Don’t Let Scoreboard Fool You

Before they start, remember how they finished.

Before the top four players arrive at battered Riviera this morning to begin what could be a breathtaking Nissan Open final round, remember how they walked off the 18th Saturday.

Remember, because they will.

Ernie Els saunters into the deep green amphitheater with that dopey smile, his second shot sitting 18 feet away on the fringe, his cheering fans loving that he always looks as confused as they do.

He calmly waits 10 minutes, then steps up and nails it--the putt, the birdie, the momentum.

Tiger Woods struts in with his nifty lemme-sell-you-some-golf-shirts smile, 15 feet away on the right side of the pin.

He misses the birdie putt, but when he taps in, he is still smiling, and the crowd is still cheering, and he has lost nothing.

Davis Love III stalks in with no expression and a ball that has landed behind the green. The crowd does not cheer for him, he does not look at them.

It takes him three more shots to get down, it is a bogey, but a stoic one, no weakness revealed.

Then there is Ted Tryba.

God bless Ted Tryba.

If the other three are superstars departing through a red-carpeted runway, he is an excited youngster climbing dizzily out of a pit of brightly colored balls.

“Ty-boor,” the fans shout.

“Tuu-baaa,” they cry.

If others are Titleists, he is a range ball.

His approach lands in the rough behind the green. He doesn’t march to it, he wanders to it, as if thrown off balance by the standing ovation.

By the time he gets there, his shoulder slumps with exhaustion. And when he leans over the wedge for a shot that could have given him a 59, fans start noticing the little things.

“Look,” says one, “it looks like he’s shaking.”

It takes him three to get down for a bogey, just like Love.

Except, Love’s caddie doesn’t step on his partner’s ball and bury it in the rough, as Tryba’s does.

And Love doesn’t utter a nationally televised curse upon missing that 12-foot par putt.

After he finishes, Tryba states the obvious.

“I just really need to get some sleep,” he says.

Which leads one to state something just as obvious.

That might not be enough.

Tryba enters the final round of the Nissan Open in first place, leading Els, Love and Woods by two strokes.

And trailing them by at least three.

He’s a good story, but a bad bet.

Love him, but don’t get too attached.

“We’re going to try to put the heat on him,” Woods says. “We’ll see what happens.”

Tryba said two caffeinated sodas kept him awake Friday. It probably didn’t take that much Saturday.

One moment, the red lights from his bedside clock will read “Masters Championship,” one of which belongs to Woods.

The next moment, he’ll roll over and see, “U.S. Open Championship,” two of which belong to Els.

He’ll get up for a glass of water, come back, rub his eyes, then look up and see, “PGA Championship,” one of which belongs to Love.

When his alarm rings, it might sound like, “Du-val, Du-val,” in honor of David Duval, the tour’s leading money winner who is only four strokes back.

Tryba?

Well, he shot two 65s to lead after the first two rounds of last week’s Buick Invitational.

And finished with a couple of 74s.

In six years on the tour, he has five top-three finishes.

Woods has two in the last month.

In any other sport, if the underdog leads the champion in the final minutes, the underdog can win on inspiration alone.

Here, inspiration puts you 10 yards over the green.

Anyplace else, the underdog is fueled by the crowd.

Here, they love Woods, adore Els, and at least have heard of Love.

The only thing they will be able to appreciate about Tryba, 32, is that story of how his grandfather would get “all polished up,” and allow young Ted to stand on his chest and hit golf balls off a large plastic tee sticking up from his mouth.

“We’re having a huge party on July 4, it’s 6 at night: What are you gonna do?” said Tryba.

What is he going to do?

He will be paired today in the final group with Love and Woods, which is a problem for at least one reason.

Els, in the second-to-last threesome, says, “I’m glad I’m not in that group. I don’t have to look at Tiger every hole.”

Then there’s the problem of being the hunted, after spending most of your career as the hunter.

“When you lead . . . you sometimes aren’t quite as aggressive,” Els says. “It’s easier not having to protect a lead, and just going after it.”

Finally, of course, there is that long, slow walk down the legendary 18th hole Sunday.

How will Tryba feel as thousands of bodies surround the amphitheater and the eucalyptus trees and get into his head?

How will he feel with the best players in the world alongside him?

“The more experience you have in these situations, the better you do,” Love says. “You know how to approach things. You know how you’ll feel.”

How will Tryba feel?

“I didn’t leave anything out there,” he says after his course-record 61. “That’s as good as I can play.”

And today he must play better.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.