‘Stadler’ Means Never Having to Say You’re Happy

To win a golf tournament, Craig Stadler style, you’ve got to pull something out of the realm of the unexpected.

Such as losing your putter a couple of minutes before you are called to the first tee.

There’s more. Your shirttail has to stick out as though it’s allergic to your pants. You have to look as if you woke up when your head hit the floor as you fell out of bed.

Your face is set in what appears to be a perpetual scowl, and you often seem close to wrapping a golf club around a tree.

This is the Craig Stadler Golf Experience, a thoroughly unpredictable ride down fairways, through bunkers, over greens. It’s like a game. Land on a green, pass go.

After all, golf is a simple game, Stadler explained.

“You hit it, go find it, then you hit it again,” he said.

A year ago at the Nissan Open, Stadler won for the first time in two years when he chopped his way through the rough at Riviera Country Club, shot a 30 Sunday morning on the front and navigated a one-shot victory over Fred Couples, Mark Brooks, Scott Simpson and Mark Wiebe.

The fact that he did it all using a putter that somebody had stuffed in his locker, well, it only added to the Stadler mystique.

He is the player they call Walrus, mainly because he resembles one. Stadler doesn’t belong on a golf course, he belongs on an ice floe.

Mark O’Meara has played the PGA Tour for 17 years and he knows something different when he sees it.

“Craig is a unique individual,” O’Meara said. “It’s funny. When you watch Craig play, it doesn’t look like he is very happy out there. Inside, he is, though. The way he looks, that’s just part of being Craig Stadler.”

The Walrus at 43 is not a 210-pound animal to be taken lightly. Even though Stadler is in his 22nd season on tour, with 12 victories and the 1982 Masters to his credit, he still remains entirely capable of winning golf tournaments.

Stadler has three top-10 finishes in five events so far, including a tie for fifth at Pebble Beach and a tie for second at Torrey Pines. He and Mark O’Meara each shot 66 in Wednesday’s pro-am, the lowest score of the day.

He already has won $228,481, good enough for 11th place on the money list and to attract a little attention as the defending champion when the Nissan Open begins today at Riviera.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens,” said Stadler, who warmed up for the defense of his title by visiting the ice at the Forum, where he watched the Kings defeat his beloved Colorado Avalanche.

Stadler’s victory last year at Riviera didn’t exactly propel him into a career year. In fact, it was his only top-10 finish in 1996.

Stadler won $216,000 at Riviera and $120,820 the rest of the year. He played only 18 events, the fewest since he turned pro after qualifying school in the spring of 1976. The 12 cuts he made also represented a career low.

There wasn’t much he could do about it, Stadler said.

“Last year was a total off year for me,” he said.

Along the way, Stadler hurt his wrist at Riviera, tore a stomach muscle in the pro-am at Houston, hurt his wrist again at the Canadian Open and felt generally lousy.

At least he was able to say he injured his wrist in a unique way--lifting his suitcase. In truth, both wrists hurt, he said.

“They’re pretty well shot,” he said. “I’m just trying to hold it together.”

It seems as though he’s doing a pretty good job so far this year. His shirttail may flop out and he still is capable of the best whirlybird of a golf club toward a bag of any player on tour, but Stadler said he may be slightly different.

Dare we say the “M” word?

“I don’t really expect to win every week,” he said. “I’m not as dedicated as I used to be and I don’t prepare myself as well.

“So am I mellowing? What the heck do you think?”