Riviera Course Evokes Best of Golf Tradition : L.A. Open: For Crenshaw, who reveres game, this event is a must. But six in last year’s top 10 are not entered.

Ben Crenshaw is a golf traditionalist, a player who reveres the legendary aspect of the game--and some of the courses that have their own distinct personality and mystique.

And there is one stop on the PGA Tour that is a must for Crenshaw. It’s the Riviera Country Club, where the Nissan Los Angeles Open will be played this week.

Crenshaw has played Riviera every year he has been on the tour, starting in 1974. He is here again, stimulated as always by the historic course that was a favorite track of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and other legends of the game.

“There are certain places where guys would love to win and this is one of them,” Crenshaw said. “Everyone coming here, even the younger players who haven’t seen it, are going to say this is a special place.

“You can throw money out the window. People would give their eyeteeth just to win here.”

Crenshaw’s passion for Riviera hasn’t been returned. He has never won here in an otherwise productive career.

The closest he came was in 1987, when he lost in a playoff with T. C. Chen. It seemed that he was on the verge of his first victory in 1988 when he shot 69-64 for the first two rounds, then faltered.

No matter. Crenshaw, 38, will keep wooing the the grand old lady of the Pacific Palisades.

“Hogan and Snead always had a healthy respect for this golf course, which is relatively timeless,” Crenshaw said. “There is a great legacy about it.”

The course was completed in 1927 and, like the Coliseum, is one of the city’s landmarks.

That the course is relatively unchanged since MacDonald Smith won the first L.A. Open in 1929 appeals to Crenshaw.

“The shot values are real solid,” he said. “You have little finesse shots and you also have to drive it well. The old cliche about using every club in the bag literally applies here.”

As Crenshaw played a practice round, he explained the subtleties of the course.

“It is laid out in angles,” he said. “There is always a way in and a way out, even in inclement weather. The course gives you many options. It’s really an outdoors chess game.”

As Crenshaw walked, he pointed out the contours in the fairways, the tilted greens and the bunkers that blend with the landscape, unlike those that stick out on more modern courses.

There is, of course, the famous par-three sixth hole with a bunker in the middle of the green.

“But it looks like it should be there,” Crenshaw said. “It’s proportionately beautiful and it divides the green.”

Crenshaw then stroked a putt around the bunker and toward the pin behind it, demonstrating that there is always a way in and a way out for the skilled player, or even the high handicap golfer.

“I don’t mean to sound jaded, but I don’t get to many places where I get stimulated like I do here,” he said. “Riviera will always be on my schedule, no matter what.”

However, it isn’t on the schedule of six of the top-10 money winners last year--Payne Stewart, Paul Azinger, Greg Norman, Tim Simpson, Curtis Strange and Scott Hoch.

“It’s not my position to criticize,” Crenshaw said. “However, it’s my opinion, and it’s shared by a few others, that you have to make room for a place like this.”

Crenshaw, one of the game’s best putters, has 14 tour victories in 17 years on the tour, but he hasn’t been been among the top 10 in the three tournaments he has played this year--Phoenix, Pebble Beach and the Hawaiian Open.

But he is reasonably satisfied with his game.

“I’ve hit some good shots, but I haven’t found my scoring yet,” he said. “Not enough birdies. My putting hasn’t been good.”

And he says it’s more difficult than ever to win. “There is much more depth now and guys shoot phenomenal scores in all kinds of conditions,” he said.

Riviera has given up its share of low 60s, too. But to Crenshaw, it has maintained a standard.

Golf Notes

Lanny Wadkins earned $3,000 by winning the Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out Tuesday at Riviera. Wadkins and Tom Sieckmann each parred the 18th hole and then Wadkins won in a chip-off by sinking a 40 footer. . . . Duffy Waldorf, former UCLA golf star, won the long driving contest with a drive of 296 yards. He earned $3,500. Jim Lampley of KCBS-TV won the celebrity portion with a drive of 241 yards. . . . The celebrity pro-am will be held today.