L.A. OPEN : Couples Charges, Pavin Calls Retreat : Golf: Fans’ favorite turns five-shot deficit into one-shot lead at Riviera. Rest of field falls back.

It’s no secret that the fans at Riviera Country Club have adopted Fred Couples as one of their own.

Corey Pavin, who played his college golf at nearby UCLA, got a taste of what it’s like to get caught in the draft of a Couples run in front of a Couples crowd.

It’s always large, it’s always vocal and it’s usually one-sided.

Couples, with five birdies on the back nine Saturday, passed Pavin faster than you can say “Boom Boom” amid some thunderous cheers and posted a three-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead over Pavin going into today’s final round of the $1-million Nissan Los Angeles Open.

Couples, at 11-under 202 through 54 holes, and Pavin, at 203 after a 72, have turned the tournament into a two-man show.

Peter Jacobsen, who needed a hole in one at the 14th hole to shoot a 68, is tied for third with Craig Stadler (71) and Jay Delsing (69), six strokes off the pace at 208.

“Yeah, it’s pretty much the two of us,” said Couples, who will be trying to become the fifth player to win three Los Angeles Opens. Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer won it three times, and Mac Smith and Lloyd Mangrum were four-time winners.

“That’s not to say somebody can’t come from out of the pack to make a run at us. It can be done,” Couples said. “But it would take a fantastic round on a hard course. It’s more likely that the winner is going to be Corey or myself.”

Pavin agreed.

“If we play well, nobody’s going to catch us,” Pavin said. “Somebody could catch the one who doesn’t play well, but I’m pretty sure one of us is going to win.”

So it’s going to come down to a battle between the long-driving Couples against the scrappy short game of Pavin in front of a crowd that will be cheering for both players, but will be louder for Couples.

“I’m not really worried about Freddy’s length,” Pavin said. “I’ve been a short hitter all my life. If length was all this game was about, I’d be at the bottom of the money list. I think Freddy worries about my putting as much as I worry about his length.”

Couples acknowledged that and added, “Corey can hit every shot. He’s a real shot-maker. He can fade it and draw it and hit the shots he needs to hit.”

Pavin was hitting the shots he thought he needed to hit Saturday, but he wasn’t making the putts he needed to make and failed to put Couples away when he had him on the run on the front nine.

“It’s difficult to put two great rounds together,” said Pavin, referring to the 64 he shot on Friday. “You have a tendency to compare your shots from the previous day and it can get to you. But I didn’t feel like it got away from me. It’s just that the putts that were falling (Friday) weren’t falling today. I made some great putts at six, seven and eight that just wouldn’t fall.”

Pavin, who started the day with a three-stroke lead, made a four-foot birdie putt on the first hole to increase his lead to four.

Although each player bogeyed the fourth, Pavin’s lead grew to five when Couples hit a poor chip at the seventh hole and bogeyed it.

“I really need to work on that part of my game,” Couples said. “I haven’t gone out to practice after any round this week because I’ve been so tired. That’s a shot I have been butchering.”

By the time they made the turn, Pavin still had a five-stroke lead and Couples was beginning to feel some heat.

“I knew I had to get something going,” Couples said. “I didn’t really feel that I had played poorly on the front nine, it was just that I misclubbed a couple of times and it cost me each time.”

Couples started his back-nine run with a tap-in birdie at the 10th.

Then he made a 12-foot putt for another birdie at the 12th and it seemed to turn his day around.

“It got me back in it,” Couples said. “It also helped my confidence. When you see one putt go in, the next one is easier.”

The next putt came at the 13th, where he rolled in a 30-foot putt to cut Pavin’s margin to two strokes.

Now the crowd was getting into it.

Although Couples missed an eight-foot birdie putt at the 14th, he pulled to within a stroke because Pavin missed the green and bogeyed the hole.

But Pavin got the stroke back on the next hole with a four-foot birdie putt.

Pavin had a two-stroke lead, but it was Couples who left the 15th with more confidence. He had just made a difficult eight-foot putt to save par.

“That was a real crucial putt, and I had a real good feeling about it,” he said. “Making that putt helped me make birdie putts on the next two holes, so I kind of felt like one good par was worth three strokes.”

The birdie at 16, coupled with Pavin’s bogey, left each player at 10 under. Couples took the lead at the 578-yard 17th when he crushed two shots to reach the fringe of the green. He chipped to four feet and made the putt.

Both players parred the 18th, setting up today’s showdown.

Although they have rarely played head to head, Pavin won their last battle with a playoff victory over Couples in the 1992 Honda Classic at Ft. Lauderdale.

That, however, was Pavin’s last victory on the PGA Tour.

“But I don’t feel like I have to win anything to prove myself,” Pavin said. “I won the World Match Play (at London) last year and I feel that I can win at any time on any course.”

Even at Riviera, which may be known as Hogan’s Alley, but in modern times has become Freddy’s Funhouse.