Golf : Bears’ McMahon, Headband and All, a Star on Links, Too

Jim McMahon, sometime quarterback and full-time promoter of headbands and sunglasses, is the latest hot property on the celebrity golf circuit.

Given an imposing array of sports and entertainment figures from whom to chose, promoters of this week’s Nabisco Dinah Shore Pro-Am at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage decided to focus on the kid from Chicago.

As a result, it is the Bears’ Super Bowl-winning quarterback who gets the headlines in the seemingly endless flow of press releases that such events generate.

Of course, those who get second billing are in good company. The 36-hole celebrity pro-am, to be played Tuesday and Wednesday starting at 7 a.m. each day, also features former President Gerald Ford, Perry Como, Hal Linden, Robert Stack, Jamie Farr, Joe DiMaggio, Ernie Banks, Bobby Orr, Bob Cousy, Frank Gifford, John Havlicek, Otto Graham and Rod Laver.

There’s more.

The list also includes Don Meredith, Alex Webster, Rod Gilbert, Elroy Hirsch, Stan Smith, Charles Schulz, Johnny Bench, Joe Garagiola, Dwight Clark and Billy Kilmer.

And . . . Charley Conerly, Kyle Rote, Darrell Royal, Buddy Rogers, Dennis James, Gary Morton, Phil Harris, David Doyle, Fred MacMurray, Mike Eruzione and, well, the point is made: McMahon gets the star billing, but it’s a big galaxy.

The real golf, incidentally, will get under way Thursday when defending champion Alice Miller and the rest of the LPGA’s best set off across the 6,275-yard, par-72 course in search of the $75,000 first prize.

The winner next Sunday may be wearing sunglasses, but she won’t have on a headband. There is a limit to what even McMahon can do.

Look for the Los Angeles Open to acquire a new name and a new sponsor. Next year the tournament at the Riviera Country Club will be known as the Nissan Los Angeles Open. The Japanese auto giant is not the first company to sponsor the L.A. Open, but it is the first in several years.

Recently, the event has survived on income derived from attendance, program sales, pro-am sponsors and the like. The L.A. Open is one of the last of the major tournaments to bow to the seemingly inevitable and accept sponsorship and the resulting name change.

The official announcement will be made within the next week.

When is a putter not a putter?

The answer to that question will come from the courts.

The manufacturer of the Pelz putter has filed suit in federal court in Texas seeking to block the United States Golf Assn. from banning a narrow-blade model of its club.

The putter, produced by Dave Pelz Golf Research, Inc., of Abilene, Tex., looks ordinary enough, except that behind the blade there is an extension resembling three golf balls.

Barney Adams, the president of Pelz, said the putter is designed to help golfers align a putt correctly. He told the Associated Press that there are two models of the putter, one of which was declared illegal by the USGA.

The two models have blades of different widths. The club with the narrower putting surface--2 1/8 inches--was deemed illegal, but the USGA approved the model with the wider blade, Adams said.

The PGA has not outlawed the putter, which, according to Adams, currently is being used by D.A. Weibring and has also been used by West Germany’s Bernhard Langer, the defending Masters champion.

PGA tour Commissioner Deane Beman has said his final word on the subject of Mac O’Grady--or so he claims.

Three separate proposed actions against O’Grady--carrying a possible total of $12,000 in fines and 12 weeks’ suspension--now are in process. The actions were initiated after O’Grady spoke out publicly against the commissioner. The proposed penalties are, potentially, the most severe administered in the 12 years Beman has been commissioner.

Beman said he has met with O’Grady and his attorney and that they have said they will respond to proposed actions within a couple of weeks.

Although Beman made public that the actions were pending against the player, no further statements on the case will be made, he said. “It will be treated as a private matter.”

No statements will be made, either, after decisions are made and penalties--if any--are assessed, he said.

“If he wishes to make it public, that’s up to Mac,” Beman said.

Beman noted that, traditionally, disciplinary actions by the tour are not made public and “we will encourage Mac to keep to that tradition.”

Golf Notes

Cazzie Russell, former NBA and University of Michigan basketball star, set an unofficial course record at L.A. Royal Vista CC (formerly Los Angeles National and Pomona National) with a 63 on the East-North 18, according to Tom McHugh, director of golf operations. Russell had a double-eagle 2 on the 526-yard 14th hole, using a driver and a 6-iron. . . . February rains resulted in a decrease of 16,726 rounds of golf on Los Angeles’ 13 courses, according to city recreation and parks department figures. Rancho had the largest drop, with 2,357 rounds lost to poor weather. Penmar was next with 2,197. . . . Los Angeles Rams Eric Dickerson, Ron Brown, LeRoy Irvin and Nolan Cromwell will be among the celebrities playing in the David Hill Golf Invitational April 7 at Via Verde CC in San Dimas. Proceeds will go to the San Dimas High School athletic department. . . . Also on April 7, a benefit tournament for the SoCal chapter of the national Multiple Sclerosis Society will be played at Morningside. The pro-am will feature LPGA members Sandra Haynie, JoAnn Washam, Val Skinner, Myra Blackwelder and Denise Strebig.

The $25,000 Sundale Open is scheduled Wednesday and Thursday at Sundale CC in Bakersfield. Golden State tour players will warm up with play Monday at Rio Bravo Resort, also in Bakersfield. . . . The $25,000 Hesperia Open is set for April 10-11 and the Santa Barbara Open for April 24-25 at Sandpiper GC in Goleta. . . . The GTS will be at Quail Ranch in San Jacinto on April 7 and at River Ridge GC in Ventura on April 14. . . . Entries will close Tuesday for the California Amateur June 22-28 at Pebble Beach. SoCal qualifying will be Tuesday May 13 at Los Serranos CC. . . . Marion Farmer of Bel-Air has been reelected to the U.S. Golf Assn.’s executive committee. . . . The San Gabriel Valley Lung Assn. pro-am will be played April 7 at Hacienda GC. . . . The fifth annual Coors CAL-PAC South Scholarship Fund tournament is set for April 12 at Chester Washington GC. . . . George Thomsen of Candlewood has been appointed co-chairman of National Golf Day by PGA President Mickey Powell.

SoCal players in the Masters for the first time will include controversial Mac O’Grady, who made it by finishing in the top 30 of the 1985 PGA money list; Tony Sills, who was in the low 16 of last year’s U. S. Open; and Mark Wiebe, winner of the Anheuser-Busch tournament last year. The Masters will start April 10. . . . Collegians will play the Matador Invitational Monday at El Caballero CC and the Anteater Invitational April 7 at Big Canyon CC. . . . Coach Jackie Steinmann and LPGA pro Amy Alcott will be the hosts for the UCLA Celebrity Invitational April 7 at Riviera CC.

Race drivers Bobby Rahal and Tom Sneva are expected to be among entries in the fourth annual PPG-Long Beach Grand Prix charity tournament April 8, at Recreation Park in Long Beach. . . . Jerry Anderson, named SoCal PGA golf professional of the year in 1985 while at Chevy Chase CC in Glendale, has moved to the Newport Beach CC, formerly Irvine Coast CC, as director of golf.