GOLF / THOMAS BONK : Youth Is Served With 24-Year-Old Duval

Because one of golf’s natural inclinations is to search for something new (see graphite, titanium, oversizing), here comes a 24-year-old Floridian with a loopy grin, a surfer’s haircut and a killer golf game.

It’s David Duval, who finished second to winner Peter Jacobsen last week at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and already has some good things expected of him.

All Jacobsen had to do to beat Duval was to shoot a 72-hole tournament-record 271, mainly because Duval tied Tom Watson’s old record with a 273 and probably would have won if not for Jacobsen’s brilliance.

Jacobsen was quite impressed with Duval.

“Let me tell you, he’s the real thing,” Jacobsen said. “He played great under pressure.”

Duval belongs in the same rising-star category as Phil Mickelson, said Jacobsen, even though Mickelson, who won’t be 25 until June, already has won four tournaments as a pro.

It already has been a good year for the 6-foot 195-pounder, who turned pro two years ago. Duval finished tied for 14th at Hawaii thanks to a third-round 64, tied for sixth at Tucson, then improved to second at Pebble Beach with 67-67-67 in his last three rounds.

So far, Duval has banked $210,013 and is looking for more. He is playing in the Buick Invitational of California at La Jolla--though after his 76 Saturday he stands 14 shots behind leader Jacobsen--and intends to play the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic next week in the desert, then the Nissan (L.A.) Open at Riviera.

He played golf at Georgia Tech and is one of only three players who were four-time All-Americans. The other two are Gary Hallberg and Mickelson.

Duval played only nine events on the Nike Tour in 1993, but won twice. He earned $126,430 on the Nike Tour last year, which puts him in the same exempt category as the low 40 scorers from the qualifying school.

Duval showed his touch in his final round at Pebble Beach. He hit long enough to reach the 502-yard par-five second hole in two and had the touch to hit an eight-iron to within 12 feet on the 392-yard par-four 13th and roll in the birdie putt.

Better keep an eye on him.

*

World Part II: For 92 episodes from 1961-1972, “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf” was, well, wonderful.

The series paired top pros playing on some exotic courses and helped vault golf into greater prominence through television.

After a three-event trial run in 1994, it’s back again. Jack Nicklaus Productions Inc. is producing a four-match series for 1995, the first a confrontation between Nicklaus and Tom Watson at Pebble Beach.

The match was taped last Monday at Pebble Beach but won’t air on ABC until Dec. 3.

Who won? No one is saying.

“Just like if you shoot a movie with Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise, the movie-makers wouldn’t want you to know what happened in the last reel,” said Terry Jastrow, president of Jack Nicklaus Productions.

Jastrow did say that Nicklaus and Watson combined for nine birdies on the first 10 holes, that Watson chipped in from the high rough on No. 8 and that Nicklaus’ tee shot on the par-three 12th hole lipped out.

Someone wound up winning by one shot when the other player missed an eight-footer for birdie on the last hole.

Other matches feature Greg Norman and Nick Price, Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez and Ernie Els and Mickelson.

*

Hail to the Chiefs: Is this a record? President Bill Clinton, former President George Bush and former President Gerald Ford will play in the same group in the first round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Hope and defending champion Scott Hoch are also in the fivesome that tees off at Indian Wells Country Club at 10:04 a.m. Wednesday.

Clinton and Bush are making their debuts in the tournament, but Ford is a veteran at the desert event. Hope has played with Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush, but not with Clinton.

A president has never played the event while in office.

*

Dear Corey Pavin: The last time someone successfully defended his title at the Los Angeles Open, now the Nissan Open, was Arnold Palmer at Rancho Park in 1967.

*

Fastball: John Daly, meet a radar gun. It happened when he was in Australia recently to play the Heineken Classic at Perth. The speed of the ball as it left Daly’s club head was measured at 137.3 m.p.h.

*

Jack’s back: Nicklaus has been granted a special exemption into the U.S. Open, a major event he has won four times.

The Open will be played June 15-18 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.

Nicklaus has played in 38 consecutive Opens, beginning in 1957 when he was an amateur. He tied for 28th last year at Oakmont. Nicklaus won the U.S. Open in 1962, 1967, 1972 and 1980.

The United States Golf Assn. also extended an international exemption to Jumbo Ozaki and has increased the prize money $300,000 to $2 million.

*

Big stuff: The news from the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando wasn’t unexpected: The bigger the better.

“Clearly the oversize drivers are still getting a lot of talk,” said John Zurek, PGA senior director of golf expositions.

“Still making the news (are) oversized equipment, drivers and irons.”

Golf Notes

Arnold Palmer, 65, will play in the FHP Health Care Classic March 3-5 at the Ojai Valley Inn. Also entered are Jay Sigel, Dave Stockton, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Jim Albus and Tom Wargo. . . . The top 12 in the latest U.S. Ryder Cup standings are Tom Lehman, Phil Mickelson, Loren Roberts, Corey Pavin, Fuzzy Zoeller, Bill Glasson, Tom Kite, Bruce Lietzke, Mark McCumber, Brad Faxon, Ben Crenshaw and Kenny Perry.

Cleveland Golf, a club manufacturer, has joined with the Young Golfers of America Assn., a nonprofit organization promoting golf among minorities, to sponsor Los Angeles-area high school golf programs. YGAA holds a monthly youth day event at Hollywood Park Sports Center. Details: 213 299-3506. . . . The Toshiba-Beach Charities golf tournament will be played March 17 at Recreation Park in Long Beach. The event benefits Long Beach State athletics. . . . A record 1,148,778 rounds were played on the city’s 13 courses in 1994. According to the Department of Recreation and Parks, Rancho Park was the busiest 18-hole course in the system with 125,201 rounds.

The Salvation Army Golf Classic will be held March 13 at Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake. The event benefits the Salvation Army’s work with disadvantaged children. Details: 213 896-9160. . . . Peter James of Pacific Palisades was reelected to the Executive Committee of the United States Golf Assn.