RIVIERA SALUTES A '60'S CHAMP GOALBY FINALLY SHEDS FORGETTABLE STATUS AS HONOREE.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Staff Writer

Bob Goalby won the Masters in 1968, but more people are likely to remember the man who didn't win that tournament - Roberto DeVicenzo, who was moved to second place after signing for a score higher than the 65 he shot, which would have put him in a playoff.

By then, Goalby might have been used to unearned anonymity. Seven years earlier, he had won the Los Angeles (now Nissan) Open at Rancho Park, only to be overshadowed by the first-round 12 shot by Arnold Palmer, the exciting young star who would go on to win three of the next six Los Angeles Opens.

Palmer's misfortune - accomplished with four out-of-bounds shots, then a shot over the green on the par-5 ninth hole - retains a high profile at Rancho, thanks to a plaque commemorating his septuple bogey.

Goalby's wins in the '68 Masters and '61 L.A. Open have remained comparatively less famous - until this year, when the 11-time tour winner was chosen as Honoree at the Nissan Open, which is celebrating the 76th year the tour has played in Los Angeles.

The tournament, scheduled for Thursday through Sunday, will be played for a 40th year at Riviera Country Club, where a portrait of Goalby will join a clubhouse collection of previous Honorees including Harold McSpaden, Dow Finsterwald, Charles Sifford, Sam Snead and Ken Venturi.

Probably none of them was involved in two victories as overshadowed as Goalby's wins at Rancho Park and Augusta National.

But Goalby, now 72, doesn't mind the anonymity as much as he does what happened to De Vicenzo, who finished birdie-bogey for an apparent 65 in his final round at the '68 Masters, only to have it penalty-adjusted to a 66 after his playing partner credited him with a par instead of birdie on No. 17 and DeVicenzo signed the card.

Instead of entering a playoff with Goalby, whose finishing 66 included two birdies and an eagle on his final six holes, DeVicenzo was placed second.

``What happened to Roberto was really unfortunate, because nobody wants to win that way and nobody wants to lose like that,'' said Goalby, who wonders if DeVicenzo may have been distracted after missing a chance at finishing 64.

``I think the bogey at 18 was still bothering him and he didn't take enough time to check his scorecard,'' Goalby said. ``But people forget, he wouldn't have won the tournament. All it would have gotten him was a playoff. I was really happy to win the tournament, but at the same time I was really sorry. I'd much rather have won in a playoff.''

DeVicenzo, who was then one of the world's best players - a man who had held off Jack Nicklaus to win the British Open at Hoylake, England, the previous summer - never again finished as high as second in any subsequent Masters.

His famous reaction that fateful day: ``Oh, what a stupid I am.''

Goalby's win in the '61 L.A. Open was accomplished with opening and closing 67s at Rancho Park, where he held second place after each of the first three rounds before pulling away to a three-stroke victory in a field that included past and future Masters champions Art Wall, Gary Player, Billy Casper and Tommy Aaron.

The early 12 by The King may have overshadowed Goalby's accomplishment that week, but he had other contributions that proved of more lasting fame, including helping found the Senior PGA Tour, where Goalby continues to play on a limited basis.

``It has been a lot of fun,'' he said. ``Even now, though I only play a few events, a group of us over 70 still get together to play in the same events. We always have a good time because we have been playing and traveling together for so long.''

FOR THE RECORD

--1926-Harry Cooper sets the standard of 279 in the inaugural Los Angeles Open, held at Los Angeles Country Club. No one would break 280 for the next 10 years.

--1937-Cooper breaks his own 11-year-old record and wins his second and final title by shooting 274 on the Wilson and Harding courses at Griffith Park.

--1938- Jimmy Thompson celebrates his only L.A. Open title and betters Cooper's mark to by a stroke with a 273 at Griffith Park.

--1956-Lloyd Mangrum's fourth and final title, in the first of 16 L.A. Opens held at Rancho Municipal GC, is secured with a 272 that tops Demaret's 18-year-old record by a stroke.

--1972- George Archer wins his only L.A. Open with a 270 at Rancho to chop another two strokes off a record held for 15 years by Mangrum.

--1985-Lanny Wadkins shoots the first of only four winning 72-hole scores under 270 with a 264, earning his second and final L.A. Open title and lowering Archer's 13-year-old record by six strokes. Only Fred Couples, in 1990, has come within two strokes of Wadkins' record since then.

THEN AND NOW

--Par-4 fifth hole-Lengthens from 419 to 444 yards and moves tee to course architect George Thomas' original placement on a small hill right of recent location, bringing wind into play and switching preferred drive for most players from draw to fade.

--Par-4 seventh hole-This dogleg-right hole remains 408 yards but brings back a long penal bunker left of mid-fairway and introduces man-made barranca, which plays as out-oounds right of the fairway.

--Par-4 eighth hole-The most dramatic of the Riviera changes upgrades this from 416 to 462 yards because of a new teebox and reproduces the original split fairway that was lost when the 1939 flood washed out the right-side approach.

--Par-4 ninth hole-The mid-fairway cross bunkers pros have been driving over for years are back in play, thanks to a new tee that stretches this 420-yard uphill test to 458 yards.

--Par-4 12th hole-Moving the teebox back 50 yards stretches this hole to 460 yards, which should dramatically reduce the number of short-iron approaches to a green fronted by wide barranca and guarded front left by a large tree.

--Par-4 13th hole-A new tee, lowered to the level of re-engineered barranca, adds a slight uphill element to first half of this hole,which increases from 438 to 459 yards and brings into play barranca guarding the left and newly extended back portion of the green.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Bob Goalby, right, won the 1968 Masters, but his victory was overshadowed when Roberto DeVicenzo, left, was moved from first to second for signing an incorrect scorecard.

Box:

(1) FOR THE RECORD (see text)

(2) THEN AND NOW (see text)