WATSON HAPPILY MAKES THE TURN.

Byline: Dave Shelburne

Time marches on.

Tom Watson, who battled Jack Nicklaus for PGA Tour supremacy from the mid-1970s though the mid-'80s, joins Nicklaus in the senior-tour ranks today.

How can that be?

Just last year, Watson was basking in the glow of his 34th PGA Tour victory (eight of those majors), believing he could still play at that level.

This week, he's renewing old acquaintances and trying to embrace reality after missing the cut more than half the time in the 13 PGA Tour events he entered this year before turning 50 last Sunday.

``It was time to pass the baton,'' Watson said at Indianapolis, where he makes his senior debut today in the Comfort Classic at the Brickyard. ``But it is hard to let go.''

Chances are, it will soon be just as hard on the earnings of Watson's new senior mates.

While some of his predecessors as senior-tour rookies seemed to enter the 50-over ranks almost reluctantly, Watson joins the no-cut circuit as mentally ready as he is physically fit.

``I've been watching the scores out there,'' he said, ``players shooting 62s, 63s and 15-under, 17-under for three rounds - that is great golf on any course.''

But. . .

``I want to come out and compete, and I want to come out and win.''

He knows he'll miss the excitement of playing against the world's best players on the PGA Tour, especially since he believes he can still compete effectively when he has his best game going.

But Watson also knows nothing less than his best will get winning done on that tour anymore. And he knows his game is now better suited for the shorter senior-tour courses than the 7,000-yard PGA Tour layouts where greens seem to be getting harder and less-receptive to long approach shots.

``These (PGA Tour) courses eat my lunch because I can't compete with players that hit the ball as high as I used to,'' he said.

Watson also strides into his golden years appreciative of an opportunity his professional predecessors never had.

``When I first started, there was no senior tour,'' he said. ``There was no talk about a senior tour (let alone no-cut fields that guarantee checks for every tournament participant from a season purse that exceeds $49 million this year).

``When you couldn't play anymore on the regular tour, you went back and you got a club job someplace. Or you tried to make enough money where you didn't have to go back and try to earn a living the way our forefathers did out here.''

Watson knows his options are considerably better, no matter how hard it is to let go of that baton.

Junior update: Brandon Christianson, the two-time Toyota Skills Challenge national finalist and eighth-grader at Valencia's La Mesa Junior High, has qualified for the Southern California PGA's Tournament of Champions for a fifth straight year.

The annual December competition is open only to winners of SCPGA events during that year. Christianson won nine of the 24 SCPGA events he entered in 1999, competing in age group 12-13.

But he'll play the TOC in age group 14-15, since he turns 14 just before Halloween. It will be a significant step up, since age 14-15 competition will include area U.S. Junior Amateur qualifiers Brian Edick of Valencia and Anthony Kim of Studio City. Also, there's San Gabriel Valley standout Henry Liau, who shot 11-under-par 59 for an Alhambra GC record last summer and last month set an amateur course record of 8-under-par 64 at Moreno Valley Ranch. . . .

Daniel Hoffenberg of Simi Valley, who won seven of his eight starts in Ventura County Junior Golf Association tournaments this year, is that county's Player of the Year in age 12-under division. Hoffenberg, who plays to a handicap index of 10.8 at Wood Ranch, tied for first in the only tournament he lost, missing on a card-off. . . .

Section championship: The Southern California PGA will conduct its 54-hole section championship Monday through Wednesday at Mission Hills CC in Rancho Mirage, with defending champion and recent national PGA Club Professional Championship winner Jeff Freeman of Tamarisk included in a field of 112.

Area entries include Brad Benkey of Saticoy, Robert Dacey (Tierra Del Sol), Paul Duarte and Markel Taylor (both from El Caballero), Don Fiala (Wood Ranch), Jon Fiedler (Las Posas), Jack Garner (Oakmont), Roger Gunn, Paul Holtby and Kristy Park (all three from Lake Lindero), Ted Lehmann (Westlake Village) and Dustin Schilling (Chevy Chase).

Greg Frederick of Glendale's Oakmont Country Club had considered playing but opted not to because of an ailing shoulder that might need surgery. He'll need to be at full strength next year when he shoulders the duties of SCPGA president, succeeding Bill Hulbert of Yorba Linda CC. . . .

And the winner is: Alan Ochiai of Tustin Ranch has been named SCPGA Teacher of the Year for 1999, marking the second time in three years a Tustin Ranch instructor has been honored. . . . Dr. David Wright of Pelican Hill, the 1998 SCPGA Teacher of the Year, won the Horton Smith Award for his work in furthering the education of PGA Professionals.

Expo to Fairplex: The SPGA Golf Expo is moving from Long Beach Convention Center to the Pomona Fairplex next year. The Expo, scheduled for March 3-5, has been held at the Long Beach Convention Center the past three years. . . .

Proceeds from a decade of Expos helped the SCPGA begin construction six months ago on the 36-hole PGA of Southern California Golf Club in Oak Valley, near Calamesa. The two Schmidt/Curley-designed courses, which will be called Legends and Champions, should be ready for play next spring. Irrigation systems are already in place, seeding began this week, ground was recently broken on the maintenance facility and construction on a 31,000 square-foot clubhouse and SCPGA Section office is scheduled to begin next month.