Big Time Comes to Big V

Driving up the Golden State Freeway on the way to Valencia Country Club for the Nissan Open, Tiger Woods and his fellow PGA Tour members will be surrounded by rolling hills the color of money.

“Everything is so pretty because of the rain,” Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) said in a rare rebuke to El Nino naysayers.

The PGA Tour’s stop in Valencia is being treated like a presidential visit--streets swept, windows polished and welcome signs posted. The only thing missing is the Secret Service.

Rarely has the Santa Clarita Valley or the adjacent San Fernando Valley hosted a sporting event with so many marquee athletes in a jewel-like setting on national television.

Oh, there was the L.A. Express, guided by quarterback Steve Young, that played a United States Football League game in 1985 at Pierce College and drew more than 8,000 spectators to Woodland Hills.

The prep football game in 1987 between Russell White-led Crespi and Loyola lured more than 10,000 spectators to a sold-out Birmingham High in Van Nuys.

There was the classic Hart-Canyon games of 1985 and 1986 that filled College of the Canyons and showcased quarterbacks Jim Bonds (Hart, UCLA) and Ken Sollom (Canyon, Michigan).

Top golfers, led by Greg Norman, have been coming to the Shark Shootout at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. And earlier this month, Oakmont Country Club in Glendale hosted the Los Angeles Women’s championship.

But the Nissan Open has drawn four-day crowds of more than 100,000 at its usual venue, the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.

Who isn’t excited about joining the gallery at Big V to see if Woods, Fred Couples, Corey Pavin and the rest of golf’s elite can demystify a course that has bedeviled golfers for years?

Leave the Thomas Guide home on your trip to Valencia. Thanks to suggestions from residents, here’s a list of sites to see and people to visit while you’re there:

* Bring a bicycle or wear walking shoes so you can try out the 14 miles of landscaped pedestrian walkways known as “paseos.” Golfers upset by bad rounds can hop on bikes and relax in manicured suburbia.

* “Melrose Place,” and the “Secret Life of Alex Mack,” are among the TV shows filmed in Valencia, so bring paper and pen in case you spot any celebrities.

* Dodger third baseman Todd Zeile is a Valencia resident and avid golfer, but he’s stuck in Vero Beach at spring training. Sportscaster Todd Donoho of KABC is one celebrity Valencia resident who will be in attendance.

* If you’re into Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse, the California Institute of Arts is the place to visit. It produces the hottest animators in the business.

* For a little history, drop by the William S. Hart mansion and museum in nearby Newhall. Boots and cowboy hats are not required for entrance, but it helps bring back memories of the past.

* City Councilman Clyde Smythe, former mayor of Santa Clarita, recommends stopping by the Oak of the Golden Dream in Placerita Canyon.

“Some guy was sitting under an oak tree pulling out a wild onion and attached to it was a nugget of gold,” Smythe said. The gold is long gone, but the glitter lingers.

* The Valencia Town Center is an enclosed two-story 790,000-square foot regional mall with department stores, 110 specialty shops, a 10-screen cinema (“Caddyshack” is not playing this week) and a food court.

* Magic Mountain is across multiple lanes of a busy freeway, but don’t tell the youngsters, or they may beg to go on the Superman ride just as Couples is lining up a birdie putt on 17.

Of course, the real purpose of a trip to Valencia is to watch the pros battle Big V.

“They [course officials] could absolutely hide the pins on those guys and it would be next to impossible to break par,” Hart High golf Coach Dennis Ford said. “But they will see how things go the first two or three days, then pin placements all of a sudden will become difficult on Sunday. That’s my prediction.”

And does McKeon have any suggestions for Woods during his visit to Valencia?

“Tell him to stop in and get a cookie from Terri’s in the mall,” McKeon said. “They’re the best.”

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.