Golf / Mal Florence : A Perfect Event for the Fanatic

A real golf fanatic is not turned away by inclement weather, but only the hardiest are playing in a tournament that began Friday in Scotland and will last 10 days.

Despite freezing weather, an amateur tournament is under way at Blackwaterfoot on the Island of Arran, a remote but scenic spot off the west coast of Scotland.

The only way to get there is by boat and that may be a bit of a problem. Crossings, scheduled twice daily, may be delayed by wind and snow.

That’s why golfers are being allowed 10 days to complete the 3-round, 36-hole tournament.

Believed to be the world’s only 12-hole golf course, the Shiskine links at Blackwaterfoot are separated from the Scottish peninsula of Kintyre by a narrow strip of sea known as the Kilbrannan Sound.

But the only way to reach the course is by ferry from the Scottish mainland on the east, then drive across the 8-mile island. There is no airport, or railway.

Shiskine was originally designed in 1896 as a 9-hole course. It was enlarged to 18 holes, but 6 holes were turned into farmland during World War I.

Sponsors of the tournament advise golfers to wear two sweaters while playing--if they ever get there.

Whispering Rattlesnakes Golf and Flubbers’ Club course in northern Washington may not be as remote as the Shiskine links, but it’s more exclusive.

Bob Spiwak, a free-lance writer and photographer, is the only member.

Not only that, but Spiwak constructed the course and it took him 10 years to do it.

“I just wanted someplace to practice chipping and putting,” said Spiwak, who went to extremes to fulfill his ambition.

He had to drain a swampland near his ranch before clearing, raking and seeding the greens and fairways, and cutting the sand traps.

Now he has a 739-yard, par-3 course with 6 double-cupped greens, but 18 different tees, so golfers can play a full round.

Despite 7,000 hours of labor, Spiwak has never completed a round on the course.

He held his first golf tournament in September for 27 friends. There was a purse of $419. Spiwak didn’t play. He was the tournament marshal.

Soviet officials are on a 2-week tour of American golf courses. They aren’t necessarily interested in playing on them, just studying them.

“This is the Reds visiting the greens,” said Robert Trent Jones Jr., who has designed an 18-hole, championship course about 22 miles west of Moscow.

The course is expected to open in 1991 and will be playable for only 6 months a year. It will be under snow the rest of the time.

Soviet officials seemed to enjoy riding golf carts when they were visiting a course in Wisconsin.

But carts won’t be available when their course is open.

“That’s the American way,” said Ivan Sergeev, a Soviet official. “The Russian way, we walk. To ride in these things are fun, but when you’re out there seriously playing, you don’t need them.”

He didn’t say anything about caddies.

End of an era? Entertainer Andy Williams, for 21 years the celebrity host of San Diego’s annual PGA tournament, has ended his association with the event.

Williams’ withdrawal leaves the Bob Hope Desert Classic as the only PGA Tour event bearing the name of a celebrity, a departure from the 1960s and 1970s when such entertainers as Bing Crosby, Glen Campbell and Sammy Davis Jr. were associated with tournaments.

The titles of PGA tournaments increasingly reflect their corporate sponsors now.

Golf Notes

Joey Sindelar was the first player chosen in the draft of touring pros for their teams in the 1989 Nabisco Grand Prix team charity competition. Sindelar, third on the season’s money winning list with $813,732, was taken by the Greater Greensboro Open. Curtis Strange, the first player to earn $1 million in a season, was the second player selected. He was chosen by the Honda Tournament.

A record 112 players earned $100,000 or more on the 1988 PGA Tour. . . . Tom Watson extended his streak of $200,000-plus seasons to 12 in a row, a record. . . . Strange won an average of $47,819 per outing to lead all pros. . . . Jack Nicklaus became the first tour player to top $5 million in official earnings, and Strange and Tom Kite joined Watson in the $4-million category.

Jimmy A. Thompson, a longtime teaching pro in Southern California, has died after a lengthy illness. He was 72. Thompson, who lived in Whittier, was the head professional at Montebello Country Club for 27 years. He retired in 1983. . . . The Nissan Los Angeles Open amateur qualifying tournament will be held Monday at California Country Club. The top two finishers will play in the L.A. Open Feb. 2-5 at Riviera Country Club. . . . The Bill Bryant Junior Golf Scholarship Foundation will hold its third annual tournament Dec. 19 at Industry Hills.

The Southern California Left-Handed Golfers Assn.’s Christmas tournament is set for Dec. 11 at El Rancho Verde Country Club. . . . If there were a longevity record for a golf group, it probably would go to the Terrible Twenty, which had its 750th consecutive monthly tournament Friday at Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage. The first Terrible Twenty tournament was held on June 15, 1926. Twenty golfers played in the first tournament and, when someone yelled across the fairway, “How are you doing?,” the reply was invariably, “Terrible.” The name survived.

William Blue, an international marketing executive, has been named commissioner of the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. He replaces John Lauphemier. Blue, 48, was once the public-address announcer at Pauley Pavilion. “I was the P.A. announcer when Lew Alcindor came to UCLA,” he said. “I guess that makes me the answer to a trivia question.” . . . Jackie Tobian-Steinmann, UCLA’s women’s golf coach for 12 years, has been named the 1988 Ladies Professional Golf Assn. coach of the year. . . . UCLA UniCamp, the school’s official charity, will hold the Jamaal Wilkes-UniCamp golf tournament Monday at Wilshire Country Club.

Pro Bob Boldt from Walnut Creek, Calif., has been left with a distinct impression from his first year’s exposure to the PGA Senior Tour. “If you took the top 10 seniors and the top 10 players from the regular tour, from 190 yards in, it would be no contest,” he said. “The seniors have all the shots. Going into the greens they look like the British dart team.” . . . The Pebble Beach Pro-Am, an informal tournament for club professionals and their amateur guests, will be held Feb. 5-9. The 54-hole tournament will be played on a rotation basis at three courses.