GOLF / THOMAS BONK : Tape Is No Longer Red, so Jones Has Russians on Green

What kind of golf course would you expect Moscow Country Club to be?

“Very serious,” said Robert Trent Jones Jr., thus becoming an answer to the first Cold War golf trivia question.

Who designed the first golf course in the former Soviet Union?

It was none other than the man they call Bob Jones, son of famed 88-year-old designer Robert Trent Jones, and possibly the most prolific golf course architect in the world.

Helped early by the influence of Armand Hammer, it still took 20 years to build the course at Nahabino, about 18 miles from the Kremlin, mainly because of all the red tape and Eastern conceptions of golf as an unwanted symbol of English aristocracy.

Moscow Country Club opened last fall to rave reviews, also to Jones’ great relief.

“It was an experience,” he said. “A deep and emotional life experience. That was like 72 holes in medal play and two playoffs.”

Another Jones creation opened last week in Orange County, the South Course at Coto de Caza, joining the North Course that opened in 1987.

Coto represents the first time that Jones has designed 36 holes within the same community. Jones said the addition of the 6,943-yard South Course should make Coto a possible site for the USGA Mid-Amateur or U.S. Amateur championships.

Jones, who said he admires the work of such legendary designers as Alister MacKenzie, Billy Bell and current star Tom Fazio, isn’t a fan of tour players who design courses.

“To pretend because you are a great player you are a great designer is foolish,” he said.

Jones, who has designed more than 170 courses, is working on projects in Barbados, the Philippines, China, Sacramento and British Columbia at the same time.

His favorite course?

“The next one,” he said. “Does a chef like to eat? I like to go play my own work.”

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Wright or wrong? Because the interview wasn’t taped, Ben Wright avoided something Al Campanis, Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder and even Richard Nixon could not--the smoking gun.

Campanis, Snyder and Nixon couldn’t deny the comments that led to their downfalls because in each case, their words were recorded on tape, which makes denials difficult.

Wright’s words were not recorded, so the CBS golf analyst was able to interject just enough doubt into the issue of his alleged comments printed in a Delaware newspaper--that lesbians are hurting the LPGA tour and that breasts affect swings--he has been able to keep his job while Campanis, Snyder and Nixon could not.

Did Wright say it? We’ll probably never know, but there are some who are skeptical about his denial.

Skip Bayless, on ESPN’s “Sports Reporters,” said if Wright was wronged, it was ‘the greatest job of misquotation in the history of journalism.”

Meanwhile, female golfers are struggling to turn all the media attention caused by Wright’s alleged comments into something positive.

“Those are really silly things for someone to say,” Patty Sheehan said. “It really doesn’t have anything to do with what we do. We play golf and we play it well. We will all come out on top and be the better for it.

“Somebody said those things and somebody wrote those things,” she said. “It’s a direct attack on our tour, and we don’t appreciate it. It’s something that shows ignorance.”

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PGA update: The PGA of America, which is limiting total sales to 22,000 season tickets for the PGA Championship at Riviera in August, has created two-day ticket packages to meet the ticket demand.

Thursday-Friday and Saturday-Sunday packages are available for the event, Aug. 10-13. Details: 1-800-PGA-IN-95.

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Golf Notes

Patty Sheehan is the defending champion of the $540,000 JCPenney/LPGA Skins Game on Saturday and Sunday at Stonebriar Country Club in Frisco, Tex. ABC will carry the event. Also in the field are Nancy Lopez, Laura Davies and Dottie Mochrie. . . . The PGA of America is still looking for volunteers for the PGA Championship, Aug. 7-13 at Riviera. Details: 310 573-7780. . . . The 13th Vince Ferragamo Special Olympics Celebrity Golf Classic will be June 6 at Los Coyotes in Buena Park. The event benefits the Orange County chapter of the Special Olympics. Details: 714 633-1099. . . . The 1995 Rose Bowl Long Drive Championship will be June 1-3 at the No. 10 hole of Brookside’s No. 1 course. Proceeds from the Pro-Am benefit the In-N-Out Foundation for Abused Children. Details: 909 949-9901

The Imperial Bank/Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation Invitational golf tournament will be Monday at MountainGate Country Club in Bel Air. The event benefits the Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation. Times columnist Jim Murray will be honored. Details: 310 474-4370. . . . The fourth Brandie Burton Golf Classic to benefit Spanish Trails Girl Scout council will be June 1 at California Country Club in Industry. Details: 909 624-6696. . . . The sixth Serra Golf Classic will be Monday at Calabasas Golf and Country Club. Details: 818 788-0709. . . . The 73rd Women’s State Championship will be played Monday through Friday at Bakersfield Country Club. Linda Pearson of La Canada Flintridge Country Club is the defending state champion. Details: 818 577-1290. . . . The Diners Club Matches, won last year by Raymond Floyd and Dave Eichelberger in the Senior PGA Tour division, will return to the Jack Nicklaus Resort Course at PGA West, Dec. 7-10. . . . The Greater Los Angeles chapter of the NFL Alumni will hold its annual Caring for Kids celebrity golf tournament June 2 at Moreno Valley Golf Club. The event benefits the Assistance League of Temecula Valley. Details: 818 509-2552. . . . Tom Flores, Daryle Lamonica, Jim Plunkett and Ken Stabler are expected to participate in the 13th Boy Scouts of America/Raiders Invitational tournament June 26 at Wilshire Country Club. Also expected to play are Mike White, Bill Walsh, Willie Brown, Jim Otto, Bob Golic, Rod Martin, Jack Tatum and Raymond Chester. Details: 818 344-6195. . . . Stan Wood, 73, who made his first hole in one in 1948, made his sixth with a four-iron on the 168-yard No. 2 at Los Robles. Gayle Green, 96, who has been playing golf for 70 years, made his first hole in one. It was at the Arroyo Seco golf course.