Back on Friendly Turf

Any number of factors can come into play when LPGA players pick and choose which tournaments they will enter, but the decision to play in this weekend’s Los Angeles Women’s Championship at Oakmont Country Club was easy to make for at least three tour veterans.

Jan Stephenson, Jane Geddes and Chris Johnson each won at Oakmont when the tour visited from 1985-87. So when they found out that Oakmont would be a tour stop again, they were among the first to sign up.

“I was very happy when I found out,” Stephenson said. “This is one of those courses with a lot of character. I heard that Ben Hogan even said that this is a great course.”

And a very difficult one.

Oakmont’s tight fairways and super-slick greens made it one of the tour’s toughest courses during its past association with the LPGA. Stephenson won in 1985 with a two-over par 290, the highest winning score on the tour that year.

Still, she isn’t complaining.

“Playing my pro-am round [Wednesday] I kept telling my caddie about good things that happened here,” Stephenson said. “I told him, ‘I made a 15-footer for birdie here and hit it to [within] five feet for birdie there.’ Usually, I’m telling him about the places that I three-putted to blow a tournament. He was surprised that I finally found a course where I have good memories.”

Johnson’s stroll down memory lane was a little less clear, mostly because she won in 1986 in a rain-shortened 54-holes.

“I remember the weather,” Johnson said, laughing. “I had to finish the last five holes on Monday because we were rained out on Sunday. I remember playing those holes over and over in my head Sunday night.”

Johnson and Geddes were tied when rain interrupted play after the 13th hole, but Johnson birdied three of the last five holes when play resumed to capture the title.

“I remember so much of those last five holes,” Johnson said. “I did just what I had envisioned. I don’t remember much of the front nine, but I remember those five holes very well.”

The course record of five-under-par 67, shared by Johnson and Geddes, is modest as far as course records go. Both course-record rounds came in the years they won.

“This is a course where you can’t go to sleep,” Johnson said. “You have to be thinking over every shot.”

Oakmont was Johnson’s third tour victory and it came in the best season of her career. She won $200,648 that year, eighth on the money list. She hasn’t finished higher since.

Geddes also enjoyed her best season after winning at Oakmont in 1987, finishing third on the money list that season with a career-best $396,818.

At Oakmont in 1985, Stephenson remembers hitting the ball so straight that she hit two flagsticks. The victory put her over the $1 million mark in career earnings.

“This is a course where you have to be playing really consistently to win,” Johnson said. “It’s a good mix of holes and you have to be patient.”

Although the veterans say the course hasn’t changed much since 1987, they expect the scores to be lower.

“The players are a lot better now,” Johnson said. “More players shoot under par. The scores will be lower, but I don’t think they’ll be at 16 under or 17 under. If the wind stays away, it will probably take eight under to win. If it’s windy, three or four under could do it.”

Geddes and Johnson enter the tournament ranked ninth and 10th on the 1997 money list and are coming off top-10 finishes in last week’s National Pro-Am in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Johnson last week fired a 13-under-par 275 to finish third and Geddes finished fifth, four strokes behind Johnson. Geddes’ last victory came at the 1994 Chicago Challenge, Johnson’s at the 1995 Star Bank Classic.

Stephenson, who hasn’t won since the 1987 San Jose Classic, last week finished at six-over-par 294 to tie for 48th place. She said her goal at Oakmont is to stay conservative and near par. In 1985, she found out that the course can sneak up on players.

“I was relaxing going into 17 and 18, then I three-putted 17 and I got so nervous,” Stephenson said. “It was too dramatic to finish two par-fives that way.”

The bogey dropped Stephenson one stroke behind, but she got a par on the 18th hole to win the tournament. But she regrets not being able to enjoy the applause she received while walking the 18th fairway.

“That’s the best fun of all, and I wanted to acknowledge the crowd,” Stephenson said. “But I had to finish the round.”

Stephenson admits she’s a longshot to win this weekend, but said things will be different than in 1985 if she does.

“If I have a one-shot lead coming down 18, I’m going to savor it.”

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Tee Time

After a nine-year absence, the LPGA returns to the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale today for the first round of the 54-hole, $650,000 Los Angeles Women’s Championship. Among the favorites: Sherman Oaks’ Emilee Klein and Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam, the top-ranked player on the tour last year. First groups tee off at 7 a.m.

The Course at Oakmont Country Club

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Hole Yardage Par 1 482 5 2 338 4 3 155 3 4 377 4 5 334 4 6 395 4 7 351 4 8 390 4 9 359 4 Out 3,181 36 10 378 4 11 146 3 12 370 4 13 380 4 14 156 3 15 344 4 16 360 4 17 521 5 18 440 5 In 3,095 36

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Total: Par 72; 6276 yards

(please see newspaper for map corresponding to table below)

Additional Coverage:

* Tournament preview, C9

* First-day tee times, C17