He's a Veteran of One and Done

By THOMAS BONK

Feb. 23, 2006 12 AM PT

CARLSBAD —

This week, the face of a first-round loser in this $7.5-million match play tournament probably looks a lot like that of Charles Howell III -- tanned, rested, placid.

And if Howell doesn’t appear stressed, imagine how his wife, Heather, must feel, after receiving a massage and a facial every day in the famed spa at La Costa.

This place used to ooze Hollywood when it opened in 1965 and lured Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and Desi Arnaz, who all held club memberships. The new spa opened three years ago. It’s a Spanish-colonial style building with feng shui features. There are 42 treatment rooms besides a pool and a Roman waterfall for shoulder massages.

Howell didn’t set foot in the spa, but he said he did find something to do for fun.

“I played golf.”

Just not a lot of it. Phil Mickelson pinned a 2-up defeat on Howell in Wednesday’s first round, thus ending the tournament for Howell, effectively slamming the door on the spa the rest of the week. Howell said he was heading home to Orlando, Fla., as soon as he figured out the flight schedule, then getting ready for the Florida swing and his next tournament, the Honda Classic.

This is Howell’s fifth straight event but the first time he left on Wednesday.

“This tournament is bizarre,” he said. “You could tee off at 7:30 and be done at 10:30.”

Or, in Howell’s case, just after lunch. It’s not as though he played badly. He made three birdies in the first six holes on the back and was down only one hole until the 18th, where Mickelson ended it with a birdie.

So Howell said he would be able to take away some positive aspects to his stay, maybe not as nice as Heather’s, but still not so bad.

Part of it is timing. Because they have to divide the $7.5 million by only 64 players, it’s actually not such a terrible week to lose in the first round. The paycheck is $35,000 for everyone who started booking his return flight by Wednesday afternoon.

Howell’s trip to La Costa was a snap because he played at Riviera last week. Ernie Els also played at Riviera and La Costa, but in between he mixed in an overnight trip to Honolulu to check on a golf course he’s designing. So while Els’ commute to work was a lot longer, his work week was just as short as Howell’s, because he also lost in Wednesday’s first round and wound up pocketing his $35,000 the same as everybody else.

Howell packed enough clothes for the week, figuring he’d be around long enough to check out the feng shui himself, although that’s not the way it worked out.

Actually, Howell has experienced plenty of the brevity of match play at La Costa. He has been here five times and lost in the first round four times, in the second round on the other occasion.

It’s either the problem or the beauty of match play that you could shoot 64 and lose or 75 and win, because everything hinges on what your opponent is doing. Understandably, Howell said he prefers stroke play, which you can control a little better, at least on paper. He also said he’s glad there’s match play only once or twice a year.

When he was 16 and a skinny kid wearing glasses, Howell lost to Tiger Woods in match play at the U.S. Amateur at Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon. Now Howell is 26, the glasses are gone and he has made close to $11 million since he joined the PGA Tour in 2001. Ranked 64th, Howell has one PGA Tour victory, the 2002 Michelob at Kingsmill in Virginia, but he has been second six times since.

With caddie Jimmie Johnson lugging his clubs, Howell climbed the wooden stairs that led from the cart path behind the 18th green to the putting green on the hill at the back of the white stucco clubhouse.

Howell folded his arms and looked out over the course, his workday complete. There’s a PGA Tour event at Tucson this week, but he said he never considered playing there instead, even with the chance to play 72 holes of a stroke-play event and spend the whole week in one place instead of packing Wednesday afternoon.

When you think about it for a minute, it wasn’t such a poor experience at La Costa. Howell squeezed in some face time with his Callaway Golf sponsors, he had some fine dinners, enjoyed the Southern California sunshine and even noticed some things about his golf game that made him feel as if he’s on the right track.

Besides, there were 31 others who shared Howell’s experience Wednesday. Just because they didn’t win, they’re losers only in the technical sense, at least around this place, where feng shui is not the only way, just the right way.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

This week

*--* WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS Accenture Match Play Championship

*--*

* Site: Carlsbad.

* Schedule: Through Sunday.

* Course: La Costa Resort and Spa (7,277 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $7.5 million (winner’s share: $1.35 million).

* TV: ESPN (Today-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Saturday, 7:30-11:30 a.m.), Ch. 7 (Saturday, noon-4 p.m.; Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.) and ESPN2 (Sunday, 7:30-11 a.m.)

*--* LPGA TOUR Fields Open

*--*

* Site: Kapolei, Hawaii.

* Schedule: Today-Saturday.

* Course: Ko Olina Golf Club (6,519 yards, par 72).

* Purse: $1.1 million (winner’s share: $165,000).

* TV: Golf Channel (Today-Saturday, 3:30-6 p.m., 11 p.m.-12:30 a.m.)

*--* PGA TOUR Chrysler Classic of Tucson

*--*

* Site: Tucson.

* Schedule: Today-Sunday.

* Course: Omni Tucson National Golf Resort, Catalina Course (7,193 yards, par 72).