PGA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES : Nelson’s Clinic Must Have Been a Good One

Byron Nelson, 83, played Los Angeles Country Club and made four pars and a birdie in a group with his wife, Peggy, and Roger Cleveland of Cleveland Golf.

Nelson said: “I found out one thing about that golf course right away--I’m not long enough for it.”

Nelson, who played in the 1940 L.A. Open, on the layout where Lawson Little won, recalled a clinic he gave for junior golfers at LACC in 1956.

One of the juniors was a 16-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, named Jack Nicklaus.

Nelson, Paul Runyan, Dow Finsterwald and Jay Hebert are honorary participants in a PGA past-champions clinic at 4 p.m. today at Riviera.

Nicklaus, Nick Price, John Daly, Payne Stewart, John Mahaffey, Paul Azinger, Hubert Green, Larry Nelson, Wayne Grady, David Graham, Hal Sutton, Jeff Sluman and Bob Tway are scheduled to take part.

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About 4,000 of the 22,000 tickets available for the PGA Championship have not been sold.

Season tickets, two-day packages and daily tickets are available for the event Thursday and Friday at Riviera Country Club.

Details: (800) PGA-IN95.

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John Morse was a first-time winner in the first full-field event of the year in Hawaii. Ted Tryba was the next first-time winner, 26 weeks later, at the Anheuser-Busch.

Now there have been three in the last four weeks: Tryba, Ed Dougherty at the Deposit Guaranty in Madison, Miss., and Woody Austin at the Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Mich.

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Kenny Perry, 10th on the Ryder Cup list, has finished 11th in his last two tournaments, which means he earned no Ryder Cup points. Only the first 10 get points.

U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Lanny Wadkins will announce his complete 12-player team, including two wild-card selections, Monday morning.

The United States plays Europe Sept. 21-24 at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.

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A special exhibit by British golf artist Harold Riley is on display through Aug. 20 at UCLA Extension on the Third Street Promenade.

Riley’s exhibit includes works on Nicklaus, Corey Pavin and Riviera Country Club.