ONLY IN L.A.

It’s all in the names. After 75 years of the Los Angeles Open, which we now know as the Nissan Open, you could fill up that barranca at Riviera Country Club with all the great champions, their names some of the biggest in the history of golf.

Of course, we know what great players do--they produce great moments.

Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer . . .

And because this is Hollywood, there have always been the celebrities.

Nelson remembers playing the pro-am one year with Chico Marx. How did it go? Let’s just say it’s a good thing Chico kept his day job with his brothers.

Nelson remembers that Chico sent him a signed picture some time later.

“He wrote on it ‘I enjoyed it, I bet you didn’t,’ ” Nelson said.

But if you look at the history of this tournament, that really never was true.

The fact is, we always enjoyed it.

Some of golf’s more noteworthy and even some considerably quirky moments took place at the L.A. Open. You should expect that in 75 years.

For instance, there was Hogan’s remarkable run at Riviera, which began in 1947 when he set a course record, then broke it when he won the next year, then won again at Riviera in June at the U.S. Open.

Snead made news at Riviera in the 1950 L.A. Open when he beat Hogan in an 18-hole playoff. And Nelson added the L.A. Open to his collection of titles when he won in 1946--on his 13th try.

Another legend, Jack Nicklaus, cashed his first pro check in the 1962 event at Rancho Park. The amount was $33.33. Nicklaus made the cut but finished last.

There were other stars who performed their own special treats at the L.A. Open, names such as Babe Didrikson, the first woman to play in a men’s pro golf event; and Charlie Sifford, who scored a victory for African Americans with a stirring victory in 1969.

Palmer won three times, but he is also remembered for the 12 he took on the par-five No. 9 at Rancho Park when he tried for the green in two and knocked four balls out of bounds.

MacDonald Smith won four times on four courses. Dapper Lloyd Mangrum won three times, the first in 1949 when Smith was making his 23rd and last appearance. Fred Couples won twice and was never more of a fan favorite anywhere else. Then there was “Lighthorse” Harry Cooper, who won the first one in 1926, and is the odds-on favorite in the nickname category.

We’ll always remember the players who made it special. On the occasion of 75 years of what began as the L.A. Open in 1926, here’s a list of 10 of the greatest players who produced some of the game’s most compelling history.

BEN HOGAN

If you think about it, the two words almost go together . . . a seamless fit, a comfortable association . . . Hogan, Riviera.

They are linked for all time--one of the greatest golfers the world has ever seen and one of the most revered courses on the map.

While it is true that Riviera did not make Hogan even though Hogan surely made Riviera, it is also true that Riviera had at least something to do with defining Hogan’s nearly supernatural mystique and his place in golf’s history.

Riviera is not only the place where Hogan made this history, this course where strange sounding words like kikuyu and barranca and eucalyptus crop up at every turn. It actually enjoyed a much more active role.

Call it Hogan’s accomplice.

Most call it Hogan’s Alley.

Hogan won the 1942 L.A. Open in a playoff with Jimmy Thompson at Hillcrest, lost to Byron Nelson by five shots in the 1946 L.A. Open at Riviera, then came back to win two in succession, in 1947 and 1948 at Riviera.

Even though that 1948 victory was more than half a century ago, it isn’t likely to be forgotten any time soon . . . if ever.

Hogan was at his zenith in 1948, as was Riviera. Hogan won 11 times that year, a stretch of success that included the L.A. Open and the U.S. Open, both of them at Riviera. Hogan also won the PGA Championship at Norwood Hills Country Club in St. Louis, but by then, his link with Riviera was already dead solid and perfect.

In the L.A. Open at Riviera, Hogan opened and closed with 67s for a 72-hole score of 275, four shots better than Lloyd Mangrum. For 25 years, it was a tournament record score.

In the U.S. Open at Riviera, five months later, Hogan’s 276 beat Jimmy Demaret by two shots.

Figuring in his 1947 L.A. Open triumph, it was Hogan’s third consecutive victory at Riviera.

There would be no others, only a triumphant return. On Feb. 2, 1949, a Greyhound bus on the wrong side of the road struck a car carrying Hogan and his wife, Valerie. Valerie was not seriously injured, but Hogan was nearly killed. He had numerous fractures and seemed to be improving until a clot began to form and a major vein was tied off.

Would Hogan walk again? Possibly. Would he return to pro golf? Almost certainly not.

Hogan, however, had other thoughts. He did come back, on Jan. 7, 1950, to the L.A Open--to Riviera. And Hogan very nearly won, forcing Snead into a playoff, which Snead eventually captured.

As for Hogan, his career was hardly over. He won the U.S. Open that summer. And he won it again in 1951 and 1953. He won the British Open the only time he played it, in 1953 at Carnoustie. At the Masters, Hogan won in 1951 and 1953. He didn’t win another PGA Championship, but he already had two of those titles.

Meanwhile, at Hogan’s Alley, the eucalyptus whisper his name in the wind.

SAM SNEAD

In 1945, the 32-year-old from Hot Springs, Va., had just shipped in . . . from 26 months in the Navy. He was wearing his familiar houndstooth hat when he arrived at Riviera, ready to see what he could do. As it turned out, he could do quite well. Snead says he always looked forward to the L.A. Open, which he would win in 1945 and again in 1950.

“That L.A. Open was the King, the big one out there,” Snead said. “That was one of the biggest, if not the biggest besides the majors, at one time. I sure liked to play out there . . . and I should have owned it more. It was like the U.S. Open and the PGA. Everybody wanted to win them and everyone wanted to win the L.A. Open. I was no different.”

Snead beat Harold “Jug” McSpaden and Nelson by one shot to win in 1945, closing with a 69. Snead birdied the last hole from five feet and wound up winning $2,666.67.

Snead was 10th in 1947, fourth in 1948 and seventh in 1949, then turned up at Riviera in 1950 fully prepared to do battle with Hogan, who was returning after nearly dying in an auto accident.

If Hogan was the fans’ favorite, Snead didn’t seem to notice. He shot a 66 on the last day to catch Hogan, who had a 69, and force a historic 18-hole playoff.

The playoff was held eight days after the last round because of bad weather. It was sort of an unusual playoff, says Snead, who remembers the playoff for an attempt at gamesmanship, on both sides, but first by Hogan.

“It’s funny,” Snead said. “Remember, we had bad weather and we had to postpone the playoff, so I went off and won another tournament, then came back. So it gave me an extra goal.

“Anyway, Ben tried to pull one on me. It’s my honors on 14 and I looked back to see where Ben was and he was still putting on the green. I said, ‘Oh, oh, I’m not going to get trapped,’ so I teed it up and hit. He looked up and saw me and said, ‘You in a hurry?’ I just said, ‘Your shot, Ben.’

“And Ben was playing so slow. I sat down on my bag and tried to find something in my bag to read.”

Snead shot a 72 to win the playoff by four shots.

And 51 years later, Snead says there were never any hard feelings, at least on his part.

“I have to tell you that Ben was one of my favorite people,” Snead said. “We got along great. You know, he was a car dealer and you know how those people are . . . you never know what they’re really thinking, and so Ben kept his emotions in his head.”

BYRON NELSON

In the 1933 Los Angeles Open, a 21-year-old Texan was playing his second professional event. Craig Wood won at Wilshire that year, not Byron Nelson, but as everyone was soon to learn, Nelson--the player with the sweet swing and the huge hands--would become one of the greatest forces the game has seen.

Nelson, it seemed, won just about everything of importance, which meant that he would have to win the L.A. Open too.

And so he did. And although Nelson’s victory didn’t occur until 1946 at Riviera in his 11th try, it was a tour de force for Nelson. Going up against a field that included Snead, Hogan, Demaret and McSpaden, Nelson shot a second-round 69 when he hit 17 greens and wound up with a five-shot victory over Hogan. Snead was 10th.

Nelson believes the timing of his L.A. Open victory was important because it came on the heels of his record-setting 1945 campaign when he won 19 times--11 of them in succession.

“When I finished ‘45, one of the things I wanted to accomplish was to win every important tournament in the U.S.,” Nelson said. “And there was one that continued to elude me. It was the L.A. Open.

“But I had built myself up in a good frame of mind and I felt like I was ready. I was never egotistical about my game, but I was pretty confident.”

Nelson always put the L.A. Open on the short list of vital tournaments in the early days of the pro tour.

“It was the key tournament in the West, definitely,” he said. “One of the most important tournaments anywhere. I was always proud to have won that tournament. That filled out my life span.”

ARNOLD PALMER

The greatest player in the history of golf? That’s Jack Nicklaus. But the most popular? That’s certainly Palmer, who won 60 times on the PGA Tour--three of them at the L.A. Open.

Palmer’s hat trick featured a three-shot victory over Gary Player and Al Balding in 1963, a three-shot victory over Miller Barber and Paul Harney in 1966 and a five-shot victory over Gay Brewer in 1967. All three of his victories were at Rancho Park.

If the L.A. Open had a love affair with Palmer, the feeling was mutual.

“Over the years, the tournament has always been one of the great stops on the tour, with rich history and great winners,” Palmer said. “I always felt fortunate to win there.

“As far as I can tell, it’s still one of the best tournaments that is played each year.”

It should be pointed out that Palmer’s three L.A. Open titles dovetailed nicely into that Golden Era of the mid-1960s when golf and television were getting to know each other better. Images of the dashing Palmer performing dramatic feats on the golf course ushered the game out of its country club image into everyman’s living room and also into a new era of visceral excitement, with the easy smiling pro from Latrobe, Pa., showing the way.

In fact, Palmer’s 1966 triumph--the 40th L.A. Open--was the first in the bunch to enjoy national television coverage.

The purse for that event? It was $75,000, and Palmer’s share was $11,000. In a professional career that began in 1955, Palmer has played 728 events, won 73 of them (including international titles) and made an official total of $1,861,857.

He could have done better financially in a later era, but in the history of golf and the L.A. Open, Palmer came along at just the right time.

LIGHTHORSE HARRY COOPER

He was born Harry E. Cooper in Leatherhead, England, but he picked up his lifelong nickname “Lighthorse” for his pace of play. In fact, if Lighthorse Harry played any faster, he would have needed a saddle.

Some say his greatest reputation was coming in second, which he did an estimated 28 times in his career from 1926-1942, but he also won his share, including a brand new event in 1926--the first L.A. Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

The tournament was called “the greatest golfing classic the West has ever known.” It had drawn such a reputation that legendary writer Damon Runyan was sent from New York to cover it.

The purse was $10,000 for the first L.A. Open and the field was 250--too small for an army, but too many for a golf tournament.

But Cooper was up to the task. He shot a 67 on the last day to defeat heralded amateur George Von Elm by three shots. As usual, Cooper finished with a flourish. He eagled the 18th hole and won $3,500.

The tournament has been played and won 73 times since, but Cooper was the first.

MacDONALD SMITH

One of three brothers born in Carnoustie, Scotland, Smith never won a major championship, but he did accomplish something no one else has. He won the L.A. Open four times, on four courses.

Smith’s success rate at the L.A. Open is unparalleled, especially for consistency. His titles were between 1928 and 1934.

Credited with one of the finest swings in the history of golf, Smith won at Wilshire in 1928, by three shots over Cooper; in 1929 at Riviera, by six shots over Tommy Armour; in 1932 at Hillcrest by four shots; and in 1934 at Los Angeles Country Club, by eight shots over Willie Hunter and Bill Mehlhorn.

In his 1928 victory, the 36-year-old Smith needed only 115 putts, an average of 1.6. In 1929, there were so many players trying to get into the field and chase the $10,000 purse, a 36-hole qualifying event was held. Smith stood the tallest. Smith had the low opening round with a 69 in 1932 and won going away, over Leo Diegel, Dick Metz, Joe Kirkwood and Olin Dutra. And in 1934, Smith shot 69-68 over the weekend and posted his lowest score, 280.

Smith’s brothers were Alex and Willie. In the 1910 U.S. Open, when MacDonald was 20, he got into a playoff with Johnny McDermott and brother Alex. And it was Alex who won.

Smith was second again to Bobby Jones in the 1930 U.S. Open at Interlachen and second to Jones once more in the British Open at Hoylake the same summer. Smith might have won in 1925 at Preswick, where he had a five-shot lead after three rounds, but he shot an 82 when a 76 would have won it.

In all, Smith finished within three shots of the winning score at the U.S. Open or British Open a total of 12 times.

Actually, that’s quite a record for someone who gave up golf to work in a shipyard in World War I and didn’t take up golf again until 1923.

Maybe Smith didn’t come through in a major, but in the L.A. Open, he dominated like no one before or since.

LLOYD MANGRUM

He could have been an Errol Flynn look-alike, this smooth-swinging Texan. A cigarette in his mouth, his hair parted squarely down the middle and a thin, neatly trimmed mustache, Mangrum might have walked off some sound stage from the 1940s.

But appearances may have been deceiving. Mangrum was not acting when he stepped on the golf course. There, he had his role down pat. Mangrum won 34 times from the 1940-1956 and four of them were at the Los Angeles Open--in 1949, 1951, 1953 and 1956. He might have even won more, but Mangrum won something else instead--the Purple Heart. Two of them, actually, serving under Gen. George Patton in World War II, twice wounded at the Battle of the Bulge.

Mangrum’s only major title was the 1946 U.S. Open, which he won in a rare 36-hole playoff. He joined George Fazio in a three-way playoff with Hogan that Hogan won in the 1950 Open at Merion, and also finished second twice at the Masters, to Jimmy Demaret in 1940 and Snead in 1949.

Each of Mangrum’s four L.A. Open titles involved some sort of sideline subtext that made it more interesting.

In 1949 at Riviera, Mangrum’s victory occurred at the same time four-time winner Smith played his 23rd and last L.A. Open. Mangrum must have had good anniversary timing because he won both the 25th L.A. Open and the 30th L.A. Open. His 1953 victory at Riviera was the first time the tournament was shown on television.

CHARLIE SIFFORD

He will be the first to admit that he was way past his prime in 1969, but that’s not what really mattered to 46-year-old Charlie Sifford at the L.A. Open when he showed up at Rancho Park.

The important thing, once again, was that he was able to play at all.

The L.A. Open was more than willing to let Sifford and other African American golfers, Teddy Rhodes and Bill Spiller, play in the event, despite the PGA of America’s notorious “Caucasians only” clause that should have kept them out of the L.A. Open . . . and did keep them out of the majority of pro events.

“L.A. was so important,” said Sifford, who was at the front of the suit that helped bring the clause to an end in 1961.

“California and Los Angeles have always been great to black athletes,” Sifford said.

And in the 1969 L.A. Open, Sifford showed his respect. In the first round, he shot a 63 that included a 28 on the back. Sifford hung on, but was finally caught on the last day by Harold Henning, who closed with a 68 while Sifford had a 71. They went to a playoff, but it didn’t last long. Sifford made a birdie on the first extra hole and won.

It was a victory worth $20,000, but so much more to Sifford.

He really didn’t dwell on having his best working years denied him, but did he think about questions such as, “Why me?”

“I said that sometimes, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me,” Sifford said. “I was going to play great, come hell or high water. I always thought, ‘Let people play . . . black, white, blue or green, just give them a chance.’ ”

And on the afternoon of Jan. 12, 1969, at Rancho Park, Sifford found a friend for life.

“L.A. is my favorite town, man,” he said.

BABE DIDRIKSON ZAHARIAS

The first woman to play in a men’s professional golf event? It was 1938, it was the L.A. Open at Griffith Park and it was the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

The Texan picked up the nickname “Babe” from Babe Ruth, a role model for hitting home runs, which the female “Babe” accomplished with elan in her school days. Her sports career started in basketball. She was an All-American for three years, 1930-32, then took up track and field and immediately set a U.S. record in the javelin, also winning titles in the long jump and hurdles.

In the 1932 Olympics at the Coliseum, she set three world records. But golf was still to come. Sportswriter Grantland Rice is credited for encouraging her to take up the game. In 1935, she won the Texas Amateur, then went barnstorming with Gene Sarazen, Horton Smith and Joyce Wethered. She married George Zaharias in 1938, the same year she played the L.A. Open.

Jimmy Thompson won that year, beating John Revolta by four shots, but it was Didrikson who made the biggest news, just by teeing it up. She played only the first two days and shot 84-81 to miss the cut, but history was more important.

FRED COUPLES

There always has been something about Couples that draws so much attention--something besides his impeccable golf, of course. Maybe it’s the way he carries himself, strolling down fairways and spinning his driver around as if he’s shooing away flies. Maybe it’s his seemingly carefree attitude or easygoing demeanor.

At the Nissan L.A. Open, it is because of all that . . . and the fact that he won twice with simply overpowering golf.

In 1990 at Riviera, Couples shot a Riviera record-tying 62 in the third round, then came from behind on the last day with birdies at No. 16 and No. 18 to defeat Gil Morgan by three shots and win his first title in three years.

In 1992, it was even better. Couples shot a third-round 64 and closed with a 70 to end 72 holes tied with Davis Love III, who had shot a second-round 63 and who had led by as many as four shots in the third round.

As usual with Couples, he did it with style: In a group with Love on the last day, Couples hit his first drive of the day out of bounds and started with a double-bogey seven. The playoff with Love lasted two holes, ending when Couples made an eight-foot birdie putt.