Pavin Yearning for the Old Ways

Remember Corey Pavin? Mustache. Won the Nissan Open back-to-back in 1994 and ’95. Won the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills with an ice-cold four-wood on the 72nd hole so chilling that it froze Greg Norman’s fillings. Won 14 times. Won a big club endorsement contract.

Well, that Corey Pavin no longer exists. The mustache is gone, he hasn’t won in five years, the golf club maker he endorses quit selling in the U.S. and the U.S. Open is a distant memory.

Just how long ago does it seem?

“It seems like about six years ago,� Pavin deadpanned.

Let’s hope that a good sense of humor helps.

The problem is that in golf, six years is close to eternity. Pavin has played 95 tournaments since his last PGA Tour victory--the MasterCard Colonial--in his last good year, 1996, when he made 21 of 22 cuts and had nine top-10 finishes.

So in comeback terms, the timing could not be more right for Pavin this week at the Nissan Open at Riviera, a special place for the 41-year-old. He is one of only two players who won the tournament at Riviera in consecutive years. The other was Ben Hogan.

Pavin believes he will turn things around, possibly soon.

“I have been in a slump,� Pavin said. “Obviously, that makes what I’m trying to do a comeback. I’m getting a little better. I’ve got to get my swing in shape and contend. I don’t like just making cuts. I want to win.�

That’s a start. And he’s off to a decent, if unspectacular start this year. He hasn’t missed a cut and he has gotten better each week, both good signs. He tied for 51st at Honolulu, tied for 43rd at Pebble Beach and tied for 27th at San Diego.

Last year, Pavin missed 14 cuts in 25 events and finished 160th on the money list.

“I haven’t hit the ball well in a long time,� he said.

Off the course, Pavin had an even more troubling matter. His marriage broke up.

He moved to San Diego from Orlando, Fla., switched back to his old coach, worked on his swing, tried to get back to what had made him successful and changed his attitude.

“I had fallen into a lot of bad habits,� he said. “My swing just went bad and I never got it back on track.�

He brought back his coach, Bruce Hamilton, whom he had let go in 1995. They quickly went to work on Pavin’s swing to try to give him better distance and accuracy.

Duffy Waldorf, who went to UCLA with Pavin, is glad that Hamilton is back.

“That’s a good thing,� Waldorf said.

Pavin seemed to imply that Hamilton’s absence had not been that big a deal because he’d scored his last three victories when his longtime coach was not on board.

“Yeah, but how much did he win before that?� Waldorf said.

Hamilton and Pavin have their work cut out for them. Out of 202 players whose driving distances are measured on the PGA Tour, Pavin is dead last at 247.5 yards. He has had trouble finding the fairways with consistency and he ranks 143rd in greens in regulation.

“I’ve seen him struggle,� Waldorf said. “Obviously he’s not comfortable with his swing. One of his strengths has always been hitting the ball on the fairway and his short game. You know he’s got it, the chipping and putting. I have no doubt he can win again, but he’s going to have to get back to the basics.�

Pavin sees good things beginning to happen. He says his game is getting better, he likes the progress he is making and that his short game and putting are coming around.

“I’m certainly working at it,� he said. “I’m certainly trying to improve.�

*

It turned out to be a busy day at the courtesy-car counter when nine players withdrew: Briny Baird, Steve Flesch, Brian Gay, Bill Glasson, Gabriel Hjertstedt, Jonathan Kaye, Ian Leggatt, Bob May, and David Morland IV.

*

Brad Benkey of Ventura and Tom Bronkey of Santa Ana qualified for the Nissan at Industry Hills. Ron Kramer of Chino; Bobby Kalinowski of Phoenix; Jim McGovern of Oredell, N.J.; and Gary Burch of Germany qualified at Los Serranos.

*

Tiger Woods, who has a 6:40 a.m. practice round today with Mike Weir, has a 7:54 a.m. tee time for Thursday’s first round, with playing partners Tom Scherrer and Brian Henninger. Other notable first-round groupings: Phil Mickelson-Steve Lowery-Jeff Sluman; Davis Love III-Scott Verplank-Scott Simpson, and David Duval-Garrett Willis-Ted Tryba.

*

Defending champion Kirk Triplett on new technology: “The game is always changing. If the game never changed, we’d still be using hickory-shafted clubs and featheries.�

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Nissan Open Facts

* Course: Riviera Country Club (6,987 yards, par 71).

* Purse: $3.4 million. Winner’s share: $612,000.

* Television: USA (Thursday-Friday, 4-6, delayed) and Channel 2 (Saturday-Sunday, noon to 3 p.m.).

* Last year: Kirk Triplett won for the first time in 11 years on the PGA Tour, beating Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik by a stroke.

* Last week: Joe Durant won the Bob Hope Classic in La Quinta, breaking the tour’s 90-hole record with a 36-under 324 total. Paul Stankowski finished second, four strokes back.

* Notes: Tiger Woods enters his hometown tournament with a seven-event tour losing streak. He made his first tour appearance in the 1992 tournament. Woods, then 16, shot 72-75 to miss the cut. He will play the Dubai Desert Classic next week. . . . John Daly is playing for the seventh consecutive week. He tied for 14th last week in the Malaysian Open after earning $128,664 in five tour events. . . . The Genuity Championship is next week at Doral in Miami, followed by the Honda Classic at Coral Springs, Fla.

* On the Net: https://www.pgatour.com