Elkington Loves Riviera, Including All That Grass

You know those eucalyptus trees at Riviera Country Club? Steve Elkington loves every single branch. Riviera’s barrancas? The Grand Canyon could be no grander and Elkington is sure of that.

And the Kikuyu grass? Well, he’s thinking about carpeting his living room with it back home in Houston.

To know Riviera is to love it and to know it the best way possible, all you have to do is win a major championship there, which is what Elkington did the last time he was around the place.

In the rain and the mud Tuesday, Elkington returned to Riviera, the place they call Hogan’s Alley. It’s not Steve’s Street but it could have been named that six months ago when the 33-year-old Australian transplant from Wagga Wagga came from six shots down on the last day to win the PGA Championship and grab the big, engraved trophy just when Ernie Els seemed to be squeezing the silver out of it.

The sun was hot that Sunday in mid-August when Elkington won a cool $360,000, not to mention his first major title that he said has affected him just a little bit.

“It’s changed my life,” Elkington said.

Not that there was anything wrong with Elkington’s life before the PGA, mind you. He had a nice family, a great house that looked like something that belonged on a plantation and the respect of his peers.

Elkington was regarded as having one of the smoothest swings on the tour. Besides, he had come close to winning a major before.

He finished third in the 1993 Masters, tied for seventh at the 1994 PGA, tied for fifth at last year’s Masters and got ready for Riviera with a tie for sixth at the British Open at St. Andrews, where he closed with a 74 after bogeying the Road Hole.

But Elkington knew he was playing well.

“You remember, it was very windy, no one was making birdies,” he said. “Just because the putts aren’t going in doesn’t mean you aren’t putting well.”

Maybe so, but you sure tend to feel better if a few of them roll in. Anyway, Elkington wasn’t feeling good at all after having spent the week after St. Andrews fly-fishing in Scotland on the Tay River and at Loch Lomond.

He sat out the Buick Open because of a sinus infection that didn’t let him out to tend to the roses and the camellias in his garden. Elkington takes medication daily to help combat an allergic reaction to grass.

So that’s how Elkington got ready the week before the PGA--a golfer allergic to grass housebound with a sinus problem. A week later, he shot rounds of 68-67-68-64 and matched the best score in a major tournament with his 267. That kind of thing could make allergies popular.

Elkington said he remembers walking up the hill at No. 18 on the second day.

“I still was a little bit sick and I said, ‘We’re almost winning this thing and I feel like hell,’ ” he said.

Elkington got to feeling a lot better in a hurry, mostly because he played the last 37 holes without a bogey. He also made his share of putts.

The biggest putt was the 25-footer he made on the first playoff hole to beat Colin Montgomerie.

It was no small accomplishment, since the greens were in such bad shape. Putting on them was like putting on peanut brittle. Elkington had a plan, though. He aimed at the spike marks.

“I just picked a mark in front of me to aim with and used it to roll the ball toward the hole and see what happened,” Elkington said.

“The greens didn’t bother me. I hope they are just like that this week.”

Chances are, they’re going to be a lot wetter, at least by Thursday when the first round is scheduled. Until then, Elkington is back using the same locker at Riviera, using the same swing and hoping for the same results.

The clubs are going to be different, though. Someone broke into his car when it was parked outside a restaurant in Houston and stole his clubs. Elkington has hired a private detective, offered a reward and gotten the police involved, but nothing has turned up.

His biggest problem has been trying to find a putter to replace the 1970 Ping model that he’d had since 1983. Everything he has tried is too light or the shaft isn’t right or something else is wrong, said Elkington, who is confident anyway that it’s all going to work out.

Maybe it will happen before he gets to the first tee at Riviera and remembers the last time he began a round there.

“I’ll probably be a little jittery,” he said. “Maybe not jittery, but a few butterflies. It’ll probably help me to concentrate better.

“One thing I learned after the PGA is that people really don’t care which major you win,” he said. “I thought people ranked them, like the Masters or whatever, but I know now that they are all major tournaments and the people just say, ‘Well done.’

“I mean, Arnold Palmer would give his right leg to win the PGA. And I can tell you, it’s just an unbelievable thing to do it.”

Nissan Open Notes

Rain washed out the Shootout and canceled practice rounds after a couple of holes. Billy Mayfair said the rain may make the greens very soft. “It’s going to be dart-shooting out there,” he said. . . . The pro-am is scheduled today with the first tee times at 6:40 a.m. The lucky pros in the first groups at No. 1 and No. 10 are Steve Elkington and Mayfair. . . . Byron Nelson, who won the Los Angeles Open 50 years ago at Riviera, will be honored as part of the Nissan Open’s former champion program.

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The Week at Riviera

* Today--Pro-am, begins at 6:40 a.m.

* Thursday-Sunday--Nissan Open.

* Ticket--Daily grounds passes $20. Seniors $15. Season pass $60. Information: (800) 752-OPEN.