By Rodney Page, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, April 14, 2011
LUTZ — As Jim Thorpe hit 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," Bruce Fleischer said.
This weekend's Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am is Thorpe's first tournament since serving a 12-month sentence for tax evasion.
He earned about $5 million between 2002-04 but failed to file a tax return. He owed more than $2 million and began serving his sentence April 1, 2010, in Montgomery, Ala.
After 10 months in a federal prison, Thorpe, 62, went to a halfway house near Orlando for the final two. As part of his 200 hours of community service, he gave lessons at his home course, Legacy Club at Alaqua Lakes in Longwood.
On April 1, Thorpe was free to pursue his full-time job as a pro golfer. He tees off at 7:37 a.m. today 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 career and earned more than $13 million, takes the blame for his tax problems. He said he trusted the wrong people and should've been more diligent with his finances.
He dumped his advisers and surrounded himself with new people, whom he calls "Team Thorpe." He continues to make payments to the government, although he did not say how much he owes.
"I apologize to everybody for the mistakes I've made," he 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 at the minimum security prison was watching 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.
"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 heard from plenty of fellow pros during his incarceration. He said players including Quigley, D.A. Weibring, Jerry Pate, Andy Bean, Tom Watson, 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 Charles Schwab Cup Championship in October 2007. The only other time he has been away from a course this long was after wrist surgery in 1987. That kept him out for more than a year.
Despite the layoff, the North Carolina native said his game is in good shape and he feels fine physically. But he's not sure he can make it to the top of the leaderboard.
"I've never played well here," he 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, and he vows never to let anything like his tax problems happen again. And looking back, he believes his time in prison actually had a positive effect.
"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."
Rodney Page can be reached at rpage@sptimes.com.