|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mickelson Defends His Title at Riviera Mickelson Defends His Title at Riviera For years I watched Phil Mickelson play the game on television and always enjoyed the experience. That's probably because I related to him so closely. Neither of us were country club kids. He grew up learning how to hit scoring shots in his backyard in San Diego, where his father created a short practice area. I grew up doing the same thing in our front yard in Los Angeles, where my father put a cup in the ground – and eventually a net over the windows. During a round we shared in San Diego County a few years ago, Phil said he was going to add the Northern Trust Open to his schedule. I thought that was good for him and Los Angeles golf fans because he hadn't done much at Riviera in his career, hadn't even played it for six years at that point, but now he wanted to play it and win. We agreed to walk the course during his pro-am round and take a look at some of the nuances that make Riviera so challenging. It does have its subtleties. It's a canyon course and at its far end the sixth hole is little more than a mile from the ocean. That means putts generally tend to be pulled that way. There aren't a lot of tournament courses in the U.S. that have Kikuyu grass, much less embrace it as Riviera does. It can kill approach shots short of the greens but it's durable, doesn't take much water and it's a terrific surface once you understand how to play on it. Phil has a very technical mind, so he was particularly interested in breaks on the greens, for example, how some are harder or softer than they appear. But he's also a very creative player, and has said how much he enjoys the chance to shape as many shots as are needed at the course. That first year Phil finished second in a playoff. Last year he won and I was reminded of Nick Faldo's remarks in 1997. Nick had been playing full time on the PGA Tour for several years with the idea of getting better conditioned to the American style of play in preparation to win major championships. He won the Masters twice but his third and final Tour win was at Riviera. And he said although most of time he was actually preparing for shots he'd need at majors, his win at Riviera was the most satisfying Tour win he could have because it was such a fabulous course and a particular favorite of his idol, Ben Hogan. I'm convinced that great players play great courses great, which is why the trophy has so many big names on it. But Riviera also has its share of share of first-time or surprise winners. I think whether they're Hall-of Famers or not, players get excited about playing here because of the course and its tradition. And I think it's why Phil has played so well here the last two years. He knows the layout now, and he's playing it. And that may be a good place for a final golf tip. Think about when you started in the game as a kid or in later years with friends. Maybe you were figuring it out for yourself, like Phil and I did, or you'd had some instruction, but once you were out there your joy came not from keep your left arm "straight," or "flexing" your knees, but from the joy of hitting shots, finding some way to get the ball in the hole. You work at golf on the range to get better. You play golf to enjoy it. We did some prep work on the course together and then Phil went out and played the course, enjoyed it, and it showed. I'm excited about having the Northern Trust return to Riviera this year. We have a fine champion defending his title on a wonderful course, and I'm looking forward to seeing you during the week. One of Riviera's many beauties is its variety of holes designed by George Thomas, who also designed Los Angeles Country Club and Bel Air. Those three different and storied courses exemplify Thomas' genius for variety on a grander scale. But let's get back to the home of the Northern Trust Open. There are only three par-5s at Riviera, the first, 11th and 17th, and they typically rank 18th, 17th and 16th respectively in difficulty; they're truly birdie holes. But each is followed by a difficult hole or stretch of holes, so one, 11 and 17 give players a chance to take a birdie and gain some momentum, or keep it going. They're centerpieces of Thomas' diversity of challenges on his grand old course. The first hole starts with one of the most famous drives on the PGA Tour. The small tee is squeezed between the clubhouse and a cliff that drops to the second green. Hundreds of spectators can cram against the tee box to watch players start their rounds with a drive that soars off the hillside to a wide fairway below. Years ago the barranca that crosses the fairway was filled with vines, rocks and flowing water but it's a much less imposing dry gulch now. It also used to be a three-shot hole; now most players are reaching the green with a mid-iron. That first birdie is valuable because the second hole plays long, uphill and into the wind and it's the first of four of the tougher holes on the course. The 11th is a long narrow hole bordered on both sides of tall stands of ancient eucalyptus trees and cut by the same barranca that runs across the first hole. An errant drive can lead to a pitch-out that might bring the barranca into play. But with a good drive many can reach the wide, basically flat green in two, and the green isn't guarded by dangerous bunkers so a good pitch can still bring a birdie. That's important because the 12th is the first in four of the next five holes that on average play above par. Closing out that tough stretch on Riviera’s back nine is the 17th, which usually plays with the wind, as does 11, but this fairway is guarded by a gaping bunker on the right of the landing area. This is probably the hardest long hole to reach in two and the third shot is deceptively uphill to a two-tied green. A so-so pitch can spin back leaving a difficult birdie try but it's important to take advantage of the hole because the 18th, with the only blind drive on the course, is statistically one of the most difficult holes out there, especially with the title on the line Sunday afternoon. Phil Mickelson won the Northern Trust last year at 12 under par and eight of his 20 birdies were on the par 5s. The year before, Charles Howell won at Riviera with 16-under, when he was 12-under on the long holes. I think that's a tribute to George Thomas and his design of Riviera. More than 80 years ago he challenged members to take some birdies here and fight for them there and the best players in the world are still doing that today. Riviera: A Magical Place to Play As a child I lived up the street from Riviera. My father had put a net across the back of the house so I wouldn't break any more windows and cut a hole in the front yard so I could putt, but other than that I just played the public courses in the area. When I was about 13 I started taking lessons from a Los Angeles teaching pro, Walter Keller. He's pick me up at 7 a.m. for lessons but I was so excited to be going to a real course I'd be up at 5 or 5:30, waiting with my clubs and shoes shined. I started sneaking into Riviera a little after that. Sometimes I'd leave my clubs in the bushes along the first fairway overnight, pick them up on the way home from school the next day and sneak through a gap in the fence. Then I'd work in the practice fairway between the first and second holes. After I started winning junior tournaments, Walter convinced the club to give me a junior membership and my parents paid $50 a month so I could feel more a part of it all. I could play only at certain times unless a member asked me. Riviera had more than its share of celebrity members stars well before I came along and I'd run into stars all the time. It was part of living in Los Angeles, where you can run into them on the first tee or buying cheese in a grocery store. I played with Sid Luft, Judy Garland's husband. I practiced putting on the upper putting green and I'd putt with Rita Hayworth. I didn't know who she was but my mother would pick me up and say, "Oh, she's a famous actress," and I'd say, "Yes, Mom, and she wears these blue suede shoes." Robert Wagner was a good player in his day. Glen Campbell, of course. Dean Martin would come through with his gambling buddies. When I turned pro at 18 Dean Martin was one of my 15 sponsors. I had 15 people put up a thousand bucks apiece for a year. Can you imagine trying to play the tour on 15 grand today? (Ed. Note: Alcott won her third event in 1975 and was named Rookie of the Year.) It's fitting that there have been so many wonderful people there because Riviera is just a magical place to play. It plays totally different in the morning than in the afternoon, when the wind usually comes from the west through the canyon. For as many great, great players it’s had as winners, it's had its share of first-timers, too. I think it's the excitement of playing a great course like that that inspires players. I love all the holes out there but there are certain favorites, too. I've had three aces, two on No. 6 and one on 16. And I've written before about 10, the short but challenging par-4, the way the light streaks across it in the evenings. But then there's 15, a long par-4 that plays into the wind and the sun in the afternoon, one of the toughest par-4s anywhere. It has that wonderful shaping left-to-right, the bunker that guards the corner, and a green that sets similar to the 10th, where it moves out to the right and way from you. And of course, No 5, which plays out to a plateau and then drops down into this sort of cavern where the green sets against all those eucalyptus trees. I like downhill holes where you can see exactly what you have to do. Other than the drive on 18 Riviera doesn't have blind shots but it's still full of surprises. And fond memories for me. Although I must say being a member is far nicer than sneaking in through the fence. U.S. Ryder Cup: Playing for the Joy of the Game In my opinion the last three Ryder Cup wins by the Europeans weren't as much about the golf as about the attitude, the mentality of it all. I'd watch the Europeans hug each other and the Americans play with a kind of individual machismo. It was almost as if they'd bought into all the hype about being favored, drama between Tiger and Phil or captains' decisions. This year the golf was truly amazing. I've never seen 24 people play so well. But there were two other things: The U.S. had a very diverse team, young and experienced, bold types and grinder types. And they played with a real joy, wanting to be together, and it showed in a real cohesiveness. It was great for golf, and great for American golf, because they played with joy in their hearts. It all comes down to this: You want to play the game you enjoy with people you enjoy. There were great individual stories, too. The amazing play of a very bright crop of young players, Anthony Kim, Boo Weekly, J.B Holmes and Hunter Mahan. I'm sure Steve Stricker didn't play as well as he'd hoped, but just to be there he had to reinvent himself at about age 40. Hitting balls at home in Wisconsin in the snow, knowing he might only have one more chance? That was a Rocky type of thing. And of course you had veterans like Jim Furyk, who got the winning point, and Phil Mickelson. He went 1-2-2 but Anthony Kim said Phil took him under his wing and Captain Paul Azinger praised Phil for what he contributed on and off the course. Phil has so much Ryder Cup experience, he's a people person and he's such a good listener. I think if Phil wants the job when his playing days are over he can be a fabulous captain. Aside from the great players and great stories, I enjoyed the Ryder Cup because of its match play format, which is a different animal from the weekly stroke play events. The beauty of match play is that it's mano a mano, you just have one person you have to beat that day. In stroke play you're playing the course. In match play you're playing your opponent. When you see your opponent has hit the ball out of bounds why take the driver off the tee? Just take your hybrid out and knock it down the fairway, keep yourself in the game. If he hits it close, you know what you have to do. It's all in front of you. You can't let your highs get too high or lows too low. That can be said of stroke or match play but it's really critical in match play. It allows you to be more aggressive. When you get one up you, you have to feel like, "I'm going to go 1-up, 2 up, 3-up." You cannot feel, "I’m 1-up, I'm comfortable." No. It's kind of like wrestling; you want to get him down and pin him down. It gives you the perfect opportunity to be really aggressive because if you make an 8 you're just going to lose the hole. But when you do get somebody down that’s the time to take advantage of it. It's like a blackjack game when you’re playing with house money. Make your score, wrap it up early and go enjoy a nice lunch. The Story of Riviera's Par-4 Tenth Hole The Northern Trust Open is staged on one of America’s classic golf courses, Riviera Country Club. The George C. Thomas design is almost unchanged since its debut in 1926, and for good reason: Mr. Thomas got it right the first time, asking players to think all the way around, to shape their shots to the left and right, to negotiate a difficult par-3 such as the fourth hole and capitalize on the reachable par-5 first hole. It’s a challenging course, yet one that’s fun, not draining. And that, in a nutshell, is the story of the par-4 tenth hole. The hole runs 315 yards from the back tees very slightly downhill and to the right. The oblong green sits at a rather severe angle away from the fairway and it’s protected by bunkers short-left and around the right edge of the green from front to back. I love the hole because there are numerous ways to play it. A 5-iron and wedge figure into the scenario just as much as a driver or 3-wood off the tee. Some Tour pros can drive the green but they’re often left with a very difficult two-putt for birdie. A wedge long or short may leave them with tough up-and-down from the sand to a slightly crowned green in that back corner. Because I have no chance to reach it, I drive it down the left side of the fairway with a 3 wood and hit a wedge or 9-iron to give myself the best opening at the green. If you play right at it as an average golfer tends to do, with no thought to the basic angles of the hole, your options drop from scoring a 3 or 4 to making a 5 or 6. I grew up on Riviera but I still get pure pleasure late in the afternoon carrying my bag there and playing what's known as the "whiskey route," holes 10, 11 and 12. The way the light falls through the eucalyptus trees in a light fog mist of summer or a stiff ocean breeze in winter is enchanting. That look, and the feel of the course captured in those three holes, especially the 10th, reminds me of why I play for the pure love of the game.
|
