THE LOS ANGELES OPEN : Sauers Ties Early Birds Pate and Brooks at 67 : Irwin Comes Back After Beaning With 1-Under-Par 70

Steve Pate and Mark Brooks each shot a 67, 4 under par, in the morning, when weather conditions were optimum, Thursday at the Riviera Country Club in the Nissan Los Angeles Open.

Gene Sauers then matched that 67 in the afternoon, gaining a share of the first-round lead with Pate and Brooks.

As for Hale Irwin, he said he was just fortunate to be playing. Irwin was hit on the forehead by a ball during the pro-am Wednesday and was briefly hospitalized.

Yet he was on the course for his 11:16 tee time Thursday morning and played commendably, considering the circumstances. He shot a 1-under-par 70.

Irwin, who said he had about 16 stitches taken in his forehead, was relieved that the ball had not hit him in his eyes, nose, or temple.

“I’ve been on the giving end and it scares you, and I’ve been on the receiving end, and it scares you,” he said. “The only difference is that one is more painful and the other is more worrisome.”

Irwin, 43, had just played his second shot on the seventh hole Wednesday when he looked up and saw the ball heading toward him. He didn’t have time to duck and the ball hit him at a 45-degree angle.

The ball was hit from the 15th hole, and Irwin said he was told that Rich Saul, the former Ram center, was the player handling the club.

But Irwin didn’t assess any blame since, as he said, he has been on the hitting and receiving end.

Irwin said that he never lost consciousness and that an amateur partner attended to him and stopped the profuse bleeding from his forehead.

Irwin was released from the hospital early in the evening but said he spent a restless night.

“Every time I closed my eyes last night, I could see that thing coming at me,” he said.

Irwin said there are so many players and spectators milling around in a pro-am that the situation is a bit chaotic and no one is sure where balls are going.

“I’m surprised that more people aren’t hit,” he said. “What really is frightening is that people bring children to the golf course. That always makes me nervous.

“I’m just glad to be here. I have bad eyes, and it came close to making my eyesight worse than it is.”

Pate, a former UCLA star, said it was an advantage to play early because “there wasn’t a breath of wind.”

Moreover, he said, the greens were soft after a light rain during the night and balls were holding on them.

Pate had a 7:40 tee time, and Brooks started 8 minutes later.

Other than Sauers, the pros who teed off in the afternoon couldn’t catch them. It was windier later, but weather conditions were hardly adverse: sunshine with temperature in the high 50s.

Pate has played Riviera numerous times as a member of the UCLA golf team.

“But 4 under is the lowest I’ve ever shot here,” he said.

Pate said he could fire at the pins Thursday because of the soft greens. He said he had not been able to do that earlier in the week in practice rounds.

Pate started from the 10th hole and bogeyed it by 3-putting but said he wasn’t fazed.

He was confident he would make some birdies and he did, 6, to go along with 2 bogeys.

Pate has had a flurry of birdies lately. He had 7 in a 10-hole stretch last Saturday in the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and finished 4 strokes behind the winner, Mark O’Meara.

Brooks, from Ft. Worth, said that any time a pro can play earlier, he’s better off.

He was referring to softer greens, no spike marks and, as it turned out, less wind.

“I only had to chip one time,” he said of his round. “It wasn’t a perfect day, but I was striking the ball well and keeping it in play.”

He had 5 birdies before he made his first bogey on the par-4, 447-yard 15th hole.

“That was a bad shot,” he said. “I hit a 3-iron to the left and missed the green on the left, where the pin is.”

Brooks conceded that teeing off before 8 a.m. is “awfully early for a lot of guys,” but he wasn’t complaining.

Sauers, from Savannah, Ga., said it was windy when he teed off at 12:28 p.m.

“But I stayed calm, took one shot at a time and things fell into place,” he said.

Sauers had 7 birdies along with 3 bogeys.

Larry Mize, the 1987 Masters champion; Jay Haas; Mark Calcavecchia, and Sandy Lyle, the 1988 Masters champion, were among eight players grouped at 68.

Chip Beck, the defending Los Angeles Open champion, shot a 1-under-par 70 after shooting 65 in the pro-am Wednesday. O’Meara had a 75.

Golf Notes

Hale Irwin, a former defensive back for Colorado, recalls playing against USC at the Coliseum in a season-opening game in 1964. “I started the game at quarterback, but when one of our defensive backs got hurt, I moved to that position,” he said. “The game was billed as an aerial duel between me and Craig Fertig. But they led, 21-0, at halftime (the final score). I played a lot of defense that day.”

Larry Mize, who shot a 68 Thursday, 1 stroke off the lead, said he put a lot of pressure on himself after winning the Masters last year. “I’m thinking, ‘Hey, I’ve won the Masters. I’m going to play great all the time,’ ” he said. “But you’re not going to play great all the time.” Mize said that people still ask him about his 140-foot chip shot for a birdie on the second playoff hole to eliminate Greg Norman. “I never get tired of hearing it,” Mize said. “When people want to talk about it, I’m flattered.” The Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Riviera Country Club have agreed to hold the tournament at Riviera again in 1990. It will mark the 29th time that Riviera has played host to the L.A. Open.