Mize’s Record 62 Is Worth Share of Lead

Larry Mize was in the same threesome Thursday when Lanny Wadkins shot his record-tying 63 at Riviera, but Friday, it was Wadkins who did the watching as Mize broke the Los Angeles Open record with a nine-under-par 62.

Maybe today, it will be Scott Simpson’s turn. He got to watch Wadkins Thursday and Mize Friday.

The 29-33 by Mize put him 10 under par at 132 and gave him a share of the 36-hole lead with former PGA champion Hal Sutton and San Diego Open champion Gary Koch, who have identical 66-66 scores.

Wadkins, who led by two strokes after his opening-round 63, shot a 70 and is alone at 133. Mark O’Meara’s 67 moved him up to 134, closely followed by Don Pooley, who also shot a 66, at 135.

“Watching Lanny yesterday must have spurred me on to play well today,” Mize said. “That was the best round I ever played and the first time I ever shot a 29.”

Wadkins, a former PGA champion and winner of the 1979 L.A. Open, called it “a magnificent round.”

“Every time he drew it back,” Wadkins said, “it looked like he was going right at the flagstick.

“I’m sure that’s the shortest time I ever held a course record. It was a pleasure while it lasted.”

Mize, a Georgia native who was raised only a couple of miles from fabled Augusta National--although he had never played it until last year when he was invited to the Masters--twice nearly holed out 3-wood shots. One, a 236-yard blast into a crosswind on the 501-yard first hole, stopped a foot from the cup for a tap-in eagle. The other, on the 238-yard, par-3 fourth hole, ended up about six inches from a hole-in-one.

“Larry’s front nine was the easiest 29 I’ve ever seen,” Wadkins said.

The first-hole eagle got Mize off to a good start, but it didn’t get him the honors on the tee.

“I hit a 3-wood a foot from the hole,” Mize said, “and Lanny said, ‘Nice eagle,’ and then he knocked in a 60-footer from the fringe for an eagle of his own. We go to the tee and I’m still hitting second.”

Mize chipped in on the 18th hole to break the record 63 that Wadkins shared with Terry Mauney, who made his in 1982.

“I knew when I got to the (18th) tee I needed a birdie to break the record, and I really wanted it, this being such a great course, with such a great history,” Mize said. “I hit my drive down the right side and had to cut a 3-iron around the trees. The ball rolled across the green into the kikuyu grass, but it was sitting up nice. I played a sand wedge out to the right and watched it take a left turn and roll right into the cup. I guess it was about 25 feet.”

After Mize birdied the first two holes on the back nine to go eight under par after 11 holes, Wadkins’ caddy said, “This guy may shoot in the 50s.”

“I’ll admit, the way I was playing, I thought it might be a possibility, too,” Mize said, but he couldn’t get any more birdie putts to drop until the chip-in on 18. He did save a par, however, with a 20-foot putt that dropped on No. 16.

Mize, a 26-year-old graduate of Georgia Tech, said he rated the 62 right up with winning his first tournament at Memphis in 1983, and playing his first round last year at Augusta National.

“Setting the course record is fine, and I’ll thoroughly enjoy it tonight, but I have to forget about it before I get up tomorrow morning,” Mize said. “There must be 20 golfers with a chance to win, so I’ve got to concern myself more with the next 36 holes than with the last 18. As enjoyable as they were.”

Sutton started off nearly as fast as Mize, making birdies on the first three holes as he brought back memories of his great win at Riviera in the PGA of 1983.

“I haven’t played well since I won the PGA here,” Sutton said, “so this was an enjoyable round. The course isn’t nearly as difficult as it was then; the rough is not as high as it was then, and the greens are not as fast.”

Sutton, who had to hold off Jack Nicklaus to win in ‘83, was 11 under par after two rounds in the PGA--one better than he is today.

Sutton would be the sole leader but for a bogey on the 18th hole when his 3-wood second shot hit a giant sycamore (the same one Mize’s second shot sliced around) and dropped in the fairway. He pitched up short and missed about a 5-foot putt.

Koch, who has made a habit of flying out of the pack on the final day to win tournaments, said he was “surprised” at shooting his second 66.

“I’ve played well here before, but conditions were always more difficult, so I am a little surprised to find myself ten under par,” he said. “You don’t expect that from this course.”

Koch had a solid round with five birdies and was never close to making a bogey. His longest birdie putt was 15 feet, with the other four of 10 feet or less.

“I’m putting better this week than I have in the last two tournaments (Hope Classic and Phoenix), mainly because the greens are a little faster and I prefer fast greens,” Koch said.

“Anyone within six or eight shots of the lead has a chance at it,” he said. He should know. Twice last year, Koch came from six strokes back on the final day to win in playoffs, beating Gary Hallberg at San Diego and George Burns in the Bay Hill Classic.

Tony Sills, the hometown favorite from Pacific Palisades, struggled to a 76 after his opening round 65 to slide back in the pack. Sills, after starting with a birdie on his first hole, ran into a lapse of four straight bogeys on the 15th through 18th holes. Twice, he missed the green in two shots, on the par-3 16th he bunkered his tee shot, and on the par-5 17th he took three putts.

The halfway cut at two-over-par 144 wiped out most of the foreign contingent, notably Australia’s Greg Norman and England’s Nick Faldo (both 145), Mexico’s Victor Regalado (146) and Germany’s Bernhard Langer (151). Also sidelined were Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and two opening-day 69 shooters, Brad Faxon and 54-year-old Gene Littler, who won the L.A. Open 30 years ago.

Duffy Waldorf, the California State Amateur champion from UCLA and Sepulveda, was the only amateur survivor after a steady 70-71 for 141. Bobby May, the 16-year-old from Hacienda Heights, and Roger Gunn, Waldorf’s UCLA teammate, both dropped out with 149s.