Whether or Not There’s Rain, They Shine

Pedro Baltino talks dirty. Dirty shoes, that is. Baltino wears a white smock and carries a big brush in the locker room at Riviera Country Club. He is among a crew of four whose job is to wipe the mud and mess and matted grass off players’ shoes after every round of the Nissan Open.

With the weather being so lousy, they’ve had their hands full.

“It’s been a nightmare,” Rafael Rodriguez said. “But it is our job and the players appreciate it.”

There is an art to cleaning golf shoes, to make them appear brand new instead of something fished out of a pond, so the locker room attendants use saddle soap along with regular soap and water. On white shoes, they’ve found that Tilex works best. Shower tiles, shoes, what’s the difference?

The players with the dirtiest shoes this week, according to the experts in the locker room at Riviera, are David Duval and Stuart Appleby.

The biggest tipper? Duval once left $500 at the end of the week.

“What a surprise,” said Baltino, who would still rather not see it rain.

“Sunny and clear, that’s what we want, or it’s double the work,” he said.

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-- Thomas Bonk