For Pepperdine’s Coach, NCAA Title Hits the Spot

The best way to win a golf tournament is with birdies and eagles, but now there’s a new way: with chickenpox.

Yes, Pepperdine pulled the NCAA title out of the medicine cabinet last weekend at Conway Farms Country Club in Lake Forest, Ill., where they could have used thermometers instead of flagsticks.

With John Geiberger, the Pepperdine coach, confined to his hotel room because of chickenpox, the Waves won their first NCAA golf championship in a stunning

upset. It was either a triumph for medicine or the power of positive swinging.

Geiberger, 29, is the fourth Pepperdine golf coach in the last four years. He now becomes the first golf coach in history to win an NCAA title without actually seeing one ball hit in person. Assistant coach Kevin Marsh took over for Geiberger on the course.

Geiberger said it’s not his fault he got chickenpox at his age.

“Blame my mom,” he joked. “She should have thrown me into the pool with all the other kids.”

A former star at Pepperdine, Geiberger is the son of Al Geiberger, who was allowed to visit in John’s hotel room for a brief victory party Sunday night. John was busy hugging the trophy.

“Dad didn’t let out a lot of emotion then,” John said. “But he just couldn’t say enough positive things about me and the program.”

Geiberger had given up caddying for his dad to try for the Pepperdine job, which his father, a former USC star, had urged him to seek.

The Waves were ranked No. 20 before the NCAA event, and Geiberger said finishing in the top 10 would have been good enough.

That probably would satisfy him next year too, since Pepperdine loses star Jason Gore as well as all of its regular players.

Geiberger has to hope that winning is contagious, even if he isn’t anymore. In fact, Geiberger plans to play in an alumni tournament Saturday at Indian Ridge in Palm Desert. The only problem is that he will have to put the trophy down first.

TIGER VS. JACK

Better get used to it. There doesn’t seem any way to avoid the continuing story line in Tiger Woods’ career, which is how he compares to Jack Nicklaus, the modern standard by which golf greatness is measured.

In 1962, Nicklaus’ first year as a professional, he had no victories in his first 16 tournaments. Through Woods’ first 16 events as a pro, eight of them last year, he has five victories.

Woods has a target to aim for in the majors, compared to how Nicklaus performed.

Nicklaus won the U.S. Open in 1962, his first victory as a pro. In the other three majors that year, Nicklaus tied for 15th at the Masters, tied for 34th at the British Open and tied for third at the PGA.

Woods won the Masters in April, the first major tournament of the year. The U.S. Open begins Thursday at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., where Woods is among the favorites.

TIGER TOUR

The unofficial Woods World Tour, which has made stops in Australia and Thailand this year, will play in Japan in November as part of a promotion with Nike, his major corporate sponsor.

Woods will do a clinic and make public appearances for Nike in Tokyo in early November, then play the Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters on Nov. 12-15. Then he will play in the PGA’s Grand Slam of Golf in Hawaii, Nov. 18-19.

MAC’S WORLD

Former PGA Tour regular Mac O’Grady, 46, believes he can come back and play on the tour, even though he has had surgery six times in the last five years.

“I’m looking for a brain transplant right now,” he said.

In the meantime, O’Grady said one of his primary missions is to help influence players to exhibit a “high level of merriment” on the course instead of “crying all the time.”

You had to know O’Grady was serious about being funny when he asked actor Joe Regalbuto of “Murphy Brown” fame to caddie for him in his U.S. Open qualifying attempt Monday at El Caballero.

Regalbuto noted the number of times (23) O’Grady had tried to qualify.

“I’m just trying to qualify as a caddie,” Regalbuto said.

On his entry form, O’Grady listed his home course at Holmby Park, a par-three course behind Los Angeles Country Club. He always does that because it’s the first course O’Grady played when he was 14.

NO SALT, PLEASE

Tim Hogarth, the U.S. Public Links champion from Van Nuys, shot 81 in the morning round of Open qualifying at El Caballero. He quickly decided he didn’t belong on a golf course, so he took off for a more appropriate venue.

“I’m going to El Torito,” he said.

NEW CARDINAL RULES

Now in its post-Tiger period, the Stanford golf program is so, well, is normal the right word?

“All I know is it’s a lot more low-key and Coach [Wally Goodwin] is a lot more relaxed,” said Joel Kribel, who qualified for the U.S. Open.

Translation: It’s back to being anonymous.

But there also are a lot of guys wearing red caps with a big white Stanford ‘S’ on them who are following the adventures of Woods.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Kribel said. “Just last year we were playing tournaments alongside him and now he’s winning the Masters and by 12 shots and worth however many million. It’s hard to believe.

“It proves to a lot of college players and amateurs that we’re not that far away.”

THE LINE ON DALY

“Keep it straight, John,” the slogan for the new Callaway Golf ad campaign for John Daly was suggested by . . . Daly.

He said he has lost 30 pounds since he entered a treatment program for alcohol abuse at the Betty Ford Clinic and has cut out most chocolate.

The first step in his recovery was to admit he had a problem, Daly said.

“It takes a lot of courage to admit you are powerless over something,” he said. “I had the option to go into a liquor store and buy my death. With leukemia and cancer, you have no choice over it. But I can buy my death.”

BACK NEWS

Bernhard Langer has a bad back, but he doesn’t think he will miss the U.S. Open. Langer pulled out of the Kemper Open, a week after failing to make the cut at an event in Germany when he was treated twice on the course for a strained back.

Langer injured his back playing soccer with his three children.

Scott Hoch also withdrew from the Kemper because of a back injury. He hurt it the conventional way, playing golf.

STEADY OR BORING?

Her golf often has been described as, well, sort of mechanical, but Annika Sorenstam may have outdone even herself when she won the Michelob Classic last Sunday. Sorenstam played the last round with 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey.

Obviously, the 14th club in her bag is a metronome.

Sorenstam said she wants to play more aggressively, but sometimes she just can’t.

“Last week at the Skins Game I went for everything and I made five birdies in nine holes,” she said. “I wish I could have that attitude a bit more in tournaments like this.

“There’s no reason for me to be afraid, but I was a little bit.”

Actually, there is ample precedent that par is not so bad on a Sunday. Remember when Nick Faldo won the 1987 British Open with 18 pars on the last day?

If Sorenstam is so wrong, why did she win by three shots? Besides that, she’s the LPGA Tour’s leading money winner ($696,079) and she has won four times. The only other multiple winner this year is Terry-Jo Myers, who has won twice.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Former PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, 59, who accepted a sponsor’s exemption into the Kemper Open, shot a first-round 89 and withdrew. That’s not going to make some players who could have used a sponsor’s exemption very happy. . . . Woods leads the U.S. Ryder Cup point standings for the third consecutive week, even though he didn’t turn pro until last August. He began the year in 14th place on the points list. The rest of the top 10 are Tom Lehman, Mark O’Meara, Brad Faxon, Hoch, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Tommy Tolles, Steve Jones and Mark Brooks. . . . When Jack Nicklaus’ son, Gary, qualified for the Open this week, it meant that they will be the first father-son team at the U.S. Open since Gary and Wayne Player in 1982. . . . Former President George Bush will receive the 1997 PGA Distinguished Service Award in conjunction with the PGA Championship in August at Winged Foot. . . . David Frost’s PGA Tour victory at the MasterCard Colonial was the first by a player not wearing metal spikes. . . . The ninth Dave Taylor Golf Classic will be played Monday at North Ranch Country Club as part of the Lexus Champions for Charity series. The event benefits the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Details: (703) 905-4307. . . . The fourth St. Francis Church tournament will be played June 30 at Vista Valley Country Club. The event benefits the church’s youth programs. Details: (760) 757-9364. . . . Cleveland Golf donated equipment to Dorsey High to enable the school to start its first golf team. . . . Hal Linden is the celebrity host for the inaugural Danny Arnold Memorial Golf Classic to be played June 30 at Riviera Country Club. The event benefits the John Wayne Cancer Institute. Details: (310) 449-5224. . . . A celebrity golf tournament to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Los Angeles and the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce will be played June 29-30 at Calabasas Country Club. Details: (818) 591-2377. . . . The Whittier Area Parents’ Assn. for the Developmentally Handicapped will hold its annual tournament July 21 at Los Coyotes Country Club in Buena Park. Details: (562) 946-0467.