Azinger Solves the Puzzle : U.S. Open: After years of frustration at Pebble Beach, he says he finally learned how to read its greens in 1991.

Paul Azinger used to vow that he would never play at Pebble Beach again.

Despite his protest, prompted by his inability to read the Pebble Beach greens, Azinger couldn’t stay away. He returned to the Monterey Peninsula time and again. And persistence paid off. He won the AT&T; tour event--the former Crosby pro-am--last year.

“I’ve always had a lot of great ball-striking rounds at Pebble, but my putter has always been a problem there until (last year), when I won,” Azinger said.

“I swore I’d never go back, year after year. I would hit the ball nicely there and came up empty because I couldn’t putt the greens. I finally learned, though, how to putt the greens.”

Azinger barely missed getting into a playoff with Mark O’Meara and Jeff Sluman in the Pebble Beach tournament in February, settling for third place.

Nonetheless, he now has more confidence in his putting here and is one of the favorites in the 92nd U.S. Open, starting here Thursday.

“Definitely, I’m more confident,” Azinger said. “At the same time, it adds a little pressure to me, too. For the first time in a while, people’s expectations of my performance here are pretty high.

“I always try to avoid putting pressure on myself as best I can. But this week there is no avoiding it.”

Despite his earlier frustrations, Azinger has always regarded Pebble Beach as a special place.

“I’ve played professionally for 10 years now, and without a doubt it’s the most beautiful place in the world to to play golf,” he said.

“It has a links appearance . . . that appeals to me, a British Open bump-and-run style. But nowhere in Europe where I’ve played did you get to play where the water is cracking on the rocks, and you can hear the sea lions. It’s magnificent to look at.”

The beauty of Pebble Beach, though, might not be appreciated by some players. The fairways have been narrowed and the rough is high, typical U.S. Open conditions.

Azinger was asked if the course, mainly the rough, would be detrimental to such long hitters as John Daly, Fred Couples and Tom Purtzer.

“I found in all the U.S. Opens I’ve played except for Oak Hill (in 1989), which was so wet, that the driver is generally taken out of your hand because of the severity of the rough,” he said.

“Length is never a disadvantage. You can always gear down. John Daly can hit a one-iron as far as most of the field can hit their drivers.

“More than likely he’ll hit a lot of irons off the tee and very few woods, and Fred Couples has that three-wood he hits a mile and, during the week, you can probably count how many drivers Couples hits on one hand.

“In the past when I’ve played U.S. Opens, I felt I’d rather be four- or five-iron distance in the fairway than eight-iron distance from the rough.”

Azinger’s confidence has been bolstered because of his record at Pebble Beach the last two years.

“I shot 64-68 at Pebble this year to come from nowhere the last two days and a chance to win,” he said. “And last year, I shot 67-67 to win it by four shots. So my last four rounds at Pebble have been 22 under.”

Then there is Mark O’Meara, who has won the Pebble Beach pro-am tournament four times, 1985, ‘89, ’90 and 1992--along with the state amateur title here in 1979.

Asked about O’Meara’s record, Azinger said: “The Crosbys and AT&T;’s he has won have been played over three different courses. I’m not sure he has necessarily dominated Pebble Beach.

“Mark is going to be like me, to try to deflect as much pressure as he can. But there is no avoiding it for Mark. He has all eyes on him. Look at his rounds and see how good they were at Pebble. I wouldn’t make him the favorite unless he just blitzed Pebble Beach every year.”

On the final day of O’Meara’s four tour victories at Pebble Beach, he was a cumulative three under par.

Asked to identify the favorites for the Open, Azinger said:

“There are three, or maybe four guys who jump out at me--Nick Faldo, Fred Couples and Davis Love III, for sure, and Payne Stewart, who has had a good track record at Pebble Beach and is coming into his own again. My fifth pick would be O’Meara.

“Mark Brooks is a good pick, and so is Jose Maria Olazabal because of his brilliant short game, and it’s a toss-up up among three guys, Ian Woosnam, Seve Ballesteros and Ian Baker-Finch.

“I’d also pick Tom Watson and Raymond Floyd as longshots. They’ve played dozen and dozens of tournaments at Pebble Beach.”

Watson says that Pebble Beach and St. Andrews in Scotland are the most recognized courses in the world.

Jack Nicklaus has said that Pebble Beach is his favorite course.

Ian Woosnam, the 1991 Masters champion, playing at Pebble Beach in a practice round for the first time, didn’t join the chorus.

A sampling of Woosnam’s complaints:

“I’m not overly impressed. I’ve played a lot of courses better than this. . . . There’s lots of funny grass on the greens. . . . There are too many blind shots on this course and I don’t believe in blind-shot holes.”

Seve Ballesteros, who missed the cut in the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, didn’t agree with Woosnam.

“Fantastic,” Ballesteros said after a practice round. “This is the St. Andrews of America, right?”

Ballesteros has won the Masters twice and the British Open three times.

Yet in 14 previous U.S. Open appearances, he has finished in the top 10 only three times.

His best finish, a third, was five years ago at San Francisco’s Olympic Club.

“Maybe California my place,” Ballesteros said. “It used to be owned by the Spanish. Maybe I get it back.”