O’Grady Hits a 68 for Lead--Then Runs : After Escaping the Media, He Raps the Golf Course

All the world, it seems, loves a rebel.

Mac O’Grady, golf’s ambidextrous iconoclast, may not speak to the media and may aim verbal daggers at the heart of PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, but the golfing public loves him.

O’Grady, who once caddied at the Riviera Country Club to make enough money to finance one of his 17 attempts at qualifying for the PGA Tour, shot his second three-under-par 68 Friday to take a one-stroke lead after 36 holes of the 60th Los Angeles Open.

First-round co-leader Dennis Trixler, like O’Grady a nomad of golf before finally getting a chance on the $25-million PGA Tour, is one shot back at 37. after a 71. At 138 is Mark Lye, whose 66 was one of the low rounds of the day.

O’Grady’s 32-36--68 was spiced by a hole-in-one on the 174-yard sixth hole--the one with a trap in the middle of the green. O’Grady’s 6-iron shot landed about 18 inches from the cup, rolled toward the hole and appeared to stop--then disappeared from sight.

A tidy portion of the gallery following O’Grady, a former Hamilton High School all-around athlete, let loose a cheer that echoed back and forth across the Santa Monica Canyon course.

“Oh, wasn’t that wonderful,” gushed one onlooker. “I wonder what Mr. Beman will say if Mac wins the tournament. Everybody will have to listen to him then.”

If he talks.

O’Grady’s wife, Fumiko, was one of the most excited onlookers but she missed seeking the ball fall in.

“I thought it had stopped and I turned away,” she said. “Then I heard the crowd. Mac only missed making a hole-in-one on the same hole yesterday by about two inches.”

When O’Grady putted out on No. 18 and finished signing his scorecard, one of the largest groups of radio, TV and newspaper reporters ever seen on the course was waiting.

O’Grady came out on the run, dogtrotting up a steep hill to the clubhouse with the tiring media in pursuit. Into the clubhouse they went.

“Gentlemen, I have nothing to say,” O’Grady said as he quickly changed his shoes. When radio announcer Biff Elliott asked O’Grady if he would consider going over his scorecard, he replied, “I hope you all have a nice dinner this evening.”

As silent Mac bolted out the door, he stopped only long enough to autograph a program for a young boy in a wheelchair.

O’Grady’s animosity toward the media stems from a 1984 Sports Illustrated article that O’Grady believes painted him as something of a sideshow freak, rather than as a talented golfer.

His feelings toward Beman are more deep-seated. After the 1984 USF&G; tournament in New Orleans, O’Grady was fined $1,000 for allegedly verbally abusing a tournament worker. O’Grady denied it and refused to pay.

Beman later reduced the fine to $500, but when O’Grady still refused to pay, the sum was withdrawn from his earnings in the first tournament of 1985. Since then, O’Grady has taken potshots at the commissioner when the opportunity arose, including on TV last week from the Hawaiian Open, but he still refuses to discuss his round or his career in the press room.

Later, contacted by telephone at a friend’s home in Santa Monica, O’Grady refused to speak against the commissioner but leveled a blast at Riviera’s greens.

“It was like putting down a cobblestone road today,” he said. “I had one putt of three feet for an eagle on the 11th hole that had three divot marks between my ball and the hole. I might as well have had three walnuts in my line.

“Riviera is no longer the course it was when Hogan and Snead were romancing it and it was one of the great courses. Since the barranca is gone and the trees were neglected for years and they have about 5,000 members, it’s like a cheap public course. Riviera was once great, really great, but today it would make a good runway for LAX.”

That should get the commissioner’s attention.

O’Grady confirmed that even if he wins Sunday, he will not speak to the assembled media.

After making his ace, O’Grady shot nine consecutive 4s, which included one birdie and one bogey.

On No. 17, his birdie putt stopped about a half-inch short of the hole, and on No. 18, Riviera’s classic finishing hole, he outdrove his playing partners, Doug Tewell and Chip Beck, by about 40 yards. His second shot was short, however, and he settled for a finishing par.

Jay Delsing, the former UCLA All-American who was tied with Trixler for the first-round lead, could manage only a 74 and is at 140 with Scott Simpson (67), Andy Dillard (71), Bill Israelson (68) and Tom Kite (69).

One shot behind Lye, at 139, are Jim Colbert, who also had a 66, and Lennie Clements (70).

Colbert, who is a member of the PGA tournament policy board, took exception to O’Grady’s actions.

“I’m speaking for myself, as a golfer, and not as a member of the policy board,” Colbert said. “I know it’s very hard for Mac during these times, but we (golfers) are not happy with the press we are getting. It’s not good for any of us. All of us hope that Mac will straighten out soon.

“Personally, I disagree with what he says. I don’t feel he should make personal attacks on our commissioner, who I feel is the best commissioner in any sport. I started playing 21 years ago and it cost me $125 to enter a $35,000 tournament in San Diego that paid only 25 spots. This week, I’m playing for $450,000 and it only cost me $100, and they’re paying 70 spots.

“We’re all better off. I own three golf courses (including San Dimas Canyon) and a couple of homes. We’ve got something good going and we’d like to keep it going. I don’t think anyone benefits by what Mac is doing.”

Trixler, who won and lost his playing card twice before making it a third time last year, started off as if he were headed back to the mini-tour.

He took a double bogey on No. 2, a 467-yard par-four. He hit a 1-iron second shot that landed in a bunker. After blasting out, he took three putts from 10 feet.

“I felt like the world was caving in after that hole,” the former Fresno State golfer said. “I didn’t know what was going on, but I hung in there.”

After making a bogey on the seventh hole to fall three shots down to par, he regrouped and made four birdies on the next nine holes.

“I’ve never been in a position like this, so I’m sure I’ll be nervous tomorrow but I’m looking forward to it.

Trixler and O’Grady, both winless in their pro career, and Lye, a one-time winner in 1983, will make up the final threesome.

The 36-hole cut of 146, four over par, eliminated U. S. Open champion Andy North, despite a second-round 69. North missed by one shot, as did former U. S. Open champion Larry Nelson. Hal Sutton, who won the PGA at Riviera in 1983, also dropped out with a 70 and a 149 total.

Another victim was Don Pooley, last year’s Vardon Trophy winner for the year’s best scoring average. Pooley shot 76-73.