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Another Chapter Written at Riviera Riviera Country Club has eight decades of history and we were lucky enough to see another chapter written at the Northern Trust Open in February. Phil Mickelson successfully defended his title, which others have done. But, not to put too fine a point on it, Phil joins only Ben Hogan as a player who has finished 2-1-1 in consecutive years at Riviera. Now, others have had nice runs at Riviera. Lanny Wadkins won twice and finished in the top 10 nine out of 12 times in the mid-1970-80s, and in the process set the tournament record that still stands, 20 under par 264. Fred Couples played in the last group on Sunday this year and used the same silky swing he did when he won twice and finished second three times between 1990-96. It would be hard to find four players with such different styles, but I think that just points out the beauty of Riviera. It presents an open canvas, and some of the great artists have done some of their best work on it: Hogan's machine-like precision, Mickelson's flair with his short strokes, Wadkins' wild slashes and Couples' understated power. I don't think it's surprising at all that only two players, Pat Fitzsimons and T.C. Chen, won here for the first and last time in their careers. Only Ben Hogan has successfully defended his title at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth and won at Riviera and Colonial in the same year, and only Mickelson can join him in sharing both those records this year. Now, perhaps Phil, with his booming drives and sometimes wild recoveries, and his wide white belt, doesn't strike you as a traditionalist in the mold of Hogan, and in those areas they are not similar. But let me tell you a little story about the reigning Northern Trust Open champion. We met for a round of golf at nearby Bel-Air Country Club in January. It wasn't a nice day, cool and rainy, but off we went for nine holes, and though the rain kept coming, when we got to the turn, virtually alone on the course, we decided to continue our slog. As we carried our own bags we talked about how we both grew up teaching ourselves the game in our own yards and about the timeless qualities of the old courses like Riviera and Bel-Air. It became clear to me that Phil may commute from his home to the tournament by plane each day but he has a real reverence for the old game and its ways. Phil is a superstar professional but at heart he's just a kind of golf nut, too. One of his fond memories is being in Scotland for a British Open, and driving for hours with friends to play St. Andrews in the rain, like any other American tourist who went all that way to play no matter what – and he’d already played there in tournaments several times. I have to say Phil's game wasn't very sharp the day we played and he did struggle in his first few events. He hadn't broken 70 when he got to Riviera and that got me thinking about what my old coach, Walter Keller, used to say, "You have to play with what you've got." You just have to work through your problems until you can find a comfort zone and get back to your game. I think it was Phil's comfort with Riviera after the previous two years that helped him shoot 63 on Thursday, a score he'd beaten only four times in his career. After a scratchy second round, he worked with his instructor, Butch Harmon, and shot 62 on Saturday, a score he'd only beaten twice before. And on Sunday he was back to playing with what he had, mostly heart after his lead was gone, making birdies on two of the last three holes to win by a stroke. I'm not sure Hogan would have given a big lead the way Phil did but I'm sure he would have been proud of the way Riviera asked and Phil answered. Thanks very much for sharing some of my memories and observations about Riviera over the last few months. I enjoyed the opportunity, and I hope to see you again next year at the Northern Trust Open.
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