1995 / 77th PGA RIVIERA : Don't Sell It Short, Especially No. 10

By JIM MURRAY

Aug. 10, 1995 12 AM PT

Every good citizen should set his sights on some aspect of the public weal, select the group most in need of our help in these times.

I came to the conclusion these were the visiting golfers in the PGA this week at Riviera. These poor lambs are going to need all the help and reassurance they can get.

Now, Ben Crenshaw, who rebuilt them, thinks the new greens at Riviera are not up to its standards, too slow and too soft to challenge properly.

Maybe so. But just in case, I thought I would post a chart for the group. As honorary chairman, I could do no less. It’s my civic duty.

Therefore, gentlemen meet Riviera!

Hole No. 10--We’ll start with No. 10, not because it’s the toughest hole on the golf course, but because it’s the sneakiest. This is a shameless little harlot that just sits there at the end of the bar in her mesh stockings and miniskirt and winks at you. It’s only a little over 300 yards long and looks as driveable as the 405 Freeway. Don’t go for it. Take your four-iron and hit it safely--and sensibly--left. The peninsula green will open up from there. If you try to drive it, you will find that green as narrow as a burlesque runway and guarded by traps front and back. I saw Lew Worsham, who was defending champion at the time, take a 10 there in the U.S. Open. Went from trap to trap. Tell your caddie not to hand you your driver even if you threaten to kill him if he doesn’t.

Hole No. 1--OK, so it’s an easy par five! But there’s a barranca out there 300 yards that has more golf balls in it than an alligator pond. Hit it in there and it’s an easy bogey.

Hole No. 2--The members play this as a par five, which it really is. The pros play it as a par four. This is where Tom Weiskopf suddenly discovered he had flu one day. His clue wasn’t the sniffles or stuffy nose or sneezes. It was the fact his ball was in a sand trap and he already lay five. That’ll give you flu every time. I’ve had more “ x ‘s” on this hole than a love letter.

Hole No. 3--This looks like a rest stop. Where you catch your breath. You might catch that yawning trap in the front instead. This is a par four you can reach with an eight-iron. But the hole doesn’t like being taken for granted. It’s like the homely sister in the family. Resents being condescended to.

Hole No. 4--They think this is a par three. It’s 236 yards into the wind guarded by what appears to be parts of the Sahara--or south Kuwait. Hit it up to the right and it’ll roll down to the hole. Maybe.

Hole No. 5--Take your four and get out of town. The green is a 35-foot drop below the main fairway, which means you can drop down a club in approach. It also means you can drop a shot. The winner this week will never bogey this hole.

Hole No. 6--This is the famous par three with the sand trap in the middle. But that’s for show. Members can only use putters here, but you pros can chip if you get on the wrong side and the trap is between you and the pin. Kind of defeats the purpose of the trap, I’d say, but who asks me?

Hole No. 7--OK, lick your chops. This is where you’ve got to make your money. You’ve been defending yourself against the course up to now, but this looks pregnable--a 408-yard par four. Gimme the one-iron. Don’t take liberties with the hole, though. There’s out-of-bounds on the right and, if memory serves, Crenshaw hit three out there one year.

Hole No. 8--Only 370 yards, par four. Has three written all over it, right? Don’t get careless or it’ll have three-putt written all over it.

Hole No. 9--Take your time to enjoy the vista of this hole with the clubhouse sitting up at the end of the skyline like a medieval fortress. It’s one of the great panoramas of golf. It says on the card 420 yards. Don’t believe it. It’s uphill all the way to a green you could ice-skate on. The fairway bunkers don’t come into play anymore. They’re obsolete. But hey, with the new dimpled balls, the graphite shafts and metal woods and clubheads designed by the people who brought you the atomic bomb, the whole game is going to be obsolete. If this hole doesn’t put a few of you on the plane home by Friday, I weep for golf.

Hole No. 11--You can let out the shaft on this 564-yard par five. A barranca that is 15 feet deep and 20-25 yards wide bisects the fairway and torments the weekend players, but you guys won’t know it’s there. The good news is, when you get to the green, you won’t have more than a 20-foot putt. That’s because the green is about the size of a crap table.

Hole No. 12--You may want to go home and play with the dog. This hole is a certified terrorist. If it were human, it’d be hijacking airplanes. Not a friendly hole. If they named holes at Riv like they do at Augusta, this one would be “Malice.” It bites. A junkyard dog. Over 400 yards and not a good lie on it. Try not to cry.

Hole No. 13--I think this is where the number 13 got its reputation for bad luck. At least, it does nothing to dispel the notion. If you hook it out of bounds left, you’re in good company. Tom Watson sent a couple of L.A. Opens spinning out there in his time. Like all of Riviera, if you’re straight, you’re safe. If you’re crooked, you’re hooked.

Hole No. 14--How did this get in here? A lollipop. A straightaway 176-yard par three. In with this bunch of green Mafia, this hole is just the gofer. Not a “made” man. The green has three tiers. Hit the one with the flag on it. If you make anything but two you may want to take up some other line of work.

Hole No. 15--The nearest thing to a real dogleg on the course. Kind of a mini-dogleg right. The green has a slope in the middle so that it looks a bit like a V-shape. If they put the pin on one side of the V, you have to hit the hole. If you don’t, it’ll roll to Santa Monica. May be the toughest hole on the course. Someone asked the old pro, Willie Hunter, if there’d ever been an eagle on this hole and Willie said he didn’t think so--but there’d been crows on it from time to time.

Hole No. 16--I made a hole in one here once. But don’t let that make you overconfident. It hit two trees on the way. Try to make your three here and you might make two. Try to make two and you might make four.

Hole No. 17--It’s downwind. Which is a good thing because it’s 576 yards long. John Daly can reach it in two. Sam Snead used to do it--using a driver in the fairway. You better just plan on getting your third shot on. Even then, the game isn’t over. Fuzzy Zoeller four-putted here in 1979.

Hole No. 18--The Enforcer. The Bouncer. The Terminator. Godfather. It checks your credentials and may call for you to be escorted off the course if they don’t measure up. You’ve got to hit your drive up a steep hill to a blind green. The fairway tips to the right like the Titanic just before it went down. This is also Riviera’s iceberg. You might want to sing some hymns on the way to the green. This hole is like the Indianapolis 500. You keep left. If your aim turns right, it’s Nearer-My-God-to-Thee. You’ll be sorry you made the cut.

Play away, and be kind to Ben’s greens.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Facts and Figures

* SITE

Riviera Country Club,

Pacific Palisades

6,949 yards, par 71.

* DATES

Today through Sunday.

* PURSE: $1.75 million.

* WINNER’S SHARE

$310,000.