If you’re not a southpaw, you run the risk of getting left behind in Los Angeles this week. That’s no left-handed compliment to port-siders Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir: it’s simply the state of the PGA Tour. Mickelson has dominated the last two events, outlasting a charging Mike Weir last week at Pebble Beach. Phil’s taking this week off, but Weir will be at Riviera Country Club trying for his third consecutive Nissan Open title. And let’s not forget that the fashionably left-handed Mickelson and Weir are the winners of the last two Masters Tournaments.
Will Weir defend at the Nissan? Is this Steve Flesch’s week to get in on the lefty love?
Riviera C.C. is known as “Hogan’s Alley” for Ben Hogan’s three wins and two second-place finishes at the L.A. course in the late 1940s and early 50s. The course was briefly referred to as Pavin’s Place after UCLA alum Corey Pavin won there in 1994-95, but don’t look for any statues of the gritty, gutty Pavin – or his moustache – outside the clubhouse.
It makes sense that Weir has won the last two Nissan Opens, as he is a post-millennial version of Pavin in his prime. A little longer off the tee, and much more Canadian, but certainly cut from the same grinding mode as Pavin and, for that matter, Hogan.
Weir, Pavin and especially Hogan are known as shotmakers rather than power players, and Riviera is certainly a shotmaker’s course. It is one of those classic tracks that can’t be overpowered. It has some brutal par-4s. The eighteenth can be especially tough, as it plays uphill into the prevailing breeze off the Pacific. Robert Allenby won a playoff here by hitting a choked-down 3-wood into the green. You don’t see that shot much on the PGA Tour, much less out of the guy who ends up holding the big check at the end of the week.
The Tiger Factor and a Possible Return to the Top
Speaking of the big check, Tiger Woods was last seen putting one of those in the back of his Buick Rendezvous (same model my parents have, I’m sure) a few weeks back at the, yes, Buick Invitational down I-5 at Torrey Pines. Tiger skipped Phoenix and Pebble, as he tends to do these days. But he’s in the field at the Nissan for a few reasons:
- He grew up in the L.A. area, and he surely likes to hit In & Out Burger a few times each year.
- He needs to warm up for next week’s World Golf Championships, also known as Tiger’s Sure Thing the past few years.
- Riviera is one of the only courses on Tiger’s regular schedule where he hasn’t won (the closest he’s gotten was a playoff loss to the ever-fearsome Billy Mayfair in 1998).
- And, Tiger could pass the idle Vijay Singh for the No. 1 spot on the Official World Golf Rankings if he finishes tied for fourth or better this week.
Will Tiger finally get the Riviera monkey off his back this week? A top-4 finish and a return to his perch atop the world rankings is hardly a longshot. And as Tiger’s new swing coach, Hank Haney, said last December, Tiger is hitting all the shots he was hitting during his “Tiger Slam” days of dominance – plus a few new ones.
You have to like the chances of Woods, Weir, and Charles Howell III (who should have won here a couple years ago, and looks like he’s finally putting it all together) have of playing late in the day on Sunday. Then again, Billy Mayfair is lurking in the field, so anything could happen.
TV times this week:
Thu 3:00-6:00 p.m. ET USA Fri 3:00-6:00 p.m. ET USA Sat 3:00-6:00 p.m. ET ABC Sun 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET ABC
Hi Don- I had lunch with your Mom and Dad today. They gave me your website. I like your article. I’ll keep an eye on it. Hope all is well. Your old science teacher. Mike Miley