Nicklaus Returns to Hogan’s Alley

Like the great artists who keep returning to the Louvre to study the masters, Jack Nicklaus keeps returning to Riviera.

Nicklaus is as much a golf course architect today as he is a player, and Riviera holds a fascination for him, both aesthetically and historically. He has never won on the course old-timers call Hogan’s Alley, and he would dearly love to add the name Riviera to Pebble Beach, Augusta National, St. Andrews, Baltusrol and Firestone--great courses where he has won.

It is Hogan’s Alley because Ben Hogan once won the United States Open and two Los Angeles Opens on the course in a 13-month period.

“I always enjoy playing Riviera,” Nicklaus said before teeing off Wednesday in the pro-amateur round. “It’s an excellent course, and I’ve played it well--although I haven’t won. I always thought I played well enough to win the PGA, but Hal (Sutton) played better.”

Nicklaus shot a final-round 66 but finished a shot behind Sutton in the 1983 PGA. He also finished second in the 1978 L.A. Open to Gil Morgan, and he was third in 1975 and again last year when David Edwards surged to victory with a 64 on Sunday.

“I can thank the bad weather in the East for being here,” he said. “I had so much business to attend to after playing in the Hope (two weeks ago), I didn’t think I could play this week, but when the weather turned so cold, I canceled a couple of appointments and came back here.”

Nicklaus finished tied for 53rd in the Hope and skipped last week’s Phoenix Open.

He celebrated his 45th birthday last Monday, but don’t think because he is only five years removed from the Seniors Tour that he has lost his touch. He has made the cut in his last 22 tournaments, dating back to April, 1983. Although he played in only 13 PGA Tour events last year, he earned $272,595 and ranked 15th on the money list.

But money is not what he’s playing for now. He’s playing for history, which relates to the major tournaments. He has won 19 of them, 6 more than any other golfer. The late Bobby Jones, Nicklaus’ first golfing idol, ranks second with 13.

“Last year was an odd one for me,” he said. “I played very well except in the majors, and I think I know why. I took a week off before each of the majors, the way I always do, but I didn’t work on my game enough. I let other things distract me. This year, I’m not going to make the same mistake. I’m going to take the week off and work on golf.”

The Los Angeles Open, which starts today over the 6,946-yard, par-71 Riviera course, is not a major, but it has attracted a field of major proportions.

Tom Watson, the PGA’s Player of the Year for a record sixth time, is making his 1985 debut here. Also on hand are Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, 1985 tournament winners Lanny Wadkins and Calvin Peete, and foreign champions Greg Norman of Australia, Bernhard Langer of West Germany, Nick Faldo of England and Isao Aoki of Japan.

Wadkins defeated Craig Stadler in a spectacular five-hole playoff at Indian Wells in the Hope, and Peete won the Phoenix Open at 14 under par.

For the trivia-minded, there is a father-son entry of Jerry and Tom Barber of Griffith Park, and brother entries of defending champion David and Danny Edwards, Lanny and Bobby Wadkins, and Jet and Joe Ozaki of Japan.

Watson, who won at Riviera in 1980 and 1982, is starting the year after taking the longest vacation of his 15 years as a professional.

“I never touched a club for five weeks, between the Skins Game and right after Christmas,” the 35-year-old Stanford graduate said. “It’s the longest layoff I’ve had since I was in college, but I think I needed the rest.”

The snow in Kansas City made it difficult for Watson to practice, so he opened up the patio doors and belted a few drives out into the snow.

“I’d say I hit about 80 balls, enough to loosen up the body. They’ll still be there when the snow melts. A friend of mine loves to gather them up. He should have enough orange balls to last him until next winter.”

Watson will be testing a new grip when he tees off in today’s first round.

“Any time you change your grip, it’s difficult to work it into your game playing a tournament, but I feel much more comfortable than I did at this time last year. At the start last year, my game was a disaster. I got too technical in my thinking, and I was trying to change something on every swing.

“It wasn’t until I got to Bay Hill in March that I realized what I was doing. At Bay Hill, I came out of it when I decided to concentrate on scoring, to play with rhythm and feel, rather than like a mechanical man. When you try to be too mechanical, rigor mortis can set in. That’s what happened to me before Bay Hill.”

Watson finished ninth at Bay Hill, but a few weeks later, he finished second in the Masters and later won the MONY Tournament of Champions at La Costa and the Western Open. After the tour ended, he also won the Australian Open.

Winning the PGA--the only major he has not won--is Watson’s main objective this year, and winning the Western Open last year has forced him to change his preparation.

“Normally I would take the week off to get ready for the PGA, but the Western is the week before, so I’ll play there. It might work out better because it could keep me competitively sharp.”

The PGA is at Cherry Hills in Denver, where Andy North won the 1978 U.S. Open.

Watson won his record-sixth PGA Player of the Year award by a narrow margin over the tour’s other Watson, Denis of South Africa. In the complicated point system based on wins plus scoring average and standing on the money list, the issue was not decided until the final nine holes of the final tournament, the Pensacola Open.

Tom Watson was not there. He was in Japan fulfilling an earlier commitment, but Denis was at Pensacola, and a high finish would have moved him past Tom for the honor. However, he slipped to a final-round 73 and tied for 53rd place.

“It boiled down to some persons making mistakes at the end, rather than someone going out and winning it,” Watson said. “The point system is not perfect, but I think you can get a good reading on the year from it. I had some friends in Florida who kept me well aware of what was going on. I was pleased when I heard I’d won. It’s nice to have that sixth plaque on the wall.”