Golf / Randy Harvey : Trevino Bogeyed the Facts When He Called Masters’ Purse Too Small

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  Considering that the Tournament Players Championship has a larger purse than any of the major tournaments and a field that is just as deep or deeper in quality players, there is strong sentiment to include the TPC among the majors.

While most TPC supporters suggest that the tournament become a fifth major, there has been some discussion, albeit low-key, about having it replace one of the established four. The major most often mentioned is the Masters.

The complaint about the Masters is that its qualification rules prevent some outstanding golfers from playing each year, while allowing aging former champions free access. Among those not invited this year was Scott Hoch, last year’s Vardon Trophy winner.

That is fair criticism.

But Lee Trevino’s comments in the New York Times last week were not only unfair but inaccurate.

Trevino’s problems here over the years have been well chronicled. He has been right more often than not, particularly when he complained about his caddy’s limited access to the clubhouse. To this day, Trevino changes his shoes in the parking lot so that he won’t have to go into the clubhouse.

But when he said last week that the Masters’ purse is too small, he didn’t have his facts straight.

“The purse money is not enough for a major,” he told the New York Times. “The commissioner may have to put pressure on Augusta and say, ‘Get your money up with the other majors or my people won’t play.’ ”

In fact, the Masters already offers a higher purse than the U.S. Open and the British Open.

The winner’s share also is higher than for any of the other majors. Jack Nicklaus earned $144,000 for winning the 1986 Masters, compared to U.S. Open champion Ray Floyd’s $115,000, British Open champion Greg Norman’s $115,000 and PGA champion Bob Tway’s $140,000.

Some players have suggested that because the Masters has a diluted field and limited rough that it is the easiest of the four majors to win, that the other three all demand more of their champions.

One player who disagrees is Norman, who won the “Saturday Grand Slam” last year, leading all four majors after the third round. He managed to hold his lead through the final day only in the British Open.

“To me, the Masters is the hardest tournament to win,” he said. “The whole atmosphere, Amen Corner, the whole back nine on Sunday.

“For the first 63 holes of this championship, you jockey for position, no matter how big your lead is or how far behind you are. Look what Seve (Ballesteros) did last year and what Jack (Nicklaus) did last year. It’s the toughest major to win.”

Trivia Question: Who holds the record for the lowest score for a round at the Masters? (Answer to follow).

Jack Nicklaus has been asked to talk so much about last year’s victory here that he must be wondering whether it was worth it to win it.

But what about the players who lost last year?

Norman has been the most expansive. He was tied with Nicklaus through 71 holes but bogeyed the 72nd.

“If ever there was one shot I’d like to have back in this world, that would be it,” he said of his approach shot on No. 18 that missed the green.

“I had just made four birdies in a row, so I was thinking about making another one. Wouldn’t you?

“As of 6 p.m. Sunday of last year, I was determined to come back to try to win the tournament.”

Tom Kite barely missed a 10-foot putt on the final hole that would have tied him with Nicklaus.

“That putt’s not out of my mind yet,” Kite said. “I don’t want it to be. That was a very positive experience for me.

“I don’t second-guess anything I do. I did everything right on that putt. I made all the right moves. It just didn’t go in. Not all good putts go in.”

Seve Ballesteros had the lead to himself until he hit his approach shot on No. 15 into the water and bogeyed.

His thoughts?

“When I come to the Masters, I always like to remember the good things,” he said. “The only thoughts I have are of the good things.”

Trivia Answer: Nick Price shot a nine-under-par 63 in the third round last year. He became only the sixth player ever to shoot 30 on the back nine. Nicklaus became the seventh one day later in winning the tournament.

Quote of the Week: After a dragon fly had dive-bombed him as he was preparing to hit an iron shot, Mac O’Grady said: “When your full-view focus is on the ball and an object enters your peripheral view field of sight--that dragon fly--the object scrambles your learned motor-memory system.”

Golf Notes

The LPGA will make its first stop in Santa Barbara, April 17-19. Among those committed to play are Amy Alcott, Jan Stephenson, Jane Geddes and Juli Inkster. Two courses will be used, the Sandpiper in Santa Barbara and La Purisima in Lompoc. . . . CBS wants the Tournament Players Championship moved to May so that it won’t conflict with the NCAA basketball Final Four and also so that it will miss the wet weather in Florida in March. . . . The Futures tour, the second largest circuit for women professionals in the country, will come to Quail Ranch Resort and Country Club in Moreno for a 54-hole event Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The $20,000 first-year event will be worth $2,800 to the winner. Area players expected to enter include Deby Anderson of Redlands, Tina Barker of Los Angeles, Teresa Case of Rancho Mirage, Denise Fass of Palm Desert, Judy Greco of Los Alamitos, Carol Hogan of Hemet, Kathy Kostas of Rancho Mirage, Micki McKenzie of Valencia, Jennifer Steiner of Palos Verdes, Nancy Tomich of Ojai and Marilynn Dahl of Laguna Hills. The 105-player field will then move on to the $18,000 Spring Valley Lake Tournament at Victorville. . . . The women’s Group Force tour is at Canyon Crest this week for a 54-hole event starting Tuesday . . . The Women’s Professional Golf tour will make its first stop at the La Mirada Golf Course April 27-29. A pro-am will preceed regular tournament play on the 26th, with an entry fee of $50 for the shotgun start at 1 p.m. Volunteer workers are needed for the tournament. For more information, or to sign up for the pro-am: Kati Biszantz at (714) 558-8380. . . . The team of Dick Hoffman and Pat Cowell combined to shoot a 19-under-par 123 for the low net title, and Dick Ebner and Dave Burton shot a 142 for the low gross championship at the seventh annual Two-Man Better Ball Team tournament at Wilshire Country Club.

The 16th annual Pride of the Foothills tournament has been set for May 1-3 at Glendora Country Club. . . . Entries are being accepted for the second annual Chaminade College Preparatory Alumni Assn. tournament May 4 at Riviera. Entry fee is $150 a person or $600 a foursome for the shotgun format beginning at noon, with all proceeds going to the Alumni Scholarship Fund. For more information: David Graham at (213) 325-6632. . . . The second annual Bill Bryant Memorial Junior Golf Scholarship Foundation tournament, held to raise funds for junior golfers and their college education, will be held June 1 on the Eisenhower Course at Industry Hills. For more information: (818) 965-0861, extension 1258.

Local players are invited to compete for cash prizes in the fifth annual Padua Village/Budweiser tournament, starting at 11 a.m. April 27 at the Red Hills Country Club in Cucamonga. The event is a fund-raiser for Padua Village Inc., a home currently being refurbished for developmentally disabled young adults and their live-in parents. Registration is $200. For further information: (818) 966-1745. . . . Newly opened Coto de Caza GC is rated among the five best courses in California built after 1962 by the American Society of Golf Architects. Others ranked include La Quinta Cove (Mountain), Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach and Vintage Club (Desert) in Indian Wells. Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Olympic Club (Lakeside) in San Francisco, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Riviera in Pacific Palisades and San Francisco GC were rated the best courses built before 1962.

Times staff writer Scott Howard-Cooper contributed to this column.