LOS ANGELES OPEN : 10 Years, 2 Rain Delays Are Enough: Beck Wins

Chip Beck cast off the mantle of professional golf’s perennial runner-up Sunday when he won the Los Angeles Open like a champion.

Neither a nerve-fraying wait in the rain of more than two hours nor a challenge from this year’s finest shot-maker could deter the tenacious 31- year-old from Fayetteville, N.C.

Beck, who had seven second-place finishes without a win in 10 years on the tour, started a gloomy, damp Sunday at Riviera with a three-stroke lead, but by the time he reached the sixth hole it had been reduced to a single shot by Jay Haas, the year’s leading money winner.

In years past, in the days when Beck was a nervous kid out of the University of Georgia, his nerves might have collapsed. But with an inner strength drawn from the adversities of the past, Beck blew the tournament wide open with four birdies in five holes.

When the 62nd L.A. Open finally ended, seven hours after the leaders teed off, Beck had a four-stroke margin over two players who know Riviera well, Mac O’Grady and Bill Sander. Beck’s 65-69-65-68--267 was only two strokes off the Riviera Country Club record of 265 set by Lanny Wadkins in 1985.

Beck’s win, worth $135,000 of the $750,000 purse, was the fifth since 1975 by a player who had never won before. T.C. Chen in 1987, David Edwards in 1984, Tom Purtzer in 1977 and Pat Fitzsimons in 1975 all made their breakthrough at Riviera.

“The shot that truly tested my ability to get assertive when I had to was the second shot on the seventh hole,� Beck said. “I knew Haas was right behind me, and I knew it was time I did something to take charge.�

Beck sent his 7-iron shot straight at the pin where the soft green helped the ball settle down a yard from the hole. Beck sank the birdie putt, then sank two more on No. 8 and No. 9 to pull six shots ahead of the faltering Haas.

“You can never let yourself have the luxury of thinking you have a tournament won, but I had a lot of good feelings when I made my birdie putt on the fourteenth hole,� the smiling champion said. “It was a good 40 feet and when you make one like that in the position I was in, it is a feeling hard to describe.�

Beck, who came to the 72nd hole with a five shot lead, took three putts on the final green--knowing he could have taken five or six.

Sander, who lived at Riviera for a time in 1976 and played the course every day under the guidance of head pro Ron Rhoads, chipped in a miracle shot from the side of the hill on the left of the 18th green for a birdie that gave him a 66 and a share of second place worth $66,000.

“Nine times out of ten I would have made a bogey from that position,� Sander said. “I had an awful lie and no green to work with. It was straight downhill and if the ball hadn’t gone in the hole it had no chance to stop.�

O’Grady, who caddied at Riviera when he was Phil McGleno and going to school at Hamilton High and Santa Monica City College, birdied two of the final three holes to finish in a tie with Sander.

Mike Reid missed a two-foot putt on the final hole to miss making it a three-way tie for second. He dropped into a fourth place tie with Ed Fiori at 272 instead. Tied for sixth at 273 were Purtzer and Haas.

Beck credited O’Grady with much of the help that he needed to win his first tournament.

“Mac taught me so much about the mechanics of the golf swing,� Beck said. “To me he is the best ball striker in the game. I saw that and I was drawn to him and he has helped me tremendously not only in striking the ball, but with the thinking that goes into the game.�

For most of the morning, it appeared that the tournament would either be called off after 54 holes or postponed until today. Play was suspended twice, once shortly after 10 a.m. for an hour and again at noon for an hour and a half.

“I didn’t want to win by having it stopped at 54 holes, not for my first win,� Beck insisted. “I wanted to win it the way I did, on the course. It makes it a lot more satisfying.�

Beck also said it made him feel good to have won on a course like Riviera.

“When I planned my schedule for this year, I knew I was going to come to Los Angeles because I had a feeling I could win at Riviera. I knew this course was suited to my game and it would make a great place to break my barrier.�

Beck is fond of Riviera because the course favors a player who hits a fade (left to right) and that is the way Beck plays the ball.

“This a ball striker’s course and I have always felt I had the skills it takes to play here. It has taken me six years to learn the greens and there is no doubt that putting was the key to my win this week.�

Although Beck had not won before, he had successful years in which he won more than $100,000 four times, including a record $523,000 last year.

“Other people, friends, writers, other players, have been more concerned with my winning a tournament than I have,� Beck said. “I always felt I was a winner as long as I was doing the best I could and developing my talents to my utmost.

“I think I got over the thoughts about how much money was at stake a couple of years ago. I had a lot of adversity in my early years and I feel I am better off having to wait like I did for my first win than if I had won when I first came out on the tour.

“When I first came out from college I didn’t know what $500 was and the first thing they (the PGA Tour) tell you is that you have to make $50,000 or you’ll lose your players card. The world seemed all out of proportion.�

Beck came out of Georgia with a can’t miss tag after twice being named All American and winning the Southern Intercollegiates three times. In his senior year at Georgia he was named athlete of the year, the first time a golfer had ever been so honored by the Bulldogs.

So, now that the 10-year wait is over, how will Beck celebrate?

“I’ll probably do just what I always do after a tournament. I’ll start preparing for next week’s tournament (Doral Ryder Open at Miami, Fla.). I don’t think winning will change my plans any.

“I look on winning today as more of a stepping stone toward even better things in my career.�