1995 / 77th PGA RIVIERA : The FRONT NINE

A look at golf’s frontside, the stories you want to read.

FUZZY FEELING

Fuzzy Zoeller had the first ace of the 77th PGA Championship, recording a hole in one Thursday at the 176-yard 14th hole.

“I can’t believe I shoot 72, one over par, and I make the highlights,” Zoeller said. “I only had one good shot today.”

Zoeller said he used a good, firm five-iron.

“All I can say is that it was headed toward the hole and I turned around and heard the crowd go crazy,” he said. “It is a crazy game. You know, golf is a joke. It really is.”

COMEBACK KID

Paul Azinger, the 1993 PGA champion who has battled back from lymphoma in his shoulder, is once again thinking about questions of contending in a major tournament, instead of his health.

“It feels great,” said Azinger, who shot a 70. “I just want to play good anywhere at this point. But it is nice to play well at Riviera. It’s just a great course.”

BEAR WITH HIM

Jack Nicklaus, after shooting 69 and in answering questions about his play in major tournaments for the millionth time:

“If I were to stop playing in events like these, I would just have to stop playing golf for a while. My fun is playing competitive golf.”

Nicklaus described his day as “kind of a good round, bad round, good round, bad round, good round, kind of a funny round.”

Nicklaus was three under, then bogeyed No. 4, No. 5 and No. 7. But he birdied four of the last eight holes.

Of Riviera, Nicklaus said: “If it gave up a 69 to me, it’s going to give up a lot of low numbers.”

IN QUOTES

Ed Dougherty, on the first obstacle he had to face before shooting a 68: “My caddie didn’t show up.”

Sandy Lyle, who hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since 1988, the year of his Masters victory, shot a 67. “Every time I’ve played here, I’ve played half-decent golf,” said Lyle, who placed second in the 1989 L.A. Open.

Lennie Clements (67), on his approach to a major tournament: “You pretty much just bring your A game and play.”

Greg Norman (66): “The guys who have won a major are all trying to do it again, and the guys who haven’t are all salivating.”

Norman, upon being told that Mark O’Meara (64) and Ben Crenshaw (68) said the greens were holding their line and putting OK: “Well, I guess they’re going to say that when they’re 14 under par, cumulatively, or whatever, right?” (They’re 10 under, actually.)

O’Meara on his 64: “It’s definitely better than shooting something worse than that.”

--Azinger on Riviera: “This is such a great course. You pride yourself on getting good scores on a course that for the most part does not yield good scores. I drove it as good as any man can drive it, and I [only] shot one under.”

AROUND THE COURSE

--At the 419-yard fifth hole, Larry Mize took a quadruple-bogey eight.

--New Zealand’s Frank Nobilo eagled the tournament’s first hole, on his first round of golf in Los Angeles, on his way to a 68.

--Nobilo said it was no distraction playing with O’Meara. “No, I’ve known Mark for years. As a matter of fact, I think we spend too much time talking rather than playing.”

--In perhaps a commentary on the state of Los Angeles pro football, Payne Stewart, who is sponsored by the NFL, wore the colors of the San Diego Chargers.

--John Daly, who hit into the barranca on No. 12, found three balls in the hazard, but none of them were his, and he had to take a penalty en route to a triple-bogey seven.

BARGAIN HUNTING

Cheapest item at the PGA Store: packet of suntan lotion, one application at $2.

Most expensive: golf bag at $500.

Most useless: money clip. After you’ve shopped, there’s nothing left to put in it.

HE GETS WORM

Stuck with a 6:58 a.m. tee time, Gil Morgan said he got up at 4:45.

“And I felt like I was a little late getting to the club. Thank goodness we were on the West Coast. If we were on the East Coast, I’d really be in trouble.”