State Farm

When they glanced up at the leader board during their round together at the State Farm Senior Classic yesterday in Hunt Valley, Tom Kite, Bruce Fleisher and Allen Doyle didn't see a few names at the top that many had expected would be there. Their own. The dream-team threesome finished several shots back of the leaders as lesser-known and lesser-accomplished players ruled the day, spearheaded by qualifier and first-round leader Doug Johnson. Fleisher, the Senior PGA Tour's top money-winner this year and the current U.S. Senior Open champion, shot a 1-under-par 71 and finished five strokes out of the lead.

Throughout the last 10 years, George Burns has battled injuries that have forced him to change his approach to the game. Wrist surgery to repair a fracture in 1991 impeded his grip strength and forced the former Maryland golfer to switch from stiff to very weak clubs and modify his swing. That was followed by rotator cuff surgery in 1988 and knee surgery about a month before Q-school, just after he had turned 50. "With the type of swing that I have, which is sort of high maintenance and I always have to work at it, I didn't have the chance to work at it because I was more interested in getting healthy," he said.

The Senior PGA Tour is filled with stories about players who have worked their whole lives for a sniff of the big-time, players who have spent years trying to qualify for the regular tour or toiled as club pros at out-of-the-way places or traveled each Monday looking for a spot in that week's field. And then there is Doug Johnson, the first-round leader of the $1.45 million State Farm Senior Classic. He has done all of the above -- and more. Johnson started on his career path at the 1972 Milwaukee Open as a marshal, and was so inspired by the play of the champion, Jim Colbert, that he quit college and moved to Florida.

Although C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger predicted victory before teeing off in the pro-am round of the State Farm Senior Classic yesterday, the Baltimore County executive - a 30-handicap golfer - is more likely to win in the skybox that faces the 18th green than on the links. It is in an air-conditioned, wood-paneled skybox that the county's economic development office will wine and dine (well, wine and potato chip) dozens of business partners and prospects in hopes of persuading them to relocate their businesses to Baltimore County or to expand the ones already here.

Ken Corliss and Steve Stull might have winced for a second or two when they realized they would be playing in the same threesome in the open qualifier for the State Farm Senior Classic yesterday at Greystone Golf Club. After all, the two were grouped together last week in Chicago, where they both shot 73 and failed to qualify for the SBC Senior Open. The result this time around, however, was much easier to swallow. Corliss tied for the lowest score with a 5-under-par 67 and Stull finished a stroke behind him as the two qualified for the PGA Senior Tour event that will be held at Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley, Friday through Sunday.

Baltimore officials have been offered a $20,000 grant to study ways to improve safety at Northern Parkway and Falls Road, the state's most dangerous intersection, based on the State Farm Insurance annual survey of perilous crossings. In 1999-2000, about 181 accidents occurred at the crossroads, reported State Farm, which ranked intersections nationwide based on the number of crashes, their severity and the injuries sustained. State Farm has offered up to $20,000 to fund a safety study by an agency chosen by the city.

After three years in Columbia, the State Farm Senior Classic will move next summer to Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley. The $1.45 million PGA Senior Tour event is scheduled to be played July 27-29. The tournament will be held at Hayfields for at least the next three years, with an option through 2005, according to Brian Thompson, the president of the Fore Baltimore Foundation. "Hopefully, it will have a tremendous impact," Thompson said of the move, which had been anticipated for the past month.

A site for next year's State Farm Senior Classic has yet to be determined, but the only PGA Tour event in the Baltimore area could be moving from Howard County to Baltimore County. Tournament chairman John Mathews said earlier this week that a decision should be reached sometime next week. The event has been played at the Hobbit's Glen Golf Club in Columbia in each of its first three years. "We need to be promoting next year's tournament," said Mathews. "We are not taking this lightly."

There is something about the Hobbit's Glen Golf Club in Columbia that seems to suit Christy O'Connor's game. There is something about the setting for the State Farm Senior Classic that seems to make O'Connor think he is back home in Ireland. O'Connor shot a 6-under par 66 in yesterday's opening round, one stroke higher than he did last year when he went wire-to-wire in winning his first Senior PGA Tour event and two shots higher than first-round leader Jose Maria Canizares of Spain. "I just love the place," O'Connor said, repeating his comments from earlier this week.

Robert Alipanah is hoping that golf fans watching the State Farm Senior Classic will swing by his restaurant while they're in the area. "Since I'm a seafood restaurant and not too far from them, I'm hoping that I get a good crowd," said the owner of Atlantis Seafood in the Harper's Choice Village Center, which by yesterday was already seeing new faces in the dining room and potential customers dropping by to check out the menu. With the State Farm Senior Classic being held this week in Columbia and record crowds expected, Alipanah is one of many local business owners hoping the tournament will mean more money in their cash registers.