This Won’t Be a Yawner

There’s a “lefty” in town seeking his third consecutive tournament victory, but it’s not who you think because “who you think” is not here.

Phil Mickelson, for all we know, might be at Sea World this morning when the Nissan Open tees off at Riviera Country Club.

No, the left-hander looking to pulverize par in Pacific Palisades is Mike Weir as he embarks on his attempt to become the first golfer to win three consecutive Nissan/Los Angeles Opens.

Weir, 34, finds this prospect humbling, daunting and somewhat mind-boggling given the history of this tournament, which began in 1926, and the behemoths who have competed here.

Six players have won in consecutive years, including Ben Hogan (1947-48) and Arnold Palmer (1966-67). Corey Pavin (1994-95) was the most recent.

“Usually in the big scheme of things I don’t look at records too much,” Weir said Wednesday after his practice round. “I thought about this one. This would be a pretty cool one. Looking down the list, at the other guys that have won twice here, and a couple of times in a row, this course has a lot of history. I would like to add a little piece of it if I could.”

Deflated by Wednesday’s news that the NHL season had been canceled, it is left to the Canadian-born Weir to deliver the only “hat trick” his country may see this year.

“It’s disappointing as a fan,” said Weir, who threw down a ceremonial puck during a Toronto-Philadelphia playoff game in 2003. “I love the game, love to watch it, especially this time, because it’s getting close to March, April, when the playoffs start. And there will be nothing to watch on TV.”

Except, maybe, golf?

Weir has seven wins on tour, including his 2003 Masters breakthrough, so a third win at Riviera would all but give him an ownership stake and definitely place him in a pantheon.

Weir has won this tournament in dramatic, yet different, fashions.

Two years ago, he rallied from seven shots back Sunday to beat Charles Howell III in a playoff.

Last year, Weir entered the final day with a five-shot lead and the taint of having lost all five previous times he had held a 54-hole lead.

Weir then watched his lead disappear on the back nine and needed a dramatic down-and-up (off an embankment) for par on the 72nd hole to beat Shigeki Maruyama by one shot.

Weir will take aim against an eclectic and ever-shrinking field that includes many of the world’s top-ranked players, but not as many as there were before Wednesday’s announcement that two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, No. 5 in the world rankings, had been disqualified for missing his Wednesday morning tee-time for the pro-am.

Goosen’s DQ weakened a field that was already missing three of the tour’s top-five players: No. 1 Vijay Singh, No. 3 Ernie Els and No. 4 Mickelson all sitting this week out.

Despite an absence of superstar power, 35 of the tour’s top 50 players will try to knock Weir off his tee box, including Stewart Cink (No. 8 on the money list), Stuart Appleby (No. 11), Adam Scott (No. 12), Darren Clarke (No. 14) and Justin Leonard (No. 17).

The field also includes Paul Casey, the Englishman who inspired headlines and hackles last fall when he said that he “hated Americans.”

Casey, knowing there might be a few Yanks in the gallery this week, is doing his best to put distance on those comments.

“I am definitely sorry if I offended anybody or hurt anybody with what was said,” said Casey, who attended Arizona State.

“I felt like I didn’t properly explain myself, and maybe some of those comments were taken out of context ...”

Last, formidable and certainly not forgotten, is Tiger Woods, who can reclaim his No. 1 world ranking with a fourth place-or-better finish on a home course he has yet to conquer.

Woods has won 41 times on the PGA Tour, made 135 consecutive cuts and you can bet “winning the Nissan” ranks high on his things-left-to-do-list.

Riviera is the only course Woods has played at least four times as a professional and left without a victory. He first played here as an amateur, at age 16.

Woods still remembers his knees knocking when he stood in the No. 1 tee box all those years ago.

Much in his life has changed since, but you never lose all the innocent feelings.

“Your nerves, that’s part of the game,” Woods said. “When I lose that, that’s the day I quit. Because it means I don’t care anymore.”