Golf / Grahame L. Jones : Whether It’s a Blown Lead or a Blown Tire, the Agony Is Still the Same

Greg Norman, the world’s leading golfer, is a close friend of Formula One driver Nigel Mansell and was Mansell’s guest at Silverstone in England last Sunday when Mansell won the British Grand Prix.

Norman, going through something of a slump, said he had learned a thing or two from Mansell, an Englishman who plays to a 2 handicap.

“We’re both sportsmen in different fields, but he had something happen to him that was not dissimilar to my own experience recently,” Norman said.

“I was beaten by Bob Tway for the PGA title when he sank a bunker shot at the last hole and then lost the Masters in April to Larry Mize when he chipped in at the second play-off hole.

“Nigel was leading the Australian Grand Prix last season, but he was robbed by a burst tire. He’s put that behind him and I also must forget my disappointments. For me, 1987 begins this week (in the British Open).”

Mansell, meanwhile, wouldn’t mind taking a crack at professional golf himself.

“When I quit motor racing, I intend to give my golf a real go and try to qualify for the (British) Open,” he said. “I have to admit that I actually enjoy golf more than motor racing.”

It shouldn’t be too difficult for him to switch gears. About all Mansell needs to do is learn to putt. He already knows how to drive.

According to Dave Marr, ABC-TV golf analyst, it was the introduction of the larger ball on the European and Asian tours in 1974 that sparked the rise to prominence of foreign players on the PGA Tour.

“When they made the change with the size of the golf ball, that opened the floodgates,” Marr told Randy Minkoff of United Press International.

Before 1974, foreign players, particularly those in Europe, played with a smaller golf ball. Compared to the bigger American models, the smaller balls would go farther and usually straighter, according to Marr.

“What used to happen to the majority of the foreign players when they came over to the United States is that they were forced to play with the larger American ball, which didn’t go as far and was much more difficult to control. They weren’t used to it and didn’t fare as well,” he said.

The smaller ball also explained why Americans, with some notable exceptions, did not fare as well in European tournaments, particularly the British Open.

At that point the European and Asian tours adopted, for the most part, the larger American golf ball. Players on the foreign tours were exposed to the larger ball and got used to it.

“It was no coincidence,” Marr said. “Once the players got used to the larger ball after a couple of years, you saw the influx. Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, T.C. Chen, some of the other foreign golfers. They learned to control and master the larger ball.”

Marr said the success that such players as Norman and Ballesteros have had in the 1980s has not hurt the American image of still being the dominant country in the sport.

Not everyone is as upbeat as Marr about the rising strength of foreign golfers. European Ryder Cup captain Tony Jacklin, for instance, last week launched a stinging attack on the continent’s professional golfers.

“We have a bunch of also-rans on the European tour,” the former British and U.S. Open champion said. “Most of them need a good kick up the backside.

“Too many of our so-called young stars are just playing at the game. They’re picking up easy money.

“It’s a disease of the young. They don’t know what it’s like to have gone without money and that’s the problem.”

Those remarks drew a quick and equally angry response from Bernard Gallacher, right-hand man to Jacklin when Europe won the Ryder Cup two years ago.

“It seems a strange thing for him to say at this stage and I don’t know why he has,” said Gallacher, a member of the European tour committee.

“European golf is stronger than it has ever been and you only have to look at the scoring in the qualifying rounds for the (British) Open to see the standard. Everybody who has won a place at Muirfield has shot under par.

“The young players have to work hard for their success and they’re out for hours on the practice ground.

“Jacklin seems to want to keep his name in the limelight. Things have gone quiet for him recently and perhaps he just want to stir up some publicity.”

U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson obviously has studied his sport and, judging by his observation about the course before play began in the British Open last week, he has a solid grasp of the game’s essentials.

“Muirfield seems to give a big advantage to the guys who can keep it in the fairway, keep it in play,” he said.

So that’s the trick.

Golf Notes

Commissioner Deane Beman of the PGA Tour announced that the new Valley Course at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass in Florida will open Oct. 1. The Valley Course, under construction for two years, will be a par-72 of approximately 6,900 yards. Pete Dye was the architect and Jerry Pate served as player consultant. . . . Welshman Ian Woosnam, Europe’s top-ranked golfer, has been granted a special invitation to play in the PGA Championship next month. Woosnam is the third foreign player to receive a special bid to the tournament scheduled for Aug. 6-9 at PGA National in Florida. Japan’s Isao Aoki and Australia’s Rodger Davis received earlier invitations. . . . The 12-member United States team to play in the Ryder Cup against Europe at Muirfield Village GC in Dublin, Ohio, Sept. 25-27 will be named after the conclusion of the PGA Championship Aug. 9. Three veteran team members, Lanny Wadkins, Calvin Peete and Fuzzy Zoeller, appear unlikely to make the squad unless they do well in the next three weeks. The chances of long-time Ryder Cup players Raymond Floyd and Tom Watson are even slimmer. The team is chosen on a point system based on tournament finishes, and the five trail the top 12.

The Southern California Left-Handed Golfers Assn. will stage its annual individual tournament Aug. 29-30 at El Prado GC in Chino. . . . “The Golf Show,” a new weekly half-hour program of feature stories, interviews and instructional items, is being televised on Prime Ticket. The program is on Thursdays at 7 p.m. and then is repeated on Mondays at 8 p.m. . . . El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana boasts a record that will be difficult to top: Helen Knight, outgoing chairwoman of the Ladies Golf Auxiliary, has won the Auxiliary club championship for an astonishing 30 consecutive years. . . . The Verdugo Mental Health Center will be the recipient of proceeds from a benefit tournament to be played Oct. 19 at Wood Ranch GC in Simi Valley. . . . The 16th annual Queen Mary Open will be played Aug. 20-23 at Lakewood CC. The 72-hole tournament has a $75,000 purse, with $12,000 going to the winner. Amateur qualifying is scheduled for Aug. 3 at Lakewood CC.

Millie Zimring of MountainGate CC will attempt to defend the title she won last year when the Women’s Southern California Golf Assn. holds its 86th Southern Championship Aug. 3-7 at the San Gabriel CC. Seven other previous champions also are entered in the match play event, including five-time winner Donna Gilliam Travis of Wilshire CC. . . . The WSCGA’s Gloria Fecht Memorial Scholarship winners for 1987-88 are Kim D’Arcy of UC Davis, Amy Fruhwirth of Arizona State, Jennifer Gehr of UCLA, Rachel Mancilla of UC Santa Barbara, Jane Mohon of Pepperdine, Sheri Miraglia of Cal State Fullerton, and Donna Watson of Cal State Long Beach.