PAVIN HIS WAY BACK FORMER BRUINS STAR RETURNING TO SOLID PLAY OF HIS VINTAGE YEARS.Byline: Larry Morgan Staff Writer Corey Pavin Corey Allen Pavin (born November 16, 1959) is an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour. Pavin was born in Oxnard, California. He attended UCLA and turned professional in 1982. says he's frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: , and that's a good thing. An even-par 71 like he shot in Saturday's third round of the Nissan Open The Northern Trust Open, formally known as the Nissan Open and originally known as the Los Angeles Open, is a regular golf tournament on the PGA Tour. It is played annually in February in Pacific Palisades, California. at Riviera Country Club The Riviera Country Club is a country club with a championship golf course. It is located in Pacific Palisades, California, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. The country club opened in 1926, with George C. Thomas, Jr. as the course architect. might have given him cause to celebrate two years ago when he was mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. in a horrendous hor·ren·dous adj. Hideous; dreadful: "Horrendous explosions shook the whole city" Howard Kaplan. slump Slump A temporary fall in performance, often describing consistently falling security prices for several weeks or months. , but not now. Not when he has a 6-under 65 to his credit in this tournament and says his game is starting to look like it once did. ``I'm playing a lot better than I have in a long time,'' he said. ``It's very, very close.'' Pavin's round Saturday featured five birdies, five bogeys and some of his renowned shotmaking. He saved pars with delicate chip shots on the par-4 seventh and eighth holes and from a cart path on the par-5 11th. ``Today could have been a much better day,'' he said. ``It's as frustrated as I can get on the golf course, but that's good. To me, it's a good sign that I'm playing good enough to get mad about stuff. Things are upsetting me that a year ago it would have been like, `Oh no, here we go again.' Now it's, `Gosh, I shouldn't be doing that. Let's fix it and get it right.' ``That's a much better attitude to have.'' Pavin, who turned 40 in November, said he doesn't know what caused his slide. Critics maintain it was changing equipment from Titleist to PRGR, but the former UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX standout said his swing simply went bad. ``I got into bad habits bad habit Unhealthy habit Clinical medicine A patterned behavior regarded as detrimental to physical or mental health, which is often linked to a lack of self-control. Cf Good habit. , and I didn't realize it before it was too late,'' he said. ``Then I had to kind of start over again and get my swing mechanically correct, which felt very uncomfortable to me. I had to play with it on the golf course, and it's very hard to play golf when you don't feel comfortable. ``I had to fight through that for a long time.'' His perseverance Perseverance See also Determination. Ainsworth redid dictionary manuscript burnt in fire. [Br. Hist.: Brewer Handbook, 752] Call of the Wild, The dogs trail steadfastly through Alaska’s tundra. [Am. Lit. rewarded him a year ago, when he finished 70th on the money list with $569,045. He also had three top-10 finishes, including a tie for 10th at the PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the U.S. PGA Championship outside of North America) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers Association of America as part of the PGA Tour. . Pavin said he never reached a low point - ``I had a lot of them,'' he joked - but he did admit he was depressed about his game. Golf clearly was no fun. ``It's accurate to say that,'' he said. ``It's no fun going through slumps. The greatest thing about what I've been going through is people have been very supportive. They say, `Come on, hang in there. You can do it.' That's nice. That's been the high point of it all, people cheering me on and hoping I come back and play well. ``That really helps encourage me and keep me going. Sometimes, I didn't want to keep going. I just wanted to say forget it for a few weeks or a month or something like that. All those little things really make a difference.'' A round like his 65 on Friday, he said, indicates he is closer to his old form than he might have thought. He had failed to make the cut in his past three tournaments, but Riviera has restored some of his confidence. The course has a history of doing that to him. Not only did he win in back-to-back years, but he finished third in 1985 and tied for sixth in '86. ``I like the course a lot, obviously,'' he said. ``I feel comfortable here. It's a course that requires good play all around. It's not only a shotmakers' course but a chipper-and putter's course. It has the whole package. ``If you're not on one part of your game, you won't play well here.'' He's having no such problem this week. ``I just have to get to the point where I feel confident with what I'm doing, and it's very close right now,'' Pavin said. ``When I do come out of this (slump) completely, it's going to be very rewarding on a personal level. ``I know my game can be just as good as it was, if not better.'' CAPTION(S): photo, 2 boxes Photo: Although Corey Pavin fired an even-par 71 in the third round of the Nissan Open on Saturday, the veteran felt he could have done better. John McCoy/Staff Photographer Box: (1) THIRD-ROUND SCORES (2) FINAL-ROUND GROUPINGS |
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