Gilbert Not Sure Where He Stands

Gibby Gilbert, whose consecutive rounds of 72 leave him four shots behind Raymond Floyd after two rounds of the U.S. Senior Open, wasn’t left in a daze by Riviera Country Club--at least the part of the course off the fairways and greens.

“I’ve been playing golf for 44 years and I’ve never seen rough this difficult,” he said. “I’m really surprised there hasn’t been a big run of injuries with players trying to hit out of it.

“I honestly don’t know much about kikuyu grass, at least not like this. I’ve played 16 L.A. Opens at Riviera and one PGA Championship, but I’ve never played this course.”

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The players are complaining about the rough, but they are laying off the greens, which were such a point of contention at the 1995 PGA Championship here.

In 1995 the greens were spiky and soft--contributing to a PGA Championship-record 17-under-par total that got winner Steve Elkington and Colin Montgomerie into a playoff.

Riviera course superintendent Paul Latshaw, hired in January especially to prevent another putting-surface fiasco, said his mission has been accomplished.

“They meet my criteria,” he said of the greens. “The goal is to make them difficult, championship conditions. I guess our trademark has always been hard and fast.”

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Like many players at the senior Open, Jose Maria Canizares isn’t feeling comfortable over the ball this week. But not because of the course.

Canizares, a four-time European Ryder Cup member from Spain, is playing with an unfamiliar set of clubs because his were lost by an airline during his flight from Chicago to LAX on Sunday night.

He was rushed a replacement set Monday--the airline is still searching for the missing clubs--but Canizares says adjusting has been difficult.

“With new clubs, I need a month to start feeling comfortable,” he said. “Plus this course is so difficult, with a new driver, new putter, sand wedge, pitching wedge, it makes it even more difficult.”

Even so, Canizares, who won seven times in 20 years on the European Tour, is in a strong position after adding a one-over 72 Friday to his first-round 73. At 145, he’s tied for eighth with Hale Irwin and Gil Morgan, five shots behind Floyd.

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Defending champion Graham Marsh double-bogeyed the 18th hole, shooting 79 and missing the cut by one stroke. One of his strokes on the hole was a swing and a miss in the rough.

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Lou Salem, a 50-year-old Malibu resident and five-time Riviera club champion, will play as a marker with David Oakley in the third round this morning at 7:36. The tournament is switching to twosomes for the final two rounds and Oakley is the extra man.

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The pros play No. 2 at Riviera as a par four, but the members play it as a five.

Friday, Doyle Corbett, a senior Open rookie, played it as a 12.

“I got it in the grass and couldn’t get it out,” the Idaho native said. “When you take yourself out of a tournament on one hole, it sure affects the rest of the round.

“If the course is played well, and you hit it well, you get rewarded. You play it poorly, it’s a disaster.”

His caddie, Joe Yarborough, had a simpler explanation: “How he made 12 was he missed his putt for 11.”

Needless to say, Corbett, who finished with an 87 for a 165 total, did not make the cut.

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The last thing North Carolina’s Tommy Price wanted for his birthday was a bad second-round finish. Luckily for Price, who turned 52 Friday, his 73 was not only his best score on tour this year, but was enough to make the cut for his first senior Open. . . . Jerry Heard, 51, was disqualified from his first senior Open when he signed an incorrect scorecard. Heard scored a five on the 13th hole, but he signed for a four. . . . Joel Hirsch, 57, was the only amateur to make the cut despite a 78 on Friday.