GOLF / MARYANN HUDSON : Ryder Cup, an Event Contested for Pride

It’s a tournament with no purse and no individual winner, but Raymond Floyd says that if he had to, he would pay to be on the Ryder Cup team.

“First and foremost, you are representing your country, and there’s no greater honor than that,” Floyd said last Thursday after playing a practice round on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C., where the tradition-rich, biennial tournament begins Friday.

“You’re part of a 12-man squad, an all-star team, and you’re representing the United States. Golf is an individual sport, and now all of a sudden there’s all this camaraderie. Now 13 guys (including a non-playing captain) are pulling together, and that’s a fabulous feeling,” said Floyd, one of two wild-card players selected by team captain Dave Stockton to the U.S. team. The other 10 qualified through a point system.

The other team--which represents Europe--has felt the most fabulous in recent years. After 59 years of almost total U.S. domination, Europe won the Cup in 1985 and 1987 and retained possession in 1989 with a tie.

Since its beginning in 1926, the United States has 21 victories, five losses and two ties. But the tie in 1989 was perceived more as a loss for the United States, because it was the third consecutive time the Americans failed to regain the trophy.

“People (can) forget the last time we tied,” Ryder Cup team member Lanny Wadkins said Thursday.

“We tied playing with some guys that (were not playing well), and those guys are playing real well right now. We tied when we were on their home ground. We’re on our home ground now, and I like our chances.”

As captain of the last Ryder Cup team, Floyd clearly remembers what happened in 1989 at The Belfry, at Sutton Coldfield, England. In events similar to those of the previous Ryder Cup, the Americans collapsed at the 18th hole. Only a four-birdie finish by Curtis Strange to beat Ian Woosnam in the final singles match salvaged the tie.

Floyd attributed the Americans’ 1989 collapse to pressure. Now, he says the experience of that pressure will help the U.S. team.

“Players talk about the pressure, and it’s really there,” Floyd said. “There’s a whole lot at stake here, like nowhere else in golf. That’s why I think this team is an overwhelming favorite, with only three rookies. Experience is key and we’ve got the edge there.”

A new Southern California tour based on a player’s golf handicap is growing rapidly in popularity.

Replete with tournaments held on private courses and purses paid in pro-shop script, the Pacific Amateur Tour has attracted 1,000 male golfers since it began in June.

“I’ve been golfing for 20 years. . . . and never have I ever heard of any type of tournament for the 99% of us,” said Jim Simpson, the tour’s founder. “Nobody has ever done anything for the good eight handicap or the good 12. All we hear about is the pro tours, but nothing for us.”

The tournaments run from one to four days and are flighted in groups of handicaps: 4-7, 8-11, 12-15, 16-20 and 21 and above.

The annual dues are $75, plus the cost of the tournament, i.e., an upcoming one-day event at Sandpiper in Santa Barbara will cost $85 and an Oct. 28 tournament at Coto de Caza in Mission Viejo will run $105.

The purse is awarded to the top three finishers in each flight. In the first five events, $14,000 in pro-shop script has been awarded.

Simpson said the tour, in which competition conducted in gross play, is for men only, although there is talk of a women’s tour.

Golf Notes

Mark Corley, the 1991 Los Angeles City Champion, won the Griffith Park Men’s Club championship by one shot over Rick Sessinghouse. . . . In a test to try to speed up play on Los Angeles city courses, a surcharge of 50 cents is being charged at Wilson Golf Course to pay for more marshalls. Golfers who play the course within four hours will be rewarded with coupons good for a free round at Los Feliz or a coupon for refreshments. . . . Crystalaire Country Club will play host to the 28th annual Children’s Hospital charity tournament Tuesday, Oct. 1, with proceeds going to the Antelope Valley Guild of the hospital. The course is located in Llano, midway between Victorville and Palmdale in the high desert region.

The second annual Security Pacific Senior Classic, a 54-hole Senior PGA Tour event, will be held Oct. 25-27 at Rancho Park Golf Course. . . . Art Misaki won the Valencia Country Club championship with a low gross of 237. . . . Steve Cantlay won the Wilshire Country Club Championship by defeating Jim Agate in the final and Bud Bradley in the semifinals. . . . At Woodley Lakes Golf Course, Millie Stanley won her third consecutive Los Angeles City Seniors championship in a sudden death playoff with Marie Kuhn.