Mattiace Found His Comfort Zone at Riviera

Len Mattiace can attest that the first victory on the PGA Tour is the most difficult. He had been close before but had come up short. That’s why the feeling he had, walking up the 18th fairway at Riviera Country Club last year during the final round of the Nissan Open, was so strange.

“I was in a comfortable place,” Mattiace said.

This was a guy who had crashed hard in a similar position four years earlier. One stroke out of the lead at the 1998 Players Championship, Mattiace hit into the water on the famous island hole, No. 17 at the TPC at Sawgrass. He made a quintuple-bogey eight and finished fifth.

The demons, he said, stayed with him. He began to question if he had what it took to win on the PGA Tour.

Strangely, none of that crossed his mind at Riviera last year as he played the finishing hole tied for the lead. He made a routine two-putt par while playing partner Scott McCarron three-putted from the fringe and made bogey, and after eight years and 220 starts, Mattiace had earned his first victory.

“I knew I was playing well, and it’s easy to be comfortable when you know you are playing well,” Mattiace said. “It’s hard, when you’re struggling, to feel right and confident and all that.”

Mattiace was among a tour-record 18 first-time winners last year. The previous high of 14 was set in 1991, when Phil Mickelson, John Daly and Brad Faxon were among the first-time winners.

Last year, the list featured a varied cast of characters. Jerry Kelly, a 35-year-old journeyman with three top-three finishes in his first 10 years, set the theme by winning the Sony Open in Hawaii, the first full-field event of the year.

Ian Leggatt, Craig Parry and Craig Perks, also among the over-30 set, took home trophies for the first time. Touted youngsters such as Charles Howell III, Matt Kuchar and Luke Donald broke through. K.J. Choi became the first player from South Korea to win a tour event. Long-hitting Chris Smith was among the first-time winners, as was putting whiz Chris Riley.

“I’m not that smart, to know the reasons,” Mattiace said. “If I knew, I could make a lot of money in Vegas.”

This year, established players have dominated the early events. Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III, all of whom have won majors, and Mike Weir have victories. And so does Tiger Woods, who scored in his first try of the season over the weekend in La Jolla. Before Love won two weeks ago at Pebble Beach, foreign players had won six consecutive tournaments, dating to last season.

“The way things happen in sports, you see the pendulum swing and I think that was a time the pendulum was swinging for first-time winners,” Mattiace said. “We saw the international guys win the first few events [this year], and that might be a trend as well. I don’t know.”

The trend of first-time winners stretches back to 2001, when there were 10. That was the most since 1996, the year Woods made his professional debut.

The trend also reached across the Atlantic. The European tour had a record 13 first-time winners in 2002.

“There are so many great players out here,” said two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal. “Every week you tee it up, there are 100 guys out there who can win. I remember when I first started, it was like five or 10 guys to watch out for. Now, it’s the whole field.”

Simple math dictates that the trend of first-timers probably won’t continue this year. Also, Love was winless last year, as was David Duval. Woods, who won nine times in 2000, had five victories in 2001 and five more in 2002.

“I don’t think we will see as many this year because the percentages are against it,” Mattiace said. “Guys who were performing [in past years] didn’t perform as great. Tiger was great, but he didn’t win 11 times or nine times.... If he wins 10, it takes five other potential winners away.”

One thing is clear, however. Once a player wins, he has confidence to do so again. Kelly, Choi and Mattiace all won again last year.

Mattiace did it four months after Riviera at the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn. He shot a final-round 64, came from seven shots behind on the last day and won by a shot over Tim Petrovic.

“I wanted to continue my good play and not just sit back and say, ‘Yep, I won and that’s good enough,’ ” Mattiace said. “I try to keep pushing myself. I’m a stick-in-there type person and ... I wanted to continue that.

“I ended up winning in Memphis and, looking back on it, that was a great thing because I didn’t know when I was going to win again. Winning again in Memphis made me feel, ‘Well, I did it again.’ ”

Mattiace made the cut in 25 of 28 tournaments he played last year, by far the best showing of his career. He earned $2,194,064 -- nearly triple his previous best, $762,979 in 2000 -- and finished 18th on the money list.

He had finished second twice before. He was tied for the lead when the 1996 Buick Challenge was cut short after two rounds, then made par on the first playoff hole and lost to a birdie by Michael Bradley. He began the final round of the 1999 Sony Open three strokes off the lead, shot a final-round 68 and finished two strokes behind winner Jeff Sluman.

Mattiace had scored his only professional victory before last season in an unofficial event, the World Putting Championships in 1996. He also won a camera when he made a hole in one at the 1998 Canon Greater Hartford Open.

“I’ve seen low scores there, so I know I can do it,” Mattiace said about Riviera, where he had rounds of 65-69-67-68 last year. “That’s nice to know.... It’s funny, because when you go through a week like that, you think, ‘That was easy,’ and ‘I can do that again.’ If we could all do that, it would be easy.

“It seemed easy, but I know it’s not easy. I will be very focused and all business ... and make as many birdies as I can.”

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First-Time Winners in 2002

There were 18 first-time winners on the PGA Tour last year, breaking the record of 14 set in 1991. A look at the winners. Len Mattiace will defend his Nissan Open title Thursday through Sunday at Riviera Country Club.

*--* Player Event Comment Money (Rank) Jerry Kelly Sony Open Also won Western $2,946,889 (6th) in Hawaii Open Matt Gogel AT&T; Had only two other $1,089,482 (57th) Pebble top-10 finishes Beach National Pro-Am Len Mattiace Nissan Open Also won St. Jude $2,194,064 (18th) Classic Kevin Sutherland WGC-Accent Only two other $1,569,529 (36th) ure Match top-10 finishes Play Championsh ip Ian Leggatt Touchstone Finished fifth at $1,245,048 (47th) Energy Buick Classic Tucson Open Matt Kuchar Honda Three other top-10 $1,237,725 (49th) Classic finishes Craig Perks The Missed cut in 11 of $1,632,042 (34th) Players next 20 tournaments Championsh ip K.J. Choi Compaq Also won Tampa Bay $2,204,907 (17th) Classic of Classic New Orleans Chris Smith Buick Had four other $1,361,094 (43rd) Classic top-10 finishes Spike McRoy B.C. Open Missed cut in eight $616,814 (110th) of next 12 events Craig Parry WGC-NEC One other top-10 $1,466,235 (37th) Invitation finish al Chris Riley Reno-Tahoe Four other top-10 $2,032,979 (23rd) Open finishes, 14 top-25 finishes John Rollins Bell Five other top-10 $1,956,565 (25th) Canadian finishes, 15 top-25 Open finishes Charles Howell Michelob Runner-up at the $2,707,747 (9th) Championsh Tour Championship ip at Kingsmill Jonathan Byrd Buick One third-place $1,462,713 (39th) Challenge finish, 10 top-25 finishes Luke Donald Southern Win was his only $1,088,205 (58th) Farm top-10 finish Bureau Classic Phil Tataurangi Invensys Three other top-10 $1,643,686 (33rd) Las Vegas finishes Classic Bob Burns Disney One third-place $1,199,802 (51st) Golf finish, missed 19 Classic of 30 cuts

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