Los Coyotes Greens Could Be Mean for LPGA Tourney

When the LPGA returns to Orange County on Thursday after a two-year absence, the players will find the golf course they are playing on in Buena Park, a city known for its amusement park, anything but amusing.

The field in this inaugural 72-hole event, called the Nippon Travel--MBS Tournament, will be strong, but even the most skilled players on the tour will be tested at Los Coyotes Country Club, a shapely patch of nature three miles up the road from Knotts Berry Farm.

The course is longer than the normal LPGA layout, at 6,350 yards. Of the 33 courses on the tour’s schedule, only 11 play longer than 6,300. But distance alone is not what will make Los Coyotes a test.

Earlier in the summer a fungus got into the greens and ate away the roots of grass, leaving bare patches scattered around the putting surfaces.

Even with the persistent efforts of the greenskeeper over the past few weeks to rebuild and strengthen the weakened parts of the turf, some blotches remain, although the greens are now reasonably playable, according to the LPGA’s on-site man, Jim Haley.

“They are a lot better than they were five weeks ago, and they should improve each day,” Haley said Tuesday.

The sensitive greens can’t be cut as close as the LPGA normally prefers, so they will be slower and perhaps less true.

This has a direct impact on the score card, since the correlation between play on the greens and scoring is very high. The slowness of the greens will keep a lot of scores bunched around the 68 to 71 range, players said Tuesday.

The players are coming off consecutive weeks in which they putted on very fast greens.

“Last week’s greens were so fast and so smooth, it’s going to take a couple of days to get a feel for these,” Pat Bradley, one of the tournament favorites, said Tuesday.

“There are some rough spots and the ball is not going to roll true all the time, I don’t feel. As putts start to die at the hole, they will start to jump.”

Scores were high the last time an LPGA event was played at Los Coyotes. In 1971, when Kathy Whitworth, Sandra Haynie and Sandra Palmer were the leading economic indicators of women’s golf, Whitworth won the Suzuki Internationale with a three-round score that was one-over par. There were only three over-par victories in 21 tournaments that year.

Whitworth, who is entered in the tournament, is admittedly not playing well.

“I’ll do well to make the (36-hole) cut,” she said.

Whitworth says the long hitters will have an upper hand on this course. She favors Bradley, Beth Daniel and Nancy Lopez.

Those players and others who can hit long will have a chance to reach two of the par fives on the course in two shots, and those holes also will be the best opportunities for birdies.

The course is in good condition overall, Whitworth said, but the conditions of the greens will keep the scores from skyrocketing.

“The greens are bumpy, but that’s just one of those things,” she said. “They’ll get better each day we play, but they will still be slow.”

The course conditions seem to favor Lopez, Whitworth says.

“Nancy is a very good slow-greens putter. She hits long enough and is a good front-runner,” Whitworth said.

That will be important this week. The finishing holes are not set up for any come-from-behind heroics. A player with a two-shot lead coming into the final four holes will be almost impossible to catch.

Lopez, this season’s third-leading money winner and last year’s player of the year, has won twice this year, the LPGA Championship and the Atlantic City tournament, and is seeking her fourth Vare Trophy, the award for the lowest-scoring average. With a 70.77 average entering this tournament, Lopez slipped into third place behind Daniel, but is close enough to remain highly motivated. Lopez, who says her goal each year is to win the Vare trophy, was not in top form in Seattle last week. She was on medication for a thyroid condition and finished tied for 39th. And Lopez, whose repute for optimism is well established, seemed to have no problems with the greens.

“I made more putts on these greens today than I did last week. The ball is rolling real well,” she said Tuesday. Bradley says of Lopez, “I think Nancy has really been a much stronger factor when the greens haven’t been to everyone else’s liking.”

Daniel is the best player entering the tournament. She comes cruising in with regained confidence, having won three tournaments in six weeks.

On Aug. 7, she won her first tournament in nearly four years. Since then she has won two more, including the Safeco tournament last week in Seattle, giving her 17 career victories.

Betsy King, the tour’s leading-money winner, is not in the tournament. She is taking some time off at home in Phoenix this week. She is assured of being this season’s leading-money winner, having earned $654,132. The record for earnings in a year was $492,021, set by Bradley in 1986.

Daniel is second on the money list at $443,101 with three official tournaments remaining.

Several other competitors have a good chance to win. Bradley, who has been resurgent this season after overcoming a hyperthyroid problem last year, won the Centinela tournament in April and has finished second four times.

Cindy Rarick finished second in Seattle last week and won in New Jersey in May. Amy Alcott has won a tournament every year since 1975, except in 1987. Alcott won in Boston two months ago and finished second in Seattle. For this tournament, the front and back nines have been flip-flopped, primarily because No. 9 makes a better finishing hole for television, and its contours and steep hills make it superior for spectator viewing.

Although, there is no television for the tournament this year, the LPGA hopes there will be in upcoming events. The tour has a three-year contract with Los Coyotes.

The reversal of the nines poses another difficulty for the players. The four finishing holes are all par fours, none are easy birdie holes, and two of them, No. 15 (394 yards) and 17 (384 yards) are distinct bogey holes.

TOURNAMENT FACTS

Event: The $300,000 Nippon Travel-MBS golf tournament, Sept. 20-24. This is an inaugural 72-hole LPGA event. A celebrity pro-am Wednesday will precede the tournament. The course is a 6,350-yard, par-72 layout. A field of 133 will seek a first-place payoff of $45,000.

Where: Los Coyotes Country Club, Buena Park.

Tickets: Today through Friday, $7.00 daily. Saturday and Sunday, $12.00 daily. Clubhouse passes are an additional $2 today through Friday, $3 on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets will be on sale at four gate locations: Clark Park on Rosecrans Ave; Emery School on Kenwood Ave; Island Gate on Burning Tree Street; Main gate on Los Coyotes Dr.

Getting There: From Interstates 5, 405 and Highway 91 exit Beach Blvd. northbound. From Beach Blvd. go east on Los Coyotes Drive. Clubhouse is at 8888 Los Coyotes Dr.

Parking: Free public parking is available at the Hughes Aircraft Systems parking lots on the corner of Gilbert and Malvern. There is shuttle bus service to the golf course. Signs are posted on Beach Blvd., directing the public to these parking lots. Heading northbound on Beach Blvd., turn right on Malvern and proceed about one mile to Gilbert. No parking is available at the country club.

Best Vantage Points: The steep banks along the 10th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes. Grandstand seating around the 18th green.