Golf : L.A. Open May Have to Put Up to Keep Up With Other Events

The purse at the Los Angeles Open, which has grown $300,000 in the last two years to $750,000 for the 1988 event, may have to grow even larger if the tournament here is to stay competitive with other Professional Golf Assn. tournaments and attract the top players to Riviera.

In another two years, the L.A. Open “has got to be a million-dollar tournament,” said Scott Kelly, director of marketing for the Los Angeles Jaycees, who run the tournament.

Why is that?

Because most of the PGA tournament stops are there already. And they reached the million-dollar level principally because they got corporate title sponsors, which is something the L.A. Open does not have.

Since K mart has become the most recent title sponsor of a PGA Tour event, the Greater Greensboro Open, the number of tournaments with title sponsors includes 29 of the 46 stops on the tour. The prize money at Greensboro jumped from $600,000 to $1 million as soon as K mart got aboard. In addition, the Byron Nelson is believed to be bringing in GTE as its title sponsor.

The L.A. Open has not sought one, yet. Instead, Nissan is in the second year of a three-year contract with the L.A. Open as the “presenting” sponsor, which means that Nissan has not paid to have its name as part of the title of the tournament. Kelly indicated, however, that the tournament could soon join the growing ranks of PGA events with title sponsors.

“We’ve got to stay competitive,” he said. “When players only have to play 20 or 25 tournaments because there is so much money out there, they can pick and choose where they are going to play.”

The L.A. Open dates in 1988 are Feb. 21-24, the last tournament on the West Coast before the tour moves to Florida, so Kelly thinks it’s important that the players, many of whom live in Florida, don’t decide to go back a week early.

“We’ve got to compel them, convince them to stay, and one of the ways to do that is with dollars,” he said.

Chi Chi Rodriguez, who conducted a clinic at the Skins Game last weekend, said he has a lot of respect for Arnold Palmer because of the way Palmer handles his endorsements.

“Arnold really believes in getting behind the products he sells,” Rodriguez said. “Last night, I saw him drinking Pennzoil.”

Add Chi Chi: To a man wearing shorts in the front row of the gallery at the clinic: “If I had legs like that, I’d walk on my hands.”

The PGA Tour has released its tournament schedule for 1988. The California dates: Jan. 14-17, MONY Tournament of Champions at La Costa; Jan. 20-24, Bob Hope Chrysler Classic at Indian Wells Country Club and three other courses in the Palm Desert area; Feb. 3-6, AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach; Feb. 21-24, L. A. Open at Riviera.

The 62nd Los Angeles Open amateur qualifying tournament will be held Dec. 14 at Brentwood Country Club. The top two finishers will play in the 1988 L.A. Open at Riviera. Amateurs with 2 handicaps or less can call the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce at (213) 482-1311 before Dec. 12.

The qualifying tournament is open to the first 144 entries. Last year’s amateur qualifying champion, Rob Sullivan, will defend his title.

Golf Notes

The Men’s Club at El Cariso Country Club in Sylmar and the Marines are holding their ninth annual Toys for Tots invitational golf tournament today. Last year, more than $7,000 was raised for the Marines to buy and deliver toys to underprivileged children. . . . In conjunction with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Sandpiper Golf Course is putting on the Jim Boreta Memorial Pro-Am, which will be played Friday. Boreta, who was killed in a car crash in August, was 33 and is survived by his wife and two children. The tournament is designed to benefit his children’s trust fund. Boreta played regularly at the course in Goleta.

Hal Rainey of La Mirada Golf Club has been elected the 1988 President of the Southern California Public Links Golf Assn. Chuck Jorgensen of Marshall Canyon Golf Club was elected first vice president, Fred Berglund of Los Amigos Golf Club was chosen as treasurer and Al Diaz of El Cariso Golf Club was elected secretary. . . . Monte Sanders, sales director for a real estate company development, was the low qualifier for the PGA Seniors Championship, which will be held in February at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Sanders shot a 70-71 at Jurupa Hills Golf Club in Riverside to lead the field from Southern California. The PGA Seniors is the seniors’ version of the PGA Championship.

A goal of $90,000 has been set for the 14th annual Newport Tournament, which will be played Jan. 29-30 at Newport Beach Country Club to benefit the new Hoag Memorial Cancer Center. . . . The Retirees Golf Assn., which was formed four years ago and holds weekly tournaments, had a pretty good run of luck recently. On the same day at the El Prado Chino Creek course, two of its members scored holes in one: Norm Williams of Irvine on the 144-yard No. 4 and Lyle Farber of Wilmington on the 142-yard No. 7.

Mission Hills will unveil its 18-hole Dinah Shore course Jan. 2. It is the fourth full-sized course in the Rancho Mirage complex.