Nicklaus Returns to Riviera : Golf: He has never won on the course, but he will be in spotlight as L.A. Open begins today.

Jack Nicklaus is still The Man at Riviera Country Club.

It was obvious from the time he stepped out of the clubhouse to make his way down the hill to the driving range. Autograph seekers shoved pens and scraps of paper at him and cameras snapped at every turn as longtime golf fans welcomed him back to Riviera.

Fred Couples, Tom Kite, Tom Watson, Payne Stewart and U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen are among the favorites in the 144-man field of the $1-million Nissan Los Angeles Open that starts today.

But Nicklaus will get most of the gallery’s attention when he tees off at 11:47 a.m., making his 11th appearance in the tournament but first since 1985.

He won’t come out and say this will be his last time in the L.A. Open, nor will he make any promises about playing in it again after this week.

When pressed, Nicklaus, who celebrated his 54th birthday last month and has been playing professional golf since 1962, says he doesn’t even know for sure how much longer he’ll continue to play.

“Oh, I will always play in some senior major events because I think the tour needs my support,” he said Wednesday, “but when I talk about playing some more, I’m talking about the regular tour. That’s the only one that really matters to me.”

And when he’s talking about the regular tour, he is really talking about the major championships, because that is what Jack Nicklaus is all about.

Nicklaus has won 18 of them, 20 when two U.S. Amateurs are included, but none since the Masters in 1986.

“The majors have always been my top priority,” he said. “They always will be. I can’t change that. That’s just me. I will never be a player who accepts an invitation to play in a major just to play in it. If I don’t believe that I can compete, then there’s no sense in playing.”

Nicklaus, who is making his third tournament appearance this year, said he is trying to get his game ready for the majors by playing in more early-season events.

He was encouraged by his play when he won the Seniors Mercedes Championship at La Costa, but he missed the cut last week at Pebble Beach, where he shot rounds of 74, 73 and 73.

“I didn’t play very well,” he said, “but it was expected. It was just a little bump in the road. I’m not going to know how well I can play unless I play in a lot of tournaments. The way I play in these tournaments, and in the majors this year, will tell me if it’s worth it to keep playing.”

Nicklaus entered 10 PGA Tour events and six senior tour tournaments last year. He had three top-10 finishes on the senior side, but only one--a 10th at Doral--on the regular tour.

That’s not a bad record, but below the standard Nicklaus expects of himself.

His sights have always been set high, beginning with his U.S. Amateur victories in 1959 and ’61.

His first pro victory came in a major, the 1962 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania.

Nicklaus’ first tournament at Riviera was in 1973 when he finished sixth at 280, four shots behind Rod Funseth. It was to be the first of his many frustrating experiences at Riviera.

He often played well enough to contend, but there was always somebody having a better week.

Pat Fitzsimons won the only tournament of his life at Riviera in 1975, beating runner-up Tom Kite by four shots and Nicklaus by five.

It was Gil Morgan’s year to shine in 1978. Nicklaus shared the lead with four holes to play, but double-bogeyed the 15th and bogeyed the 16th. Morgan beat him by two strokes.

The only other time he had a chance to win the L.A. Open was in 1984, but David Edwards shot a 64 on the final day to defeat Jack Renner by three and Nicklaus by four.

And Nicklaus was runner-up to Hal Sutton in the 1983 PGA Championship at Riviera.

“That’s been typical of the way things have always been for me at Riviera,” Nicklaus said. “I’ve had some pretty good rounds here, but never four that were good enough to win.”

Although he isn’t among the favorites this week, Nicklaus knows what can happen if he should get into contention early. “I think I still know what to do if I get in that position,” he said.

Besides, if 46-year-old Johnny Miller can win at Pebble Beach without practicing, it shouldn’t be that much of a shock if golf’s all-time greatest player comes through for the first time on one of golf’s greatest courses.

Golf Notes

The pros are still talking about Johnny Miller’s victory last week at Pebble Beach. “It was unbelievable,” said Fred Couples, a two-time winner at Riviera. “I can’t imagine anybody winning without playing for a year. If I came into this event after taking a year off, I would have an airplane reservation for Friday night. You know, that just shows you what a great player he really was. He could always hit the ball better than anybody else. And I don’t care what he says, he must be able to putt. But I know he has had some bad knees and there have been times when he just couldn’t play, period.”

Tom Kite said: “I think it’s ironic that Johnny Miller won, because he’s been up in that ivory tower (on TV) telling everybody that you can’t win after 40. He probably surprised himself that he had a pulse. I didn’t get to watch him because I was playing with runner-up (Tom) Watson, but Miller had to be playing well because Watson was hitting every shot solid.”

Ted Oh, 17, is one of two amateurs in the field. The other is Chris Tidland.