After 18, There’s Still 52 to Go

The 18th at Riviera Country Club enjoys a reputation as one of the greatest finishing holes in golf. It’s an uphill, 451-yard par-four with a blind tee shot and green so fast it should have a checkered flagstick. You get done with that thing and you should be able to relax, except you can’t. The problem is that you’re on the green and the clubhouse is way up there on top of the hill behind you.

And any golfer will tell you, it’s hard to get to the top, whether it’s winning tournaments or climbing those steps to the clubhouse.

There are 52 steps, railroad ties with gravel between them. A handrail runs up the hill beside the steps, which are just to the right of the main scoreboard at the back of the green. After the first 23 steps, you make a left turn for four steps, then turn back uphill for the last 25 steps. Now you are safely on the putting green and it is a good time to try to find your breath. Turn around, look back out at the course and you can take stock of what you have done. Not only have you played 18 at Riviera, you are also about 70 feet higher than you were 52 steps ago.

A bronze statue of Ben Hogan is just on the other side of the putting green. The artist has depicted Hogan without the bottom part of his club. This is understandable. The way Hogan played, he could have swung air and still knocked the ball into the hole. But Hogan is facing the clubhouse, not the 18th. He must have hated those darned steps, too.

Corey Pavin has climbed the steps a bunch of times, twice as a winner on Sunday, in 1994 and 1995. You would think he would be so familiar with the path, he would know how many steps there are, but he didn’t.

Pavin was told there are 52.

“That’s one too many,” he said.

He had just jogged up the steps and crossed in front of Joe Durant, who was suitably impressed with Pavin’s goat-like ability. “I can’t do that goin’ down ‘em,” Durant said.

After awhile, it was pretty clear that just about every player had his own technique for making the climb. You know, it figures. After all, some players have loopy backswings, some players walk up the steps as if their courtesy car is strapped to their backs.

It was a near miracle that John Daly made it up the steps, what with all the logos he was carrying on his clothes. He had seven endorsement logos, and once you get more than four or five they can really get heavy. Daly needed to steady himself on the rail just once on his way up.

John Daly is tough.

Then there is Billy Andrade. Moments after he finished the 18th by knocking a five-iron to 30 feet at the back of the green, then rolling in the putt for a monster birdie, Andrade started up the steps. His climbing style is pretty elementary. “You put your head down and you count every one of those 38 steps and then you reach the top and you take a deep breath,” he said.

Billy Andrade can’t count.

However, he can be counted on to be superstitious. He shot a 66 Thursday to put himself one shot out of the lead at the Nissan Open. He had also climbed the steps by not touching the gravel between the railroad ties. “I went wood-to-wood,” Andrade said. “I’ll go wood-to-wood tomorrow.”

Jeff Gove’s style of walking up the steps was unusual in that he touched the wood only with the backs of his shoes. It was pretty unique performance, although the judges in Salt Lake probably would have hated it.

Brett Quigley was another runner. He was already at the putting green before his caddie made the turn near the scoreboard.

Luke Donald simply trudged the whole way, his head down. When he looked up, he seemed surprised to be at the top. Donald is from Buckinghamshire, England, so he is also probably surprised when he sees the sun.

Briny Baird raced his caddie up the steps. Baird had just shot a 71, and that must have lightened his step, since he missed the cut last week at Torrey Pines.

Munching on an energy bar as he made his way up the steps, Glen Hnatiuk showed how coordinated he was, able to walk and eat at the same time.

After making his par putt at 18, Per-Ulrik Johansson made his way up the steps.

He wore a white glove, white shoes, white slacks, a white sweater with red pinstripes and a red shirt. With his bleached-blond hair, Johansson looked like one of those singers from Abba. It was a very cool look. It’s unclear what Johansson’s work clothes used to look like, but it doesn’t matter.

What’s important is that with all those railroad ties in a row and stretching to the sky in front of him, they were the right clothes. They were clearly a step up.