1995 / 77th PGA Riviera : Paying the Price : Player Who Dominated the Game the Last Two Years Has Been Taking His Lumps (and Giving Them) in 1995

This just in . . . nominations for the most unlikely golf story of the year:

(a) John Daly wins British Open at St. Andrews. (OK, forget that one).

(b) Lab tests show five-time PGA champion Jack Nicklaus is actually older than sand in bunker at No. 6 at Riviera Country Club.

(c) Nicklaus says he has no chance to win PGA Championship.

(d) Barranca across Riviera’s No. 1 fairway renamed Ditch of Sin.

(e) Nick Price in turmoil.

If you answered (e), go to the first tee, you’re up. In golf, it’s comforting to know that there are some things you always can count on--azaleas at Augusta, Greg Norman chasing a major on the last day, Daly making his head look like a golf ball and Price being, well, himself.

Price always has been straighter than the shaft of a two-iron, about as controversial as a bag towel and probably the most congenial, easy-going and accessible of the game’s superstars. But he might be changing all that.

He has had a tough run of it lately.

Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they’re a good place to start. Coming into the defense of his title in this week’s PGA Championship at Riviera, Price has played 14 tournaments and finished in the top 10 three times. His best is a tie for seventh at the MCI Classic.

In the majors, Price missed the cut at the Masters, tied for 13th at the U.S. Open and tied for 40th at the British Open, where he also made some very un-Price-like headlines.

Price was upset with his 3:25 p.m. starting time on the second day that had him finishing up about 9 p.m. in lousy weather in front of virtually empty stands at St. Andrews.

The only thing darker than the sky was his mood. Price thought the defending champion deserved a better tee time.

He also complained that his picture was not on the cover of the tournament program, even though he was the defending champion. The cover was instead a photo of a pair of hands holding the Old Claret Jug.

Royal and Ancient officials said the hands did indeed belong to Price, who soon was judged the winner in the pettiness balloting, hands down. What’s more, he suddenly found himself portrayed as a complainer.

The Mail on Sunday ran a story on Price with the headline: “It’s no more Mister Nice Guy from Price.” A story in the Golf Plus supplement of Sports Illustrated said Price “sounded more like a whiner than a winner.”

As it turns out, we should have known. Price told reporters even earlier at the Western Open that he was going to act differently: “I’m going to be a lot harder on myself and probably on other people, too, because people have taken advantage of my personality and demeanor.”

Price’s winning personality and sunny demeanor were shaped long before he won the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive, which preceded his doubleheader major victories at the British Open and the PGA last year.

The 38-year-old South Africa-born, Florida resident, who began playing left-handed and paying 10-cent green fees in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), dominated the pro golf game beginning in 1993.

However, the bad news is that history takes off like a snap hook. The facts are that since Tom Watson from 1975 to 1987, no player has dominated golf for more than two years.

Watson, 46, won 29 tournaments, eight majors and about $7 million in prize money during his impressive, 13-year run. The post-Watson era is known more for its, well, brevity.

Curtis Strange won the U.S. Open in 1988 and 1989 when he probably was the finest player in the world. Strange hasn’t won since.

Greg Norman won more than $2 million on the PGA Tour in 1989 and 1990 and won the British Open in 1993, but he hasn’t dominated.

Fred Couples was the PGA player of the year in 1991 and 1992, but it hasn’t been the same since. He has won two tour events since the Masters in 1992 and has spent more time nursing injuries than signing winning scorecards.

Then it was Price’s turn. He won four tour events in 1993 and six times in ‘94, including the British Open at Turnberry and the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, where he won by six shots and said he couldn’t have played any better.

“It was the ultimate for me,” Price said. “The way I played there, right from the opening nine holes, I had control.

“That’s probably what Jack Nicklaus played like when he won 12 of his majors, and I’ve won one like that. I had ultimate control of my golf swing, as well as my physical and mental, my emotion.

“It was almost a euphoric situation to be in. You feel like as long as you don’t fall down and break a leg, you’re going to win.”

Eight months later, Price had lost it so badly, he had to take three weeks off because of burnout. Price moved his family and his office from Orlando to Jupiter, Fla., signed a $10-million deal to design and play with new clubs, lost his No. 1 Sony ranking to Norman and learned to say no to many of those wanting something from him.

At the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, Price said he was “fed up” with all the attention from the media, from autograph-seekers, from promoters and from anyone wearing a visor. He said that while he once felt honored by the big rush, he had grown to resent it.

It was all pretty draining, Price said. What’s more, he still had to go out and put up numbers on the golf course, where the pressure to remain at the top is a lot more suffocating than trying to get there in the first place.

Maybe the best way to handle it is with a little golf philosophy, Price said.

“You’re going to play poorly just like everyone else every now and then,” he said. “That’s part of golf. You can’t fight that.

“For short periods of time, someone might distance himself from the rest of the world, but then someone else is going to take a turn.”

There’s a chance that it’s going to be Price’s turn again, perhaps beginning this week at Riviera. It’s where Price played his first PGA Championship in 1983 and finished tied for 67th, 20 shots behind winner Hal Sutton.

So that means Price is looking forward to Riviera?

“I know Corey Pavin is looking forward to it,” he joked.

Price is looking forward to the challenge, which probably is a good place for him to start. Riviera’s barrancas and eucalyptus trees and kikuyu grass are all lying out there waiting for him to see what he’s got.

At least Price knows what it’s going to take.

“You have to have your A game to win here on this golf course,” he said. “You can’t have your A-minus game.”

For four days, Riviera is going to be an open-book exam, but for Price, it could be more of a test of will--as in, will he get it back?