Saga of the Greens at Riviera Is No Longer Same Sod Story

There should be no crying the blues over the greens during the Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club this week.

The Pacific Palisades layout seems to have completed its turnaround from the mid-’90s, when the substandard greens were derided at the 1995 PGA Championship.

“The greens are unbelievable,” said Dennis Paulson, who played a round Monday at Riviera in preparation for the tournament, which starts Thursday and runs through Sunday. “They’re pure.”

Robert Gamez, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, also raved about the course.

“The greens are in great shape--the best I’ve ever seen them,” he said. “I haven’t played here as many times as a lot of guys because the greens have always been kind of skeptical. . . . The last time I played here was in the PGA, and they were just horrible then.

“But they’re great now. I hope the wind stays up and the sun stays out and dries them out a little more. It will be a great test.”

An even greater test was faced 14 months ago by Paul Latshaw, a renowned turf master who was hired to give Riviera a make-over in time for last summer’s U.S. Senior Open in hopes of keeping the storied Los Angeles club in contention for a U.S. Open.

When the seniors--not to mention David Fay, executive director of the U.S. Golf Assn.--gave thumbs up to the improvements, Latshaw turned the course over to a protege, Paul Ramina, and returned to his post as superintendent of the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.

With Ramina, 30, in charge, the task of restoring Riviera’s reputation has continued since July.

“Mr. Latshaw did a great job,” Ramina said of his former boss, who still serves as a consultant at Riviera and was in town this week to inspect the course. “But it doesn’t happen overnight.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, but our program has been in place for more than a year now and we’ve got it down. The course is in excellent condition and I think it’s going to play fast. What I mean by fast--I’m not talking about green speeds--is that the course is going to be dry. It’s going to play well for the golfers. I think they’re going to have a great week.”

Geoff Shackelford, author of “The Riviera Country Club: A Definitive History,” said the hiring of Latshaw in December, 1997, was a turning point for the club.

“He’s the best superintendent in the country,” Shackelford said of the man who has prepared courses for seven majors--the Masters four times, the U.S. Open and PGA Championship at Oakmont and the U.S. Open at Congressional. “And obviously his protege has carried it forward.”

Paulson, who finished in a tie for seventh Sunday in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, is among those impressed by the results.

“I’d hate to say it surprised me because that makes it seem like I expected it to be in bad shape but I’m very pleased to see the golf course in such great shape,” he said.

“This is probably the best I’ve seen it since ’85 or ’86.”