Riviera Is His Kind of Course : L.A. Open: Couples won there in 1990 and ’92 and now tries to become first repeat winner since Palmer.

Fred Couples regards the Nissan Los Angeles Open as one of his favorite tournaments, along with the Masters and the British Open.

Success breeds success, and Couples has good reason to revere Riviera Country Club, site of the tournament that begins today.

He won the L.A. Open in 1990 and 1992 and, if he wins again, he will be the first player to repeat as champion since Arnold Palmer in 1967.

Couples, 33, used the L.A. Open as a launching pad for his remarkable season last year, when he won three tour events--including the Masters--and was the PGA Tour player of the year and leading money winner.

He is aware that his demeanor on the course leads to an impression that the game is not that difficult for him. However, hard work and nothing less has elevated him to his present status.

Couples is a crowd favorite here, and he acknowledged his popularity by saying, “They scream and yell and have a good time.”

Last year the crowd was screaming for Couples to win in a playoff with Davis Love III--which he did--while directing some disparaging remarks at Love.

Asked why he likes the Riviera course, Couples said:

“I think I drive the ball better on courses that I play well on. (It’s) just the way the holes set up. I love the small greens, the toughness of them. They’re usually firm and fast and I hit high irons. I’ve driven the ball well and come in (to the green) with shorter clubs than a lot of people.”

The greens may not be firm and fast because of the recent rain, but that’s not necessarily a disadvantage to Couples.

“If I feel I can play a course better, then my confidence level goes up,” he said, “although short hitters (can) win on long courses, and long hitters (can) win on short courses.”

Couples has played in only two tour events this year, finishing 10th in the Infiniti Tournament of Champions in January and tied for ninth in the recent Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

He spent part of last week testifying in his divorce hearing in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Asked if those proceedings will be a distraction this week, Couples said: “It’s distracting, (but) I don’t think it’s affecting my golf. I believe everything is going well. We had a meeting last week, and now I don’t have anything to worry about because it’s really something that’s going to go down the line awhile and I can get back to golf.”

Couples said he has taken a different approach to the game in recent years.

“Before, when I was tired playing golf I’d just slap it around and get it over with. Now I try to shoot the lowest score I possibly can, and that is by thinking about every shot I hit.

“There have been times I’d just step up and hit it and hit it again. I wouldn’t take enough time on a foot-and-a-half putt and miss it, or do something crazy.

“I have a game to score pretty well, and I save strokes. That’s why winning the Vardon trophy twice (for the lowest scoring average on the tour) meant so much to me. If I’m missing the cut with four holes to play, I don’t want to shoot 78 when I can shoot 75.”

Couples said that the only pressure he feels is coming to the press room and talking about his game, which, seemingly, makes him uncomfortable.

“I think the pressure of going to a press room Tuesday or Wednesday for the last year and a half is a lot of pressure, because for 10 or 11 years I only came in here if I had a good round,” he said. “Now I come in here and field questions before I hit a ball on Thursday.

“I think pressure, for me, is talking about it and answering questions, not playing the game.”

Couples said his game is close to where he wants it.

“I feel I’m playing well now, but I’m giving away shots because I’m rusty on a confidence level,” he said. “Before, I knew that each tournament I went to I was going to play well.

“I’m not bragging, but it was a given that I was going to play well. I’m not going to say that I’m going to play well, but once I leave here and go to Florida and Augusta, I believe I can get back to playing at a top level every round and get rid of throwing away a shot or two.”

Golf Notes

John Cook, who won three tour events last year, had to withdraw because of flu. Johnny Miller, a former L.A. Open winner and now a television analyst, also withdrew because of the death of a man described as his surrogate father.

Tiger Woods, 17, the junior golf standout who missed the cut in last year’s L.A. Open, said he knows what to expect when he tees off today. “There won’t be any great surprises. I’m not quite as excited or as nervous because of that. Last year I was anxious to get it over with. I’m more mature this year,” Woods said. He added that wet conditions would be perfect for him. “I hit it high and long, and my ball doesn’t get a lot of roll,” he said.

Woods, a junior at Western High in Anaheim, said he has narrowed his choice of colleges, but wouldn’t identify them. “I will sign (a letter of intent) the first semester of my senior year, so the word will get out and we’ll get a good recruiting class,” Woods said. Asked about his prospect of making the cut this year, Woods said: “If I can drive the ball in the fairway, everything will fall into place. That’s what was missing last year. I hit my irons really good, but I was playing from the rough.”