RIVIERA'S 18TH HOLE A GAUNTLET.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI If you don't think Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. has the market cornered on classic sports vistas, take a look around. Look up at the Coliseum peristyle and Olympic flame The Olympic Flame, Olympic Fire, Olympic Torch, Olympic Light, Olympic Eye, and Olympic Sun is a symbol of the Olympic Games. Commemorating the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus, its origins lie in ancient Greece, when a fire during a Saturday-night football game. Look out at the San Gabriel mountains San Gabriel Mountains, S Calif., E and NE of Los Angeles, running c.50 mi (80 km) westward from Cajon Pass. San Antonio Peak (10,080 ft/3,072 m) is the highest of the range. Citrus fruits are raised on the southern foothills. from Santa Anita's grandstand or the Rose Bowl's upper rows. Watch the sun set on the hills beyond the Dodger Stadium • • [ bleachers. Check out the Pacific Ocean from the Pepperdine baseball diamond. Stare up the 18th fairway at Riviera to the famous natural amphitheater and clubhouse. That last one is a work of art to golf fans. But it might be less eye-pleasing to pro golfers. ``It's a beautiful hole,'' said Robert Allenby Robert Allenby (born 12 July 1971) is an Australian professional golfer. Allenby was born in Melbourne. He turned professional in 1992 and was soon successful, topping the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit in his first season and again in 1994. , one of four players tied for second, three strokes behind 10-under-par Davis Love III Davis Milton Love III (born April 13, 1964) is an American professional golfer. Love was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina before turning professional in 1985. , going into today's final 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. . Beautiful, he said. It should be noted that Allenby, an Australian who is a veteran of the soggy European golf tour, earlier described Saturday's rainy and chilly conditions as ``great weather.'' The hole most likely to determine the winner of the 75th Nissan Open - if the storm doesn't settle things first - is the blonde, blue-eyed murderess of Riviera. It's a par-4 that's 451 yards of terror. Allenby prefers to think of it as ``a short par-5.'' What doesn't it have? It's long. It's uphill. The green is a narrow target, and distance from the fairway is hard to gauge because there are no surrounding bunkers to provide perspective. Eucalyptus trees guard the right side of the fairway. That's the easier way to err. A steep berm berm: see beach. of kikuyu grass kikuyu grass see pennisetumclandestinum. looms on the left. A golfer forced to hit his second shot from there will find the ball below his feet. It's fun to watch, hard to play. And I haven't mentioned the scariest part of the 18th - golf's version of the Green Monster This article is about the left-field wall at Fenway Park. For other uses, see Green Monster (disambiguation). The Green Monster (often known simply as The Monster or The Wall) is the nickname of the 37-foot, two-inch (11. . A drive must fly 220 yards to get over the 50-foot-high slope that rises from the tee to the fairway. A player can't see where his drive lands. Assuming he gets it up and over. From close up, the clubhouse, behind the green, is a monolith atop a mountain, impossible to miss. From the tee, it's a distant smudge of pink Spanish tile, barely visible between the eucalyptus branches. Tom Watson picks Riviera's finishing hole for his ``Dream 18.'' Of course he does. Watson won the then-Los Angeles Open twice thanks to 18th-hole bogeys by Don January Donald Ray January (born November 20, 1929) is an American professional golfer. He was born in Plainview, Texas, and graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas. Don January won 10 PGA Tour titles in his career (though never more than one in a year), with his most notable and Bob Gilder Robert Bryan Gilder (born December 31, 1950) is an American professional golfer. He won six tournaments in his PGA Tour career and currently plays on the Champions Tour where he has nine wins. in 1980 and Johnny Miller
John Laurence "Johnny" Miller (born April 29, 1947) is a former professional golfer on the PGA Tour who was born and raised in San Francisco. in 1982. ``It's certainly one of the great finishing holes. It's just one of the great holes, period,'' 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. said after shooting a best-of-the-day 67 to join the tie for second. In Pavin's 1994 and 1995 Nissan victories, he went to the 18th with two-stroke leads and felt fortunate to par the hole. ``Two shots going to 18 (at Riviera) is not home free,'' he said. ``I remember being nervous both times.'' Saturday, with the wind in his face, Pavin played it safe, laying up on his second shot and pitching to within 12 feet to save his second par 4 at the 18th since an opening-round bogey. ``Four'' sounds good at the 18th. ``Fore'' is just as likely. I watched the approach shots by the trio of Sergio Garcia, Jesper Parnevik Jesper Bo Parnevik (born March 7, 1965) is a Swedish professional golfer. He is the son of the Swedish entertainer Bo Parnevik. Parnevik was born in Stockholm, Sweden. and Doug Barron scatter the gallery all the way from the right of the green to high on the left embankment Saturday. It was an umbrella day, sure enough. Raining golf balls. After three rounds, the 18th has yielded the fewest birdies (20) and most double bogeys (10). Allenby has bogeyed it twice because of errant 3-wood second shots. Love, who's long enough to hit 5-irons, has played the 18th to a standstill, but had to scramble for his par Saturday after going left from the fairway. At least they avoided the beer tent on the right, below the green. Amateur Gary Birch Jr. found his ball under the cash register Friday and needed relief from a rules official to salvage a bogey. Tiger Woods hit it into the same concession stand on the final day in 1999 to ruin his chance to catch winner Ernie Els. What visiting pros dream of - but few experience - is what Dave Stockton did in 1974 after going to the last hole tied with Sam Snead and John Mahaffey. At the tee, the 61-year-old Snead sidled up to Stockton and ever-so-casually mentioned how he was a master of this hole, having birdied the 18th to beat Byron Nelson in 1945 and Ben Hogan in 1950. Stockton yanked his drive into that sloping rough. As he pulled the 3-wood out of his bag, Stockton looked up to find Snead standing within intimidating range. Unnerved this time, Stockton knocked a 247-yard shot within 12 feet of the pin and made the birdie to win. Stockton called that ``the greatest shot I ever hit.'' Eighteenth-hole drama decided the Nissan the past two years. Kirk Triplett had to sink a four-foot putt for par to clinch his first PGA Tour victory in 2000. But that's nothing. Eighteenth-hole drama decided the 1995 PGA Championship at Riviera - twice. Colin Montgomerie sank a long birdie putt to force a sudden-death playoff. Steve Elkington made a 25-foot birdie putt and won the playoff when Montgomerie missed another long one. Put Montgomerie on a long list of golfers sharing the view that the 18th at Riviera is a nice place to visit - but you wouldn't want to make your living there. 18TH HOLE HISTORY A look at some 18th-hole moments in Los Angeles Open history: --Kirk Triplett won his first PGA Tour event by sinking a four-foot putt on No. 18 in 2000. --Stockton vs. Snead: Dave Stockton and Sam Snead were tied for the lead in 1974, and Stockton overcame the steep slope on the approach (and Snead's intimidating glare) by putting his second shot 12 feet from the pin. The 247-yard approach shot led to a birdie, and a Stockton victory. 18TH HOLE IN 2001 --The hole has yielded the fewest birdies (20) and most double bogeys (10) among all the holes at Riviera CC. CAPTION(S): photo, 3 boxes Photo: The 18th hole at Riviera has breathtaking views, and causes golfers to hold their breath during shots. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer Box: (1) THIRD-ROUND SCORES (2) TODAY'S PAIRINGS (3) 18TH HOLE HISTORY (see text) |
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