By MARK CARTNER

Lanny Wadkins, one of golf’s all-time greatest competitors, isn’t having fun. Just ask him.

"I don’t know," Wadkins says curtly when quizzed about the state of his game. "Because of the injuries I can’t practice and if I don’t practice I don’t play well. It’s not very exciting."

Wadkins’ troubles trace back to early 1998 and the first round of the Hawaiian (now the Sony) Open. During the round Wadkins popped a tendon in his left wrist. Surgery and frustration followed.

By 2000 the wrist was healed, but tendonitis had set in on the inside of Wadkins’ right elbow. This year Wadkins says pain in his left elbow is killing him. "I’ve always hit a lot of balls and I think I’m just wearing myself out from the elbows down," he quips.

In just his second year on the Senior Tour, Wadkins should be wearing out the competition. The 51-year old former Wake Forest star is a 21-time winner on the PGA Tour, including the 1977 PGA Championship. The Senior circuit held high hopes for Wadkins’ debut in January of 2000 as the Tour is perpetually in need of ‘young’ superstars to revitalize itself. Wadkins didn’t disappoint.

In the ACE Group Classic in Florida, Wadkins became the ninth player to win his Senior Tour debut, winning a four-way playoff that included Bermuda Run resident Walter Hall.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t won since. In fact he hasn’t even been close.

Following his win, Wadkins only managed one more top ten finish and ended 2000 ranked 44^th on the money list. So far in 2001 it’s been even worse as his money ranking hovers in the mid-sixties.

"I didn’t expect this," Wadkins responds when asked about his thoughts heading into his Senior Tour career. "This is just so frustrating."

What Wadkins expected was a return to the age group golf he knew as a kid. A time when he dominated as a junior golfer in Richmond and then as a brash amateur at Wake Forest. But instead he got the injuries. And aside from the health problems, Wadkins adds that the Senior Tour differs greatly from the regular Tour.

"The galleries are prettier on the regular Tour," he says with a grin before squinting his eyes and adding, "And some of these guys (on the Senior Tour) need to figure out when to give it up. It’s too competitive out here for it to be a ceremonial tour. This is no more Chi Chi Rodriguez’s and Miller Barber’s tour than the PGA Tour is Arnold Palmer’s and Jack Nicklaus’."

While Wadkins admits that his poor play makes it hard to keep the competitive juices flowing, he also believes as soon as he gets back in contention the fire will return. "If I get back in the hunt," he says, "it’ll still be there."

However, there was a time on the PGA Tour when Wadkins lost it.

In 1995 Wadkins captained the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Oak Hill in New York and made a controversial pick, putting fellow Wake alum Curtis Strange on the team. Strange went 0-3 and blew a 2-up lead through 15 holes in his final-day singles match against Nick Faldo. The Americans lost.

"If I ever lost my enthusiasm to play out here it was after that Ryder Cup," Wadkins says. "You wouldn’t believe all the hateful letters I got after that. I really let it get to me."

It took Wadkins more than a year to fully recover.

Now, the tables are turned. This year Strange will captain the U.S. squad at The Belfry in England and Wadkins is already giving him advice.

"I’ve told him to stick to his guns on the decisions he makes," Wadkins says. "He’s the one who’s been thinking about this for two years – the course, the pairings, and the strategy. The captain has a lot more control than people think. Anything involved with the Ryder Cup has to go through him."

And when asked of the U.S. team’s chances this fall, Wadkins doesn’t hesitate, "I expect them the walk over the Europeans pretty easily."

In his early fifties, Wadkins is in the twilight of his golfing career, but there remains a twinkle in his eye – and it has nothing to do with golf. The cocky kid who won a U.S. Amateur title in 1970, scores of PGA tournaments, and played on eight Ryder Cup teams now focuses on a different side of himself – his children.

"My priorities have changed," he says in a relaxed voice through a half-smile. "I’ve got a 13-year-old (Travis) and an eight-year-old (Tucker). The older one loves golf and the younger one plays soccer, baseball, and basketball. When I’m home they keep me busy just watching all the things they do. It makes the injuries a lot less painful."