Couples Is Second, but Not to the Fans : Golf: They love him at Riviera, even if he doesn’t retain his title.

Some 20 minutes after Tom Kite clinched the Nissan L.A. Open Sunday at Riviera Country Club, about half the 52,400 fans were still on the course, most of them crowding the 18th green.

Those were the Fred Couples fans waiting for their hero to finish. Last year’s champion and local golf fans have formed a mutual admiration society.

Although Couples didn’t repeat, his fans didn’t seem at all unhappy with his performance. They cheered his birdie on 17 as if he had won the tournament and groaned when he barely missed a birdie try on 18 that would have given him second place outright.

He finished with a par 71 for a 209 total, three behind Kite.

“I love it here,” Couples said. “I love the course and the fans. I think there were more out here today than ever. These fans are just about the noisiest. But they are crazy about golf and they seem to like me.”

Couples had the idea that if he couldn’t win it, the right golfer did.

“Tom is playing absolutely great,” he said. “When you’re on a roll like he is, you just keep winning.

“Although I wasn’t playing real well, I kept thinking all day long that nobody was going to make a move and I still had a shot. Then I looked up at the scoreboard and Tom had jumped from four (under) to seven. It was all over.”

Couples was tied with three others for the lead at four under after 36 holes of the rain-shortened tournament. Sunday, the golfers were not allowed to pick the ball up and clean it on a muddy course. Saturday, when they could lift and clean, Couples shot a four-under 67.

“I didn’t think, under the conditions, a 71 was too bad,” he said. “The greens were better than I thought. They put the pins in some new spots because they wanted them on the high ground and I had some trouble with them.

“Even after my slow start, when I bogeyed No. 2 after hitting the ball into the trees and No. 6 when I missed a five-foot putt, I looked up and couldn’t see anyone except (Jay Don) Blake doing anything. He was six under but that’s all.

“When I sank 20-foot putts for birdies on seven and eight, I didn’t really get the feeling I was about to take charge, but I thought my chances were pretty good.

“I probably lost all chance the way I played 11 and 12. On 11, I had a four-foot putt that would have put me five under. On the next hole I was buried in the sand trap, blasted out 12 feet past and missed for a bogey. That was it.”

There was some consolation for Couples in that not since 1981-82 had the winner of the tournament finished as well as second the next year. Johnny Miller won in 1981 and lost to Tom Watson in a three-hole playoff in 1982.

Finishing second, though, wasn’t as important to Couples as continuing to play well. With the tour switching to Florida next week, he figures he is near the top of his game.

“I really feel good about the way I’m playing,” said Couples, who has finished 10th, ninth and second in three starts this year. “I will spend some time this week working on my short game.”

If John Daly had a vote on which hole was toughest at Riviera, he would undoubtedly pick No. 3, the 243-yard par three.

Daly posted a par 213 to finish back in the pack. If he had parred the fourth all three days, he would have finished second, five under par. After double-bogeys on the hole the first two days, he improved to a bogey on the final round.

The golfers were hitting into the wind on the hole all three days. Many had to use woods to reach. Daly reached the green with a three-iron Sunday, but he three-putted from 30 feet.

The hole was also the beginning of the end for Mark McCumber on Sunday. He had birdied the first three holes and moved into a tie with seven others for the lead at four under. He was above the hole on the fringe. But he three-putted for a bogey and never again challenged.