Sputtering Putter : Watson’s Shaky Old Friend Costs Him

Tom Watson found himself in a greenside bunker Tuesday during a practice round at Riviera Country Club, site of the $1-million Nissan Los Angeles Open that gets under way Thursday.

He holed out from 60 feet, prompting his caddie, Bruce Edwards, to say: “ Now you do it.”

It was one hole too late for such a dramatic shot.

It would have been nice to have won with this kind of flair last Sunday, but bunkers weren’t his main obstacle in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. It was a different problem.

Watson had put himself in position to win with some excellent ball-striking and fine putting for most of the 72 holes over the three Monterey Peninsula courses.

He had the right guy on the ropes--Johnny Miller, a 46-year-old player who rarely practiced and was more comfortable working in a TV tower.

He had the right course--Pebble Beach, site of his 1982 U.S. Open victory.

And he had a one-stroke lead with three holes to play.

But he had the wrong club in his hands. His untrusty putter.

The putter that won him five British Opens, two Masters and one U.S. Open couldn’t get anything right on the last three greens.

Watson three-putted from 10 feet at the 16th, three-putted the 17th and left an eight-footbirdie putt short on the final hole.

“Yes, it was disappointing,” Watson admitted. “It was a setback, throwing it away like Idid.”

But more surprising than throwing it away was that Johnny Miller was there to pick up the victory.

“It was surprising,” Watson said, “but you have to remember something. Johnny Miller has always had tremendous talent. He knows how to play Pebble Beach and there was no reason for him to be nervous. He had nothing to lose. He was there to have fun and he did.”

Besides, if it had come down to a Watson-Miller playoff, Watson would have had every reason to feel confident. He has won twice in playoffs with Miller, the last time in 1982 in the L.A. Open at Riviera.

That tournament was similar to Pebble Beach, except that it was Miller who lost a two-stroke lead in the last three holes.

“I remember Johnny making a tactical mistake at the 17th hole,” Watson said. “He was trying to get close to the (par-five) hole with his third shot, but his ball didn’t hold and he wound up in the fringe above the hole.”

Miller was unable to get down in two to save par, and when he three-putted the 18th for abogey, it opened the door for Watson.

Watson had to make a four-foot par on the final hole to send it into a playoff. During the playoff, Watson stayed alive by making an eight-foot putt at the 15th, then got up and down from a bunker at the 16th. He won it with a 45-foot birdie putt at the 17th.

It was vintage Watson.

That’s what makes last week’s loss so hard to swallow. The old Watson would have run the table over the last three holes and won going away.

“That was very uncharacteristic of him,” said Edwards, who was also Watson’s caddie during his glory years in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. “He was making a lot of putts last week. That’s how he got to be in that position in the first place. But that’s OK. At least we can see the light up ahead now.”

It has been a long time since Watson has seen any light. His last victory came in 1987 when he won the Nabisco Championship, ending a three-year drought.

Although he hasn’t finished higher than 39th on the money list in the past seven years, Watson did see some improvement in his play last year.

He tied for fifth in the U.S. Open at Baltusrol and was fifth in the PGA Championship, the only major that has eluded him, at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Last March, he closed with a 68-69 to finish 10th in the Players Championship at Ponte Vedra, Fla.

“The ball-striking has been there for a while,” Watson said. “I’m not worried about that.”

Watson has been striking the ball so well, he said last week that he was certain he was going to win a tournament this year.

Watson considers Riviera a ball-striker’s course, and that’s what he is doing well right now.

“You also have to make some putts,” he said, “but before you make them, you have to put yourself in position.”

Watson said he learned something from last week’s experience at Pebble Beach: “I didn’t handle (the pressure) too well on the last three holes. I will handle it better next time.”

He has one other thing going for him this week: Johnny Miller will be in the NBC booth.

Golf Notes

Hal Sutton, who won the 1983 PGA Championship at Riviera, said the course brings back pleasant memories. But Sutton, who hasn’t won since the Memorial in 1986, is having trouble now with his driving. “I don’t care what anybody says, if you can’t drive the ball, you can’t win,” he said. Sutton pointed to PGA Tour statistics that showed him to be one of the most consistent tee-to-green players through most of his career. “For 11 years, I was always in the top 20, maybe even the top 10,” he said. Over the past two years, he has dropped out of the top 100. He blames it on his driving, which was short (256-yard average) and off-line (64.8%, ranked 150th). Sutton has been working on some swing changes and feels good about the progress he has made. . . . The pro-amateur will be held today, with the tournament’s first round set for Thursday. Tee-off times begin at 7.

Chip Beck won his second consecutive Merrill Lynch Shootout Tuesday with a par on the final hole to beat Phil Mickelson, who made a bogey. The victory was worth $5,000 . . . Earlier in the day, Beck was on hand to present Cindy Park with a $12,500 Chip Beck Scholarship. Funding for the scholarship program came from the $1-million bonus he received for shooting a record-tying 59 in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational. The scholarship is designed to assist caddies in obtaining a college education. Park, a sophomore at Loyola Marymount, caddied for Beck during the Shootout.

Although it rained heavily Monday night, the course was in excellent condition Tuesday, and the greens, which were rebuilt last summer, stood up well under their first test from professionals. . . . “I wish we could have had more time,” said Ben Crenshaw, who helped to replicate the greens and bunkers to their original specifications. “It was fascinating work, and everything was done to get every little break perfect. That’s one of the things about the greens at Riviera. They’re so tough to read because of all the subtle breaks, and from listening to what others have had to say, I think we did a pretty good job.”