Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990 TAG: 9004170088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Peete wasn't being arrogant, but during that period he won over $1 million and seven titles on the PGA Tour. But success in professional golf can be fleeting.
That's something Peete realized a long time ago. As the 46-year-old winner of 12 PGA events winds down his career and looks forward to days on the Seniors Tour, Peete's just happy he had his moment in the limelight.
"I don't think I'll ever reach that level of success again. Maybe on the Seniors Tour, not on this [PGA] tour," said Peete, whose biggest win was the 1985 Tournament Players Championship, which has given him exempt status on the tour. "With the exception of the Jack Nicklauses and Arnold Palmers, the longevity of playing at a really high level is about about three to five years. Once you reach your peak, the pressure to stay there is incredible. Right now, the goal is to just stay sharp and be in competition."
Peete, who was at Hidden Valley Country Club to give a clinic before a charity golf tournament for Habitat, hasn't won on the tour since 1986 when he captured the MONY Tournament of Champions and the USF&G Classic.
The $374,953 he won ranked 12th in money winnings. But it was that year that he also began to suffer from the lower back problems that have plagued him for the past three seasons.
From 1987 through '89, Peete's total earnings were just over $200,000. He ranked 175th in earnings with $38,584 last year.
"The back problems started in '86," Peete said. "I should have taken some time off, but I had a lot of commitments. I felt so good about the year I was coming off that I'd try to play out the back problem. It got worse. I changed my swing and posture to accommodate the back and dug a deeper hole [for my game]. In golf, the worse thing you can do is play hurt."
But Peete showed his PGA heart still had a few beats left. Sunday at the Heritage Classic in Hilton Head, S.C., Peete was a co-leader for the first two rounds. He faltered on the third round but finished tied for ninth with a 280. He didn't have a top-10 finish last year.
"I was very pleased with the way I played," he said. "It's a good course for me."
Peete is one of the few blacks to ever play, much less have success, on the PGA Tour. Born in Detroit, Mich., and spending most of his life on a Florida farm, Peete didn't have much access to golf early.
He was 23 when he first took up the game. It quickly became his niche.
"I was looking for something to dedicate myself too," Peete said. "It just happened to be golf. I had this great desire to better myself. Whatever I'd gotten into at that time, I'd have done well."
Now one of Peete's top priorities is to help expose his sport to younger blacks. Peete said there are no black golfers on the horizon who could compete on the PGA Tour. To help correct that, he has established the Calvin Peete National Minority Golf Foundation to help introduce the game to the inner city.
"There's not that much accessibility of golf to inner city kids," Peete said. "There are golf courses in cities, but not the inner city. In the past, most blacks were exposed to golf through the caddy ranks. A lot of kids today would consider it demeaning to be a caddy. It's got to be direct involvement and exposure. Golf is a great character builder. Every kid should be exposed to it."
by CNB