GOLF / THOMAS BONK : All Normal Open Nightmares Are Now in Place at Oakmont

The U.S. Open is a little more than two weeks away from its shrunken-fairway, roller-coaster-green, ball-eating-rough, four-day joy-ride through Oakmont Country Club. Usually, it’s a blast there, except if you happened to be unlucky enough to lose your ball in rough that is only slightly shorter than every club in your bag.

Oakmont isn’t exactly a place for the faint of heart. The United States Golf Assn. has ruled that the rough be no more than four to five inches long, a far cry from 1983, the last time the Open was played there, when six-inch rough was standard and so was the complaining from the players.

The fairways are so narrow, you have to turn sideways to walk them. Actually, they are about 30 yards across, so hitting it straight will be at even more of a premium than usual.

If that’s not enough, there are the greens. The only thing faster are the cars on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which oddly bisects the course and puts holes Nos. 2 through 8 on the other side of the highway.

It’s clear that somebody is going to pay the price for these conditions. It’s happened there before, we have learned. The only thing that golf admires more than a great winner is a great loser, and Oakmont has had its share.

In fact, two of them are playing in this Open--Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson.

Palmer, who won his only U.S. Open title in 1960 when his closest challenger was an amateur named Jack Nicklaus, probably could have won two more, in 1962 and 1973. On the final day in 1962, Palmer and Nicklaus were tied with five holes to play, and both parred each hole to finish tied, although Palmer could have ended it. He missed birdie putts of less than 15 feet on Nos. 14, 17 and 18.

Nicklaus won the playoff the next day with a 71, three strokes ahead of Palmer. It was Nicklaus’ first Open as a professional.

Palmer was tied for the lead after 54 holes of the 1973 U.S. Open at three under par. His only problem was 26-year-old Johnny Miller, who was three over par and getting ready to shoot an Open-record 63 to deny Palmer again. Palmer’s fourth round included a missed short birdie putt at No. 11 and three consecutive bogeys, after he looked at the scoreboard and was stunned to see Miller leading.

Watson arrived at Oakmont as the defending U.S. Open champion in 1983 and was well aware of what evil the course could conjure up. Watson had lost the 1978 PGA Championship at Oakmont when he blew a five-shot lead after 54 holes--and a four-shot lead with nine to go. Watson double-bogeyed No. 10, shot a three-over-par 38 on the back nine and lost to John Mahaffey in a playoff.

Then in the ’83 Open, Oakmont’s back nine got to Watson again. He had a three-shot lead with nine holes to go, but came home with another 38 and lost to Larry Nelson by one stroke.

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Add Oakmont: Oakmont was designed before they found a place to put it. Henry C. Fownes, who sold his steel company to industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896, and Fownes’ son drew the layout of the course on paper, then set out to find the land on which to build it.

Fownes located the acreage he was looking for in the borough of Oakmont, about 15 miles from Pittsburgh. But he also found a big problem, according to Jim Finegan in the June issue of Golf magazine: Too many oak trees.

The idea was to create a big, open layout like a British links course, so Townes had the trees cut down and in 1903 got what he wanted--a bleak, barren and very long golf course--eight par-fives, one par-six and a par of 80. There also was more sand than anyplace except the Mojave, with more than 200 bunkers on the course. At one time, the bunkers numbered 350.

Tommy Armour, who won the first of Oakmont’s U.S Opens in 1927, called it a “cruel and treacherous playground.”

After six Opens, the trees at Oakmont are as large as the greens, although the putting surfaces still resembles Armour’s playground with their speed and pitch.

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New racket: Except for the Champions tour and TeamTennis, Jimmy Connors is using his racket a lot less than his golf clubs these days. Connors, 41, winner of 109 tennis titles, including eight Grand Slams, has a list of 100 golf courses he would like to play and is working his way through it.

First on the list? “Augusta,” said Connors, who lives in Santa Ynez and said he plays every day.

Connors is trying to arrange his schedule so he can be at Oakmont next month to watch the U.S. Open. He said the successful golfers at Oakmont could be the straight hitters on the narrow fairways.

“I can see Tom Kite or Corey Pavin doing well, or the old guys like Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus or Raymond Floyd,” said Connors, who also thinks Seve Ballesteros could prosper. The USGA did not give Ballesteros an exemption, and the 36-year-old Spanish player must be No. 1 or No. 2 on the European tour money list to be eligible for the Open. Ballesteros, who was No. 1 last week, played an event this week in Europe, so his current ranking will be known later today.

For what it’s worth, Golf Digest rates Nick Faldo as the favorite at Oakmont.

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Abandon ship?: The Queen Mary Open has been around for 23 years. It’s the tournament where such players as Fred Couples, Craig Stadler, Scott Simpson and Mark O’Mears made their pro debuts, but chances are it won’t be back in 1995.

Doug Ives, who founded the event and remains the chairman, said the Queen Mary Open may ship out if he can’t find a sponsor for the event, which finished its 1994 run Saturday at Lakewood Country Club.

“This isn’t scare tactics, this is reality,” Ives said. “I’m tired of subsidizing it.”

Other players who made their pro debut in the Queen Mary Open are Corey Pavin, Bob Tway, Keith Clearwater, Jay Don Blake, Duffy Waldorf, Bill Glassen and Dan Forsman.

Not only does the Open have a rich tradition, it also carries a $100,000 purse. But Ives said sponsor dollars are drying up and county fees are too high.

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Add Queen Mary: Mac O’Grady played in the tournament at various times under three names--Mac O’Grady, Phil McGleno, Phil O’Grady.

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PGA at Riviera: The PGA is looking for 2,000 volunteers for next year’s PGA Championship, which will be played Aug. 7-13, 1995, at Riviera. For information, call (310) 573-7780. The last time the PGA Championship was held at Riviera was 1983, when Hal Sutton won by a stroke over Nicklaus.

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Back, back back: Nancy Lopez, who hurt her back at the McDonald’s LPGA Championship two weeks ago, picked up her clubs again to play in the JCPenney LPGA Skins Game in Frisco, Tex., this weekend. Lopez, the all-time leading money winner in Skins history with $320,000, had a bulging disk and was advised to take a month off.

Lopez didn’t. She isn’t intimidated by injuries, or much of anything, with the possible exception of Laura Davies.

“She’s the only person I’m intimidated by because I can’t out-hit her,” Lopez said. “She out-hits me by 40 yards. That’s pretty intimidating.”

Golf Notes

Jamaal Wilkes, Jerry West, Dick Butkus, James Worthy, Doug Christie, Luc Robitaille, Willie Gault, Steve Garvey, Elgin Baylor, Johnny Mathis, Cathy Lee Crosby, Andy Garcia, James Garner, James Woods, Peter Falk and others will play in the fifth Toyota/Jerry Buss celebrity golf tournament June 6 at Riviera. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Lakers-YMCA Junior League. Tickets for the dinner and auction are $65. Details: (310) 419-3127 . . . Vince Ferragamo’s 12th celebrity golf tournament to benefit the Orange County Special Olympics will be held June 7 at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. Last year’s event raised $75,000. Details: (714) 633-1099 . . . Andrea Gaston of Canoga Park won the City women’s golf tournament at Rancho Park. Gaston shot rounds of 75-76-75 to finish five shots ahead of Barbara Stephan of Torrance. Gaston was the runner-up last year to Sue Rennie, who did not play. Stephan won the City women’s senior title last year at Rancho Park . . . Deadline to enter the 77th City men’s golf championship and handicap tournament is next Saturday. The stroke-play event will be held June 18-19 and 25-26 at Griffith Park and Rancho Park. The event is sponsored by the Department of Recreation and Parks. Scott Gibson of Huntington Beach is the defending champion.