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Loren Roberts makes history at ACE Classic

Monday, February 20, 2006

ACE Classic triumph marks 3 wins to start year, a first for senior tour!

When he was still an assistant golf professional in his native San Luis Obispo, Calif., a young Loren Roberts used to open a window in the pro shop so he could hear the phone ring when he was outside working on his putting.

"After about two in the afternoon, we didn't have a whole lot of play," Roberts said of San Luis Country Club. "The putting green was literally 15 steps outside the pro shop door. I would ... go out there and putt all afternoon."

His last job as a club professional was at California's Morro Bay Municipal Golf Course, where he rented carts, gave lessons and made pimento-cheese sandwiches.

"We did 310 rounds a day, 365 days a year," said Roberts, eventually an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour and participant in the Ryder Cup. "They took all the bunkers out of the golf course to speed up play. It was one of those kinds of jobs where you did everything."

Given such humble beginnings, it was no wonder then that Roberts' bid for a piece of golf history had him "double-clutching," as he put it, more than once in Sunday's final round of The ACE Group Classic in North Naples.

Despite not making a birdie over the final 12 holes, Roberts earned his third consecutive victory to start the Champions Tour season when senior golf icon Hale Irwin inexplicably dumped a 7-iron approach shot into the water on the final hole at TwinEagles.

Irwin's miscue enabled Roberts, winner of the season-opening MasterCard and Turtle Bay championships last month in Hawaii, to coast home with one last par to complete an unprecedented victory run on the Champions Tour.

"I was very surprised," said Roberts, who learned of Irwin's double-bogey before he teed off on the par-4 18th hole. "Hale doesn't make mistakes like that. It did make my tee shot and my second shot a little easier."

Finishing at 14-under 202 after a clunky, 3-under-par 69 in the final round, Roberts was relieved to have surpassed Don January and Larry Nelson for wins to start a season on the Champions Tour. January, in 1981, and Nelson, in 2001, won twice to start those years but fell short in their third starts.

"Three wins this year and they've all come in different ways. This one was definitely done with an ugly stick," said Roberts, 50, who earned $240,000 to give him $755,000 in winnings already this season. "I wanted to put a little mark somewhere in the record books, and I did think about that a little bit on the back nine."

Read More: news-press.com, Seth Soffian

Tags: San Luis Obispo Central Coast Golf