GOLF / MAL FLORENCE : Same Old Thing Makes It So Special

Notes and quotes from the Masters tournament:

Greg Norman has said if he was restricted to only one more victory in his career, he would want it to be the Masters.

“This is the truest golf tournament,” he said. “It has tradition and it has history. There are no corporate tents.

“We play on the same course every year, so we can compare our scores and our shots with the great players in the past. It’s pure golf, by far the best of the majors.”

The Masters is the only major tournament held at the same site every year--the Augusta National Golf Club.

The U.S. and British Opens and PGA Championship change venues every year.

England’s Nick Faldo, who won the Masters in 1989 and 1990, also regards the Augusta course as a special place.

“I think it’s kind of neat that the old boys all come back, and just knock around the locker room and that sort of thing,” Faldo said.

“Just to be here and live on the memories, that’s a nice feeling. I hope that when I’m getting on (in years) that I’ll be able to come back and just putter around with my kids and have a bit of fun for a week.”

Gary Player, a three-time Masters winner--1961, ‘74, and ‘78--said that he hopes to maintain his love affair with Augusta National even when he is deceased.

“I have always said that if they have a golf course like this in heaven, I want to be the head pro,” he said.

Tom Watson wasn’t entertaining any romantic notions about the Masters on Thursday when he got a triple bogey at the par-five 13th hole.

Hackers would identify with Watson on that hole.

His troubles began when he hooked his tee shot into an azalea bed.

“I had an unpleasant lie, so I dropped the ball,” he said.

His next shot ended up in what Watson called “a patch of spinach.” Then the ball moved a bit during Watson’s swing.

“I went ahead and hit it anyway,” Watson said. “An official asked me if it moved and I said, ‘Yes.’ That was a penalty. From there I pitched it up within a few inches from the hole and sank it--for an eight.”

Watson then birdied the next five holes for a one-under-par 71. His consecutive birdie streak was one short of the Masters record shared by Johnny Miller, who set it in 1975, and Mark Calcavecchia, who tied it last year.

Sports analyst Danny Sheridan of USA Today put odds at a million to one against four-time winner Arnold Palmer winning another Masters.

“That’s disgusting,” CBS analyst Ben Wright said. “That’s not the way to treat a legend.”

Palmer didn’t beat the odds. He had a 36-hole score of 152 after a 78 on Friday and missed the cut.

Rae’s Creek, which guards the front of the 12th green at Augusta National, is probably the best-known creek in the golf world.

It was named after John Rae, who died in 1789. His house was the farthest fortress up the Savannah River--at that time, the mouth of the creek--from Ft. Augusta. It provided safety for area residents during Indian raids when protection from Ft. Augusta was out of reach.

The 12th hole at Amen Corner is the shortest hole on the course at 155 yards. Yet, it produced the record-tying highest score in tournament history when Tom Weiskopf took a 13 there in 1980. That matched the score of Tommy Nakajima on the par-five 13th hole in 1978.

More trivia: At one time, there was an Indian burial ground in the area near where Rae’s Creek runs along the 12th green.

Now, it is sometimes a burial ground for for players aspiring to win the Masters.

Australian Brett Ogle, who won the Pebble Beach tournament last February, had a minor crisis in the first round.

He couldn’t find a bathroom on the course.

“So I ducked into the bushes on one hole and I turned around and there were four people following me,” Ogle said. “Fuzzy Zoeller, my playing partner, told me that they won’t put portable toilets on the golf course because they don’t look nice.”

Zoeller, 41, who in 1979 became the last player to win the Masters as a first-time player, has been a counselor and friend to John Daly, who was in an alcohol rehabilitation center for a few weeks in January.

“As a friend, John is handling it very well,” Zoeller said. “He has been cold turkey. He understands he has a problem and he has dealt with it.

“He knows how to play. He has a lot of guts. He didn’t give up even when he shot an 86 this year at Pebble Beach.”

Raymond Floyd said he will decide in a few weeks whether to play mainly on the regular tour or the senior tour.

“I enjoy playing both sides,” said Floyd, who became eligible for the senior tour when he turned 50 last September. “I’m certainly going to play the majors both ways.”

After the Masters, Floyd will play in this week’s Senior Championships at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. He said his play in these two major tournaments, along with his point standing for the Ryder Cup, will influence his decision.

Golf Notes

The Southern California PGA Golf Expo will be held next Friday through Sunday at the Anaheim Convention Center. Golf instructor Jim Flick and pro Mac O’Grady will conduct seminars. Hours: Friday 2-9 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m-9 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. . . . The Amateur Golfers Assn. of America will conduct an event Monday at Valencia Country Club. Details: (818) 885-8852 or (805) 374-9799. . . . Ross Becker’s second annual Golf Classic at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village on Monday will benefit H.E.L.P., an organization that operates programs for the mentally and physically disabled.

Frankie Avalon’s celebrity tournament to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society will be held May 2 at North Ranch. . . . The Pro Athletes Golf League will begin operation in 1994. ESPN will televise a minimum of 36 events with minimum purses totaling $10.8 million. . . . Qualifying for the 67th annual Long Beach Match Play tournament will be held May 1-2 at Skylinks Golf Course in Long Beach. . . . The Queen Mary Open tournament, sponsored by the National Bank of Long Beach, will be held May 26-29 at Lakewood Country Club.

The 22nd annual Pride of the Foothills invitational tournament is scheduled April 30-May 2 at Glendora CC. . . . The eighth annual Chaminade tournament will be held April 19 at the Calabasas CC. . . . The second annual Mike Garrett golf tournament, benefiting the East Los Angeles Activities Foundation, is scheduled May 21 at Brookside Golf Club. . . . Jerry Palmer and Dave McLeod were the low net winners and Bud Bradley-Howard Hooper and Randy Ramirez-Y.P. Kim tied for low gross honors last month in the Wilshire Country Club’s two-man tournament.

Dennis Hopper, John Naber, Mark Spitz and Mike Powell will be among the celebrities playing Friday in the AAF Rose Bowl Aquatic Center’s second annual tournament at Brookside. Proceeds will go to the aquatic center’s scholarship fund. . . . Celebrities playing in this year’s 11th annual Padua Village Golf Classic on April 26 at Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga are Pat Haden, Jerry West, Al Geiberger and Eddie Delahoussaye.