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THE MASTERS : Trevino Rips Augusta Course Again--This Time With His Clubs

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Times Staff Writer

Guess who’s coming to dinner?

Why it’s Lee Trevino, who smiled as he walked into the interview room Thursday at the Masters golf tournament and said: “I’m the last guy you expected to see.”

Trevino, who has been frustrated here for 20 years and has ripped the Augusta National course as not suited for his game, was on the top of that game in the first round.

He shot a 67, five under par, and was all alone at the top of the leader board, a strange place for him here.

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Trevino, 49, who has never finished higher than a tie for 10th in the Masters, in 1975 and again in 1985, said that he had gone into the tournament with a notion that he would play a good round Thursday.

“I told Tom Watson on the practice range that I wanted to come back here next year,” Trevino said. “I said I was going to finish in the top 24 (guaranteeing his return) because this was my last exemption year for the Masters.”

He is well on his way to that goal and it was a wisecracking, talkative Trevino who bantered with reporters--not the Trevino who on several occasions vowed he would never play here again.

Trevino had five birdies in his round and one-putted the first five holes.

“I did it under difficult conditions with the wind blowing,” said Trevino of his round of 32-35. “If I got anything out of this round it proves to me there is still a spark in the fireplace. All I have to do is throw the right wood on it.”

Trevino, who has limited his participation on the PGA Tour the last eight years because of television commitments and a sore back, will become eligible for the seniors tour when he turns 50 Dec. 1.

He said that his 67 on a course that has rebuffed him has provided him with “tremendous confidence” for the seniors tour.

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“I’ll go next week (on the seniors tour) if they’ll let me,” he said, adding, “If I find my birth certificate I’ll be 50 already.”

As it is, Trevino is the oldest first-day leader in the history of the prestigious tournament. That distinction had belonged to one Emmett French, who was 47 when he shared the first-round lead in the first Masters in 1934.

However, French didn’t finish among the top 24 that year.

Trevino was closely pursued by Britain’s Nick Faldo, who shot a 68. Scott Hoch held third with a 69. Don Pooley and Andy Bean were three strokes behind, each with 70.

Five players--Tom Purtzer, T. C. Chen, Ben Crenshaw, Seve Ballesteros and Jumbo Ozaki--were grouped at 71.

An upbeat Trevino was asked whether he was emotional about his accomplishment.

“I’m not an emotional individual,” he said. “When it comes to my family, yes, but to golf, no. I’m just looking for a beer.”

Trevino said he hadn’t played a full practice round here in preparation for the tournament. “But I hit about 2,000 balls on the practice range,” he said. “I didn’t try to overpower the course today and that was the secret for me. I placed the ball in spots I’ve never been before.”

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Trevino played in the Independent Insurance Agent Open last week at Houston, where he finished in a tie for 61st. Before that, he hadn’t played in a tournament in six months.

He admitted that he had not been mentally prepared for Augusta in the past. He did shoot a 68 in the first round in 1984, and in 1978, he shared the 36-hole lead with Rod Funseth at 139. However, he faded from contention.

“Physically, it wasn’t my swing that got me through today, it was my mental attitude,” Trevino said.

Trevino has won each of the other major tournaments--the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship--twice. But the Masters title and the green jacket that goes with it have eluded him.

In fact, he has won only one major tournament, the 1984 PGA, in the last 15 years.

Trevino said his putting was a key factor Thursday. He got two of his five birdies on putts of 20 feet.

“I was taking the putter too far back and I was de-accelerating,” he said. “I saw an old picture of myself where I was keeping my right elbow close to my body. And Seve (Ballesteros) told me that I was taking the putter too far back.”

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However, regardless of the refinements in his putting, he seemed to have a mental block about the Masters.

He is a left to right, relatively low hitter on a course that supposedly favors high, right to left shots by players who are longer off than tee than he.

“Jack (Nicklaus) has always told me that I could play this course,” Trevino said. “I told him I’d play him for a $1,000 Nassau if he played my tee ball and I played his. He didn’t say another word.”

Nicklaus, who shot a one-over-par 73, said the Augusta National course has psyched out Trevino.

“He keeps saying, ‘I can’t play here’ and I said, ‘Yes, you can. You can play anywhere. You can hit the ball right to left just as easily as you do left to right. You hit the ball up in the air as easily as you do down. There’s no reason in the world you can’t play that course.’

“He has it in his own mind. I’d like to win, but it would be fabulous to see him play well.”

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Said Watson, who shot a 72: “We’re good friends and I’m pulling for him. (Trevino) can play anywhere. His attitude here has hurt him and he’d be the first to admit it.

“He is one of the great players ever to play the game and all he needs is the Masters to complete the Grand Slam.”

Watson added that since the wind was a factor, the longer hitters had to lay up on the par-five holes, evening the odds for shorter hitters such as Trevino.

Tom Kite, the tour’s leading money winner, who shot a 72, said he’s only surprised that Trevino hasn’t won the Masters previously.

“I would like to think there are similarities between my game and his,” Kite said. “We both hit a lot of fairways and greens. But he probably moves the ball more than I do.”

Trevino carded four of his five birdies on the front nine of a course that the players said was in excellent condition and the greens, as usual, lightning fast.

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He made perhaps his most spectacular shot on the par-four, 405-yard 18th hole, where his second shot went into the scorers’ tent. He got a drop outside of it and his chip shot hit the flag stick. So he saved par on the hole.

Trevino said that if his chip shot hadn’t hit the stick, he could have easily wound up with a bogey, or worse.

Asked if he has any regrets about knocking the Masters course in other years, Trevino smiled and said: “I always regret what I say. Anyone who talks as much as I do has to say something wrong.”

Golf Notes

Gay Brewer, who won the Masters in 1967, was hospitalized after his round with a heart rhythm problem. He is under observation at University Hospital here. Brewer and Bob Goalby withdrew from the tournament. . . . Sandy Lyle, the defending champion, shot a 77. Some other favorites also faltered. Mark Calcavecchia, Greg Norman, Curtis Strange and Craig Stadler, the 1982 Masters winner, each shot 74. Strange made a triple bogey on the par-three, 155-yard 12th hole at Amen Corner. . . . Jack Nicklaus said of his round of 73: “I was a little tentative at first because I didn’t know how hard I was going to be able to hit it.” Nicklaus suffered a back spasm last Friday. He had three bogeys on the front nine, but recovered for three birdies and a bogey on the back nine. . . . Eric Meeks, the U.S. Amateur champion from Walnut, shot an 83.

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