OFF TO FIND GREENER FAIRWAYS.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Thanks for the memories ...

Of watching Jack Nicklaus play his final U.S. Open round in 2000 at Pebble Beach, where heir apparent Tiger Woods won by a record 15 strokes two days later. ...

Of seeing Valencia High junior Brandon Christianson get to 11 under par going into his final hole at Ojai's Soule Park in 2002, then refusing to play safe on that difficult dogleg par-5 just to protect a course-record round. He wound up with a bogey while attempting an eagle and 59, then happily appreciated a great round rather than lamenting what might have been. ....

Of hearing those roars of "Boom-Boom" echo through the wind-whipped eucalyptus trees at Riviera Country Club during gallery favorite Freddie Couples' 1990 and 1992 title runs in the Nissan Open. ...

Of Daily News Golfer of the Year Brett Kanda kissing the championship trophy as his coach, Bob Loughrie, nearly burst with pride after the Flintridge Prep of La Canada Flintridge senior became his school's first CIF/SCGA champion last year. ...

Of watching former Cal State Northridge All-American Jeff Sanday shoot 63 in the 1998 Buick Invitational - at the time the lowest score ever by a player in his first round of a PGA Tour event - as a qualifier so unknown that his name was misspelled on his caddie's bib. ...

Of Valencia resident and former Hart High of Newhall star Jason Gore shooting 59 on the Nationwide Tour, sharing the midway U.S. Open lead, winning a record three consecutive Nationwide events to earn a "Battlefield Promotion" to the PGA Tour, then winning his fourth start there to earn a two-year PGA Tour exemption - all in the space of three months last summer. ...

Of the consideration shown by the late Payne Stewart, coming to the press room to help writers with interviews during a Buick Invitational rainstorm in 1998, when gusting wind produced whitecaps in the Torrey Pines swimming pool. Stewart won his second U.S. Open title the following year, just months before he died in a plane crash. ...

Of watching Tommy Barber scramble for a 3-under-par 69 and CIF/SCGA-qualifying fourth-place finish in the 2000 Southern Section final. The Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks senior knocked his first shot out of bounds, missed eight of 14 fairways and hit just six greens in regulation. But he persevered to finish two shots off the lead with the kind of family short-game excellence made famous by his grandfather - 1961 PGA Championship winner Jerry Barber, who once missed eight consecutive greens and was 2-under for that stretch. ...

Of the passionate commitment to public golf and junior golf by the late Marty Tregnan, whose memory is kept alive by the Tregnan Academy for junior golfers in his beloved Griffith Park. ...

Of Arnold Palmer taking time to talk to one of his fans - La Crescenta resident Mike Padula, who was sitting in a tree to get a better view of Palmer during a 1970s Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open at Riviera. ...

Of College of the Canyons golf coach Gary Peterson annually cranking out teams that contend for conference, region or state community college championships - and winning state titles with men's and women's teams. ...

Of slender Hal Sutton holding off Nicklaus in the rough-toughened 1983 PGA Championship, of Steve Elkington's playoff win over Colin Montgomerie in the 1995 PGA Championship, of Hale Irwin's fourth of seven senior major titles in the 1998 U.S. Senior Open - all at Riviera. ...

Of the competitiveness and preparation of the late Hart High of Newhall coach Dennis Ford, whose varsity and junior varsity teams went undefeated in league play throughout the 1990s. ...

Of the continuing coaching success of Dave Costley, who has directed Westlake High to league titles in 13 of the past 14 seasons while competing in the area's toughest league - the Marmonte. ...

Of the contributions of Pete Frey and Jim Gearhardt of the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and the work of Lee Breckenridge, Jeff Barber, Roger Gunn and dozens of other area instructors in support of junior golfers. ...

Of Annika Sorenstam's 10-stroke final-round comeback in her 2001 Office Depot victory at Wilshire Country Club and her consecutive Office Depot titles at El Caballero Country Club, where the LPGA's greatest player shared celebration cake with the media and El Cab staff in 2004 after her 50th tour victory. ...

Forty years as a sportswriter, 28 with the Daily News and most of the past 20 on the golf beat, is enough writing. It's time to work on getting a little more distance off the tee. Maybe if I could learn to hit the ball with my backswing ...

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ON THE GREEN