Lietzke Takes Dead Aim on Second Straight SAS Title 

By LARRY JONES 

            CARY — Last September's inaugural SAS Championship carries a trophy cup full of memories. To the Senior PGA Tour event's organizers, it iced a cake that had been only four-and-a-half months in the making. And to the players and fans, it marked a needed respite as the first tournament after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

            "It turned out to be a great week of healing for everyone," said Bruce Lietzke, the defending champion. "It was a tough time, and it was handled expertly, in my opinion. I can't wait to come back and try to win it again."

            Lietzke will get his chance on Sept. 20-22 at Prestonwood Country Club, the Tom Jackson design that opened in 1988 and played to rave reviews to the 50-and-over crowd a year ago. The Senior PGA Tour surveys its players following each tournament and the SAS Championship, which as Business Week as its presenting sponsor, ranked third among the near-40 events in "customer satisfaction."

            "That speaks to a lot of things — the layout and condition of the golf course, the staff, the volunteers and Vance, of course," said Lietzke, the latter reference to Prestonwood's director of golf, former PGA Tour regular Vance Heafner. "Vance knows what the players expect in a tournament, and I think that made a huge difference in getting such a quality field here on such short notice."

            The short notice came about when Nationwide pulled its sponsorship from a tournament in suburban Atlanta in early April. Octagon, a national marketing firm based just outside New York City, was left looking for a new title sponsor and venue and pitched the idea of hosting the tournament to Jim Goodnight, one of Prestonwood's owners and the co-founder of Cary-based SAS, the world's largest privately held software company.

            "When Octagon initially approached Dr. Goodnight, I had to do a little bit of convincing," said Heafner. "Eventually he came to see that it would work here, that it would be a good thing for the community and a good showcase for his customers, plus a chance to show off his venue."

            Still, Heafner had a few doubts himself, especially given the short prep time. "I did what I could, but Octagon really carried it through," said Heafner. "As late as the week of the tournament, Dr. Goodnight came up to me and said, 'Are you sure this is a good deal?' "

            Ends up, it was. Larry Nelson, one of the Senior Tour's marquee names, led comfortably midway through Saturday's second round before a 10 — yep, that's not a misprint — on the 401-yard, par-4 14^th brought him back to the field and paved the way for Lietzke to hold off Gary McCord over the final 18 holes.

            "It's a golf course that I liked better each time I played it," said Lietzke. "It's long, which plays to one of my strengths, plus it's a good test of golf. I can speak for the rest of the guys when I say that this without question is a championship golf course."

            It’s also one that will be tweaked slightly this year, again thanks to the players’ input. The fourth hole, a par 5 in 2001, will become a 426-yard par-4. The 12^th, a 421-yard par 4 last year, now will be a 565-yard par 5. Par on the respective sides will be 35 and 37 and the layout will total 7,169 yards.

            Despite earlier rumors to the contrary, Prestonwood will host the tournament as long as SAS is behind it — currently two years with more likely to follow. Initially, the Seniors were to move to the PGA Tour-owned Tournament Players Club at Wakefield Plantation in 2004, but Goodnight preferred that the event stay at Prestonwood, a move that he guaranteed by agreeing to have SAS sponsor the former Buy.com tour event that's played each June at Wakefield.

            "After this was such a success last year, Dr. Goodnight told me to do whatever I had to do to keep it here," said Heafner. "The way it works out, it's a win-win for everybody."

            The field stacks up to be one of the Senior Tour's best. As of late August, 18 of the top 20 money-winners had committed, including Hale Irwin, a four-time winner this year, Nelson, Lanny Wadkins and Tom Watson.

            "With every day that passes, our field gets better and better," said Paul Campion, the SAS Championship tournament director. "Our field includes some of the best golfers ever to play the game."

            The 78-player field will carry a purse of $1.7 million — a $100,000 increase from a year ago — with the first-place check totaling $225,000. The PAX network will televise from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday, with CNBC providing tape-delayed coverage of the second and final rounds from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

            Several ticket packages are available, including one that includes two greens fees at Prestonwood. Daily tickets are priced at $20. For more information on purchasing advance tickets, call 800-531-SPGA.