It’s a Ball Any Way You Slice It : LPGA Tourney Adds Dash to Usually Staid Oakmont

You don’t often see a golf caddie shinny up a palm tree, but one did at the Oakmont Country Club on Friday. Anything, apparently, to save a player a penalty stroke for a lost ball.

The arboreal rescue effort added a slightly silly, if perhaps desperate, touch to the opening round of the Los Angeles Women’s Golf Championship--a day that mixed the unexpected with the usually sedate. Like the man in the Green Bay Packers jersey--but no Cheesehead--who stood out in a crowd dressed in pastel prep.

Even on a workday, hundreds of spectators wandered the course, following their favorite players, or just taking in the sights. Helen and Jim Boreham arrived at the club at 6:15 a.m. “We wanted to beat the traffic,” she explained.

“This club is usually quiet and staid,” said Kathy D’Zurilla, a club member and hospitality volunteer. “But it has been caught up in the excitement.”

While the action was unfolding across the greens and fairways, people watchers were kept occupied with a caddie carrying Tweety Bird club covers, a remote-controlled golf cart and a concession stand offering imported cigars and bottles of merlot and cabernet.

“A cigar with cabernet or merlot. That’s your evening right there,” said Rodolfo Luna, 26, of Pasadena.

Some didn’t wait for night.

At 9 a.m., near hole 10, a gray-haired woman in turquoise stood alone holding two full beer cups. “Don’t you dare,” she yelled to a photographer who had crouched down to snap her picture.

Indeed, it was a festive day.

The warm sun and light winds Friday stood in marked contrast to the day before when a strong wind gust sent tents full of merchandise flying into the club’s swimming pool. A scuba diver was retained to retrieve the tents, but the prospect of a windy Friday worried tournament organizers nonetheless.

“A lot of people lost sleep over it,” said scorekeeper Bob Lowe. Twice the day before the winds knocked the scoreboard to the ground.

Still, the owlish retiree, who hopes to regularly keep score for major golf tournaments, seemed undaunted. “As long as they can read it,” he said, glancing back at the numbers. “They’re looking for clarity.”

No major problems were reported Friday, but parking was scarce on nearby streets. Tournament officials could not say precisely how many people attended the first day, but they were bracing for large crowds today and Sunday.

“We could have 10,000 people or 2,000,” said Dick Beam, director of operations for the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. event. “Each day you iron out the wrinkles until it becomes smoother and smoother.”

Nearby, in the club’s spacious dining facilities, chef Luis Vega was cooking up a storm, bracing for a busy weekend. “I’ve been working from 4 in the morning until 7 or 8 at night,” Vega said. “This is a maximum production.”

Vega and staff prepared meals--from bratwurst to antipasto--for players, press, members and visitors who came to the Oakmont Country Club for the tournament. He expects to cook up 900 pounds of hamburger and 200 pounds of hot dogs.

“I think before it’s all over,” Vega said, “we’ll serve 12,000 meals.”

And it won’t be the last time, according to tournament officials. Oakmont Country Club has signed on to host the tournament for three years, and if there is enough interest it could find a permanent home there.

That prospect didn’t seem to concern most neighbors, however. “The people I talked to seemed to be excited,” said Sandy Fritchie. But she added: “I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot busier Saturday and Sunday.”

And that caddie in the palm tree? He never found that ball, but he made it down safely.