Let the legs lead you

BRYCE ALDERTON

Now that I’ve attended, either working or for pleasure, a handful of

professional golf tournaments, you would think I would have a firm

grasp on the ins and outs of successful viewing and ways to soak up

all the pageantry that goes with it.

Well, as I learned as a fan during Sunday’s final round of the PGA

Tour’s Buick Invitational at the immaculate South Course at Torrey

Pines in La Jolla, there are as many ways to take in the best golfers

in the world playing on a sun-splashed emerald landscape as there are

professionals playing this crazy game.

Before I go any further, I must give thanks to colleague Chris

Yemma, who graciously gave me the two tickets.

I invited one of my best friends and golfing buddies, Mark

Olivieri, to join me.

We arrived at the course around 9 a.m., entering onto the back

nine, and followed the crowd and the occasional whiff of barbecue

from cooks firing up grills for lunch.

We really didn’t have a plan. We didn’t pick up pairing sheets,

figuring the roars would tell us if something big was happening.

Luck would guide us and in all accounts, we were pretty fortunate.

Not even 15 minutes after stepping onto the course, we were two of

roughly 20 fans following Fred Couples and Corey Pavin, former

Masters and U.S. Open champions, respectively, on the par-4 14th. Fog

the previous day forced much of the field to complete their third

rounds Sunday morning before beginning their final 18 holes.

As they putted out, one 90-degree turn to the right and there was

John Daly, the 2004 Buick champ, ready to blast a drive off the 15th

tee.

And boy did it blast. I can still hear the “whizzing” as the ball

soared into the salty La Jolla air.

Mark and I decided to venture to the clubhouse and souvenir

trailer near the first tee.

Five minutes in the trailer was enough and we were ready to bask

in some more sun and golf.

And what to our eyes appear, but a horde of spectators surrounding

the first tee.

Reason one? Reigning Masters champion Phil Mickelson. Reason two?

Sergio Garcia, the amicable and excitable Spaniard.

I can’t think of another pairing with more smiles per square foot

than with these two.

We decided to follow this group, but it was difficult at times to

actually see the players hit while peering over rows of heads. As

fate would have it, Tiger Woods and Tom Lehman, the tournament leader

at the time, were walking up the sixth hole. Woods’ chipped his third

shot from the right rough over a bunker, landing it within 10 feet.

Ten feet later and the winner of eight majors had a birdie 4 to

move to 13-under, just one stroke behind Lehman, who bogeyed the

hole. Woods would parlay that momentum to his first tour victory in

15 months. We stood about 30 minutes greenside at No. 2, which was

quite conducive to spectators. The hole’s elevated layout provided

bird’s eye views of the fourth and fifth fairways -- on the cusp of

hillsides leading down to the Pacific Ocean. I can’t remember the

route we took, but we stumbled upon the 206-yard par-3 16th and the

grouping of Costa Mesa High product Dennis Paulson and 1998 PGA Tour

Player of the Year Mark O’Meara -- from my hometown of Mission Viejo,

incidentally.

Paulson, sporting bright blond hair, parred the 16th and dissected

the fairway with a powerful drive on the par-4 17th.

The former Santa Ana Country Club junior champion appeared

relaxed, smiling and sharing a mild laugh with O’Meara at one point.

Paulson has reason to smile. This year marks the first time since

2001 the 42-year-old Encinitas resident has fully-exempt status on

the PGA Tour.

He tied for 56th at even-par 288, earning $10,656 in the process

at Torrey Pines, where you never know where your legs will take you.