Victoria golfer Jim RutledgeEric Risberg
"How about Rutledge's 62?" the ebullient Canadian senior golfer Bob Panasik asked Thursday during the final round of the Mr. Lube Canadian Seniors PGA Championship presented by Cleveland Golf/Srixon. The name of the tournament is a mouthful but it's an important national championship that's been held since 1938 and Panasik, 68 and a three-time winner of the tournament, was talking about one of Canada's best players.
This was on the back nine at the RattleSnake Point Golf Club, when Rutledge, a few groups behind Panasik in the last threesome, was completing his run to a 10-shot win and the $10,000 first prize. Rutledge, 50, also won the 1984 Canadian PGA Championship.
Rutledge had shot 62 in the second round when he had 10 threes and eight fours on his card. He threatened the magical 59, which PGA Tour veteran Paul Goydos did shoot in Thursday's first round of the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Ill. Rutledge had opened with 67 and he closed with 70 to finish with a 17-under par 199.
Rutledge, from Victoria, B.C. was playing his first Canadian PGA Seniors Championship, where Mr. Lube has entered into a five-year agreement as title sponsor. He drove the ball miles every round in the cauldron-like conditions, on a course that most every player praised for its conditioning.
On the par-four 12th hole, for example, Rutledge drove 50 yards past former PGA Tour winner Dave Barr and 40 yards past Rod Spittle, the winner of the 1978 Canadian Amateur who turned pro so that he could play for pay with the over-50 set. Rutledge's smooth swing and effortless power has won nearly $80,000 this year as a part-time player on the Champions Tour. Barr, by the way, finished second while suffering in the final round from poor putting, those 10 shots behind Rutledge, and Spittle third, another shot back.
"He is going to win many times on the Champions Tour," Panasik said. "He's in the category of Fred Couples and Ernie Els when it comes to tempo."
Rutledge's wife Jill was caddying for him, as she has for the last five or six years. He, like many players in the field, was wearing shorts. This was the first time the Canadian PGA has allowed shorts in one of its championships. A notice informed the players that they could wear "golf-appropriate" shorts for the last two rounds. Rutledge had to purchase his from a nearby store.
"I've been swinging pretty good the last three or four weeks," Rutledge said after he signed his scorecard. "I'm trying to keep my swing shorter."
The shorter swing hasn't led to any reduction in power or accuracy. Rutledge moves on now to the Canadian Tour's Players' Cup next week in Winnipeg. He's the first alternate for the U.S. Senior Open later this month at the Sahalee Country Club near Seattle.
Rutledge is what Brampton, Ont., pro Bobby Breen, who shot 73-76 to win the tournament's Diamond Division, called a "player." That he is. Rut, as his many friends coast to coast call him, is a terrific and likeable player who could yet do some big things on the Champions Tour. For now, he's the Canada's senior champion of the pros, and that's quite an accomplishment in its own right.