RIVIERA ALLOWS LITTLE ROOM FOR ERROR : HOLE-BY-HOLE AT RIVIERA HOLE 1.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Daily News Staff Writer

Welcome to Riviera Country Club, one of the most scenic and volatile stops on the PGA Tour and host to this week's Nissan Open.

Undeniably a natural beauty, canyon-carved, tree-lined Riviera is like a sleek jungle animal - magnificent to watch but capable of eating a scorecard alive.

Robert Wrenn opened 67-69 here last year to grab the midway lead at 6-under-par 136. The next day, he bogeyed his first four holes en route to a 76-75 finish that left him tied for 33rd.

``This course can reach out and grab you so fast,'' he said. ``You've got to keep your attention.''

And Wrenn said that before he started his third round.

So what will this week's 144-man field be planning for its attack on the par-71, 6,946-yard course in Pacific Palisades?

The No. 1 goal, undoubtedly, will be staying out of the 4-inch kikuyu-grass rough that might be Riviera's main defense.

An equally formidable defense is more obvious - those towering eucalyptus trees that tightly line almost every fairway and dictate not just long drives but also well-placed ones for any chance at a good score.

Winds that vary daily in direction and velocity can make Riviera brutally tough and should favor early morning starters. But Corey Pavin had one of the more-remarkable rounds in recent Riviera history three years ago, when he shot a second-round 64 in a Friday-afternoon gale.

That round set up the first of what was to become two straight Nissan Open wins by former UCLA star Pavin, who relinquished his title last year to former USC star Craig Stadler.

Stadler had to survive both wind and such bitter cold in his final round that the joke that day was the easiest way to shoot in the 60s was to wait for the temperature to warm 20 degrees.

Cold, damp weather - especially at this time of year - is another aspect of Riviera, located barely five miles from the Pacific Ocean.

In warmer weather, Steve Elkington had won the PGA Championship at Riviera in August of 1995 with a tournament-record 267, equaling the lowest score ever shot in a major.

Six months later, Stadler and the rest of last year's final-day field, buffeted by frigid winds, managed just 18 of a possible 75 rounds under par.

In the best of weather, Riviera is seldom forgiving to even slight inaccuracy.

``You've got to play real position golf off the tee and into the greens to set up good putts,'' said Duffy Waldorf, the former Taft High School and UCLA star who will be playing in his 11th Nissan (formerly Los Angeles) Open this week.

Local knowledge helps, adds Waldorf, a Valencia resident who considers Riviera one of his favorite courses.

``It's a fairly long course and the greens are small, so you don't always have to fire at the flag on every hole, he said. ``You've got to know when to fire and when to play in the middle of the green.''

Riviera head professional Mike Miller, who knows this course as well as anyone, says the flow of Riviera makes the shot-selection part easy. It's that devilish execution that causes most of the problems:

He expects the touring pros will regard holes Nos. 1, 11, 17 and 10, in that order, as birdie opportunities while viewing holes Nos. 2, 18 and 15 as the three toughest with 9 and 13 tying for fourth hardest.

Miller puts the 238-yard, par-3 fourth - the one Ben Hogan once called ``the greatest par-3 hole in America,''- in a separate category:

Guarded by a huge bunker fronting the left half the green and often playing into winds that necessitate the equivalent of a 260-yard-on-the-fly tee shot, Riviera's No. 4 brings a unity of opinion to the field.

``That's a happy-with-par hole,'' Miller said. ``Just give me my par and let me out of here.''

And tough as No. 4 is, it's just part of an overall demanding package.

Pavin, who shot in the 60s in seven of eight rounds during his two-year title run, says Riviera tests every aspect of a golfer's game - driving, iron play, chipping, everything.

``There are courses out there,'' he said, `if you don't drive the ball that well, that's OK. Or if you don't hit your iron shots just right, that's OK, too. But you can't get away with anything at Riviera.''

Par 5, 501 yards: Tee shot short of large barranca crossing fairway at 260 yards makes green reachable in two.

HOLE 2

Par 4, 460 yards: Left-center off tee into quartering wind that makes 2nd shot vary from 6-iron to 3-wood.

HOLE 3

Par 4, 434 yards: Left-center tee shot to wide fairway, then iron into wind and over gaping greenfront bunker.

HOLE 4

Par 3, 238 yards: Tee shot can range from 2-iron to driver and many will try to fade shot around greenfront bunker.

HOLE 5

Par 4, 420 yards: Right-center fairway is the tee target; trouble is trees left and hillside rough right.

HOLE 6

Par 3, 170 yards: bunker in center of green makes hole difficult, but left-side pin placement is birdie chance.

HOLE 7

Par 4, 406 yards: Left-center tee shot sets up short iron 2nd shot; deep rough flanks right side tee to green.

HOLE 8

Par 4, 368 yards: Tee shot to left-center yields short second shot, but tree danger on both sides of narrow fairway.

HOLE 9

Par 4, 418 yards: Need 245-yard carry to clear left-fairway bunker for best approach to green on uphill hole.

HOLE 10

Par 4, 311 yards: Big hitters can drive this risky, dogleg-right hole but much trouble looms right of green.

HOLE 11

Par 5, 561 yards: Two big hits needed to reach green in two, starting with tee shot to left-center fairway.

HOLE 12

Par 4, 413 yards: Another left-center fairway drive needed on hole with tree and rough trouble both sides.

HOLE 13

Par 4, 420 yards: Right-center tee shot yields best second shot on tree-lined dogleg-left with OB left of green.

HOLE 14

Par 3, 180 yards: Need precise shot to large, right-to-left-sloping, two-level green with three-putt potential.

HOLE 15

Par 4, 447 yards: Tee shot to left-center safest on dogleg-right, but big drive might clear right-fairway bunker.

HOLE 16

Par 3, 168 yards: Anything on small green is birdie chance, but deep bunkers surround this into-wind hole.

HOLE 17

Par 5, 578 yards: Only longest hitters will reach this green in two, and then it's vital to be below cup.

HOLE 18

Par 4, 447 yards: Left-center tee shot needed on severe uphill, dogleg-right hole with tree danger on right.

CAPTION(S):

Map, Box

Map: Riviera Country Club

SOURCES: The New World Atlas of Golf, USGA, research by ROY GALLOP

Knight-Ridder Tribune Graphics Network

Box: HOLE-BY-HOLE AT RIVIERA (see text)