty wants to do some long distance shopping in fashionable and trendy Newport Beach, how can a guy say no to that?

Sigel is on the comeback trail to the Champions Tour. He's being careful about the timing. There's no point in rushing things after what he's been through. He thought about playing this week at the ACE Group Classic but it won't happen. As he looks at the Champions Tour schedule over the next few weeks, the Toshiba Classic, March 2-8, at Newport Beach Country Club strikes a chord.

"I hope to play out in California," Sigel said. "My wife wants to go shopping in Newport so it's important that I play there."

The thought brought a smile to Sigel's face. What's better than doing something nice for the wife -- and playing golf at the same time? That's a winning parlay.

Sigel, 65, has been a mainstay on the Champions Tour since he made his debut in 1994 after one of the most distinguished amateur careers in golf history. A back-to-back U.S. Amateur champion in 1982 and 1983, the Pennsylvania native has won eight times on the Champions Tour. Most recently, he's had to endure health issues that have lingered since 2001. The following year, he was named the Champions Tour's Comeback Player of the Year.

Sigel missed the final five events of the 2007 season following surgery on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus. Last season, he played just five times, early in the year, before more surgery on an ailing left shoulder in April sidelined him again.

The surgery last year was to repair a completely torn rotator cuff, torn bicep tendon and torn labrum. The operation was performed by Dr. Larry Miller, chief of orthopedic surgery at Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, who has done more shoulders and knees in the Philadelphia area than anybody else, Sigel said.

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Jay Sigel won consecutive U.S. Amateur titles in 1982 and 1983.

"I kept playing until I couldn't take it anymore," he said of the pain.

It wasn't until November that Sigel, who has had both shoulders and both knees surgically repaired, was able even to hit chip shots. That's a long time.

"A very long time," Sigel said.

And now?

"I just want to get started," he said.

Sigel's not complaining, mind you.

"All I can say is instead of feeling sorry for yourself, look around," he said. "It can always be worse. To keep coming back is tough but it's a great game and it's worth it. I realize if I don't come back all the way or just 80 percent of the way, it's still a great game. I'll be thankful for having played the game and I'll still be able to play it. I just have to be careful going forward."

That's the message Dr. Miller delivered. Be wise, be cautious.

"He reminded me that this is not new for old," Sigel said. "He repaired what he could."

Sigel's injuries are the cumulative effect of the wear and tear on the human joints from a lifetime of golf. Miller has warned Sigel about playing in walking tournaments or too frequently. Sigel expects he'll not try to play more than two weeks at a time and he certainly won't be hitting an inordinate amount of golf balls on the range. He's too old and too smart to buy into that "no pain, no gain" stuff.

Sigel said his shoulder "is probably 90 percent" but he'll have to wait for his back to calm down, something he blames on the weakening of the muscles from lack of play.

"There are some issues with the back," he said. "I'll always be working my shoulders for keeping them strong as I can. Since last April, I've atrophied my back. I've been doing some additional exercises. That seems to have helped. I'm close but I'm not there."

So close, in fact, that Sigel has been at a couple of Champions Tour events to hang out with his friends.

"I miss it all," he said. "I've missed every bit of it. The guys have been great. I've been back for a few hours to say hi, just be around. It's good to see my old buddies. They're having more fun than I am. A lot of people go through injuries. I'm not by myself. They know what I'm going through and they've been terrific."

Champions Tour Insider Notes:

• Jay Haas could use a tip from Hale Irwin on the art of winning in Florida. Haas has never won in Florida -- he's 0-for-112 overall and 0-for-10 on the Champions Tour. Irwin, on the other hand, has won nine of his 65 career victories in Florida. Irwin's victories include three Senior PGA Championships, two wins in the ACE Group Classic and one each in the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am and American Express Invitational. On the PGA TOUR, Irwin won the 1982 Honda Inverrary Classic and the 1976 Florida Citrus Open.

• But Irwin still has a way to go to catch Lee Trevino, who has a combined 13 Florida victories (Champions Tour, 7; PGA TOUR 6). Jack Nicklaus is next with 12.

• Hal Sutton and Arthur Hills are co-designers of the TPC Treviso Bay, site of this week's ACE Group Classic. That's a distinction Sutton holds alone. TPC Treviso Bay is the only Champions Tour venue this year that is designed by an active player.

• The ACE Group Classic is also the only event that has as the official host a Champions Tour member, Peter Jacobsen, who is sidelined after undergoing rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder in January.

• Streakers: Jeff Sulman begins the ACE Group Classic with a streak of 31 straight rounds at par or better...Bob Gilder is playing in his 124th straight tournament for which he's been eligible, not yet halfway to Dana Quigley's Champions Tour record of 278 consecutive starts (1997-2005).