By Rodney Page, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, April 14, 2011
LUTZ — As Jim Thorpe hit some balls on the TPC Tampa Bay driving range Thursday, a few of his fellow Champions Tour players stopped by.
"Thorpey, how's it going?" Bobby Wadkins said.
"Good to have you back, Jim," said Bruce Fleischer.
The Outback Steakhouse Pro Am is Thorpe's first tournament since serving 10 months in federal prison for tax evasion. Thorpe was given the sentence for failure to file a tax return between 2002-04. Federal prosecutors said Thorpe earned more than $5 million during that time. He owed more than $2 million to the Internal Revenue Service, and began serving his sentence on April 1, 2010, in Montgomery, Ala.
After serving 10 months, Thorpe, 62, went to a halfway house near Orlando for the final two months. As part of his 200 hours of community service, Thorpe gave lessons at his home course, Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes.
On April 1 this year, Thorpe was free to pursue his full-time job as a professional golfer. He tees off at 7:37 a.m. Friday with Dana Quigley.
"Tuesday morning when I drove in (to TPC Tampa Bay) I've never been that nervous at a golf course in my whole life," Thorpe said. "I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how the pros were going to receive me, and it turns out that I got a lot of hugs, a lot of 'good to have you back,' a lot of 'we missed you.' "
Thorpe, who has won 13 times in his Champions Tour career and has earned over $13 million, takes the blame for his tax problems. He said he trusted the wrong people and should have been more diligent with his finances.
He has dumped his old advisers and surrounded himself with new people, who he calls "Team Thorpe." His debt to the IRS is not paid back in full. He will continue to make payments until the debt is clear, although he did not say what the amount is.
"I apologize to everybody for the mistakes I've made," Thorpe said. "I blame no one but me. It just goes to show that sometimes in life you just make a mistake and trust the wrong people. I'm very, very happy to be back."
The closest Thorpe got to golf during his stay in the minimum security prison was watching it on TV. He didn't allow his wife and children to visit because he didn't want them to see him in that environment.
"They understood it," he said. "I just told them to let me do what I need to do and it will all be gone in 10 months.
"I did what I had to do up there. You don't want to be there, but I realized what I had to do so I just made it work. I've had guys say to me that they could've never done that. Well, you'd be surprised what you can do if you have to."
Thorpe also heard from plenty of fellow professionals during his incarceration. He said players such as D.A. Weibring, Jerry Pate, Andy Bean, Tom Watson, Quigley, Allen Doyle and Brad Bryant sent him letters.
"I requested to play with him," Quigley said. "I thought I could buffer anything that might happen, but it seems like everyone is happy to see him back. He's quite a personality out here. He's paid his dues and it's great to have him back."
The last tournament Thorpe played was the AT&T Championship in October 2009. His last win was the 2007 Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The only other time Thorpe has been away from a golf course this long was after he had wrist surgery in 1987. That kept him out for over a year.
Despite the layoff, Thorpe said his game is in good shape and he feels fine physically. But he's not sure if he can make it to the top of the leaderboard.
"I've never played well here," Thorpe said. "I love the golf course, and I don't remember the course playing as hard as it is. I'm just going to try to make birdies and see what happens."
The fact that he gets to make birdies again is a relief to Thorpe. He vows to never let anything like this happen again. And looking back, he thinks his time in prison actually had a positive effect.
"I think in my case that 10 or 11 months was good because it gave me a chance to really do some soul searching," Thorpe said. "I could clean out the closet a little bit and get rid of some people in my life. I know now with the team I have I can focus on golf and they're going to take care of things."