Floyd Is Easy to Spot: He’s One Under Par

Out here at Riviera Country Club, it’s clear you need a set of instructions to play it and a map to find it.

How else can you explain that Raymond Floyd would be the only player to break par in the first round of the U.S. Senior Open and that a crowd of spectators just this side of nothing would show up to watch it?

Floyd turned in a one-under 70 Thursday at Riviera, where the kikuyu was way high and the crowd was way low. How low was it? The crowd was so small, the starter at the first tee didn’t know whether to announce the spectators or the players.

Only 6,000 to 8,000 braved warm temperatures and bright sunshine to watch the fourth and final major championship of the year on the Senior PGA Tour. What they saw was 155 of 156 players trying their darndest not to lose all their golf balls by sundown.

Floyd had the best luck of anybody, although his success arrived rather late, or when he birdied three of the last four holes. He credited his patience and his mental processes for shooting under par, a semi-Zen approach not usually associated with the volatile Floyd.

But it was an attitude that stuck. Afterward, a cheerful Floyd expressed surprise that nobody else had joined him under par.

Maybe he should have paid better attention, because Thursday’s opening day was only one shade away from achieving natural disaster status. In fact, the governor may be on his way to inspect the damage any minute now.

The average score of 78.9 was the highest first round in Senior PGA Tour history. There were 60 players who shot at least 80 and there could have been one more but Larry Nelson had to quit after eight holes when his right shoulder went numb.

“You can’t play this course with one arm,” Nelson said. “Everybody is having a hard enough time with two.”

Floyd’s lead is one shot over an interesting fivesome that includes Jay Sigel, Bob Murphy, Bruce Summerhays, Hugh Baiocchi and Roy Vucinich.

Yes, that Roy Vucinich. For the last 26 years, Vucinich has been the club pro at Allegheny Country Club in Sewickley, Pa., but for 18 holes Thursday, he was a lot better than most of his more famous peer group.

Hale Irwin shot a 77, Graham Marsh a 76, Arnold Palmer a 78, Chi Chi Rodriguez an 81 and Bruce Devlin an 83. Gil Morgan hung tough with a two-over 73 and a limping Jack Nicklaus hauled his aching, arthritic hip around the course to finish with a 74 after stopping once to tape some pads to the bottom of his feet.

Marsh said he ran afoul of some “wicked” shots, like the one he mis-hit on No. 9.

“A million miles wide,” Marsh said.

That’s a lot of territory to cover, all right. For most of the day, too many players spent too much of their time hitting too many balls in the wrong places. Mostly, it was in the rough, the gnarly kikuyu stuff that swallows golf balls whole.

Consider Murphy’s day. His roller-coaster round began with an eagle, but by the time he made the turn he was three over par and so hot you could grill hamburgers on the brim of his hat. He still managed to get back to par with three consecutive birdies after he made the turn.

It wasn’t bad enough that the greens weren’t holding. There was also that crazy kikuyu that made life miserable. What happened was not normal, he said.

“In normal conditions, you are not used to missing the green by a foot and not knowing whether or not you can get it on the green,” Murphy said.

That does add a degree of difficulty, to be sure. So does having trouble walking, which is what happened to Nicklaus. He had the largest gallery of the day, which wasn’t saying much. Afterward, Nicklaus said it’s only a matter of time until he undergoes hip replacement surgery and hinted this might be his last tournament of the year.

“I’m sick of the hip,” Nicklaus said. “The hip is sick and I’m sick of it.”

Sigel, who was paired with Nicklaus, said Nicklaus appears to be walking with some effort.

“It’s painful to watch him,” Sigel said. “It’s a shame.”

Sigel was in a somewhat less charitable mood when discussing the kikuyu.

“I don’t know where it came from, but they ought to send it back,” he said.

Nothing could disrupt Floyd’s happy face. The 55-year-old warrior has eight top 10s in 14 tournaments, but none since May. His bank account shows a healthy $471,692 in winnings this year and there’s a lot more on the way if he can putt the way he did Thursday.

Two over through 14, Floyd sent a six-iron to 12 feet and made the putt for birdie. At the par-three 16th, he hit another six-iron to 12 feet and made another birdie putt. His sand wedge on the long 17th left him only a foot from the hole and Floyd had no trouble steering that one in either.

What went on?

“Boom, boom, boom, I made three birdies and I’m in under par,” he said.

And so after one round at Riviera, it’s lonely at the top. Not to mention in the gallery.

THE LEADERS

Raymond Floyd: 36-34--70 -1

Hugh Baiocchi: 34-37--71 E

Jay Sigel: 37-34--71 E

Bob Murphy: 38-33--71 E

Roy Vucinich: 35-36--71 E

Bruce Summerhays: 36-35--71 E

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FIXER-UPPER? Riviera apparently is on the market, but the owners at Marukin Corp. won’t admit publicly that they’ve stuck For Sale signs in front lawn. C9

DAILY REPORT: C8