US experts saw particular significance in the presence of two South Africans, including the winner Ernie Els, among the top-six finishers in the Nissan Open at Riviera CC last weekend. It had to do with a playing surface which CBS commentator Ken Venturi likened to velcro, or "a catcher's mitt."
As it happened, Davis Love was the only player of those leading six to par Riviera's 451-yard 18th in Sunday's final round. Only Love managed to get up and down from the dreaded kikuyu grass surrounding the green. But we were led to believe that Els and Nick Price handled the grass better, overall.
As the name suggests, kikuyu is indigenous to Africa. And it takes on further relevance at this time, due to its presence on the La Costa course in Carlsbad, where the $5 million WGC Andersen Consulting Matchplay Championship starts tomorrow.
In fact it is quite common on Californian courses, especially in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas. "I always considered it to be unfair in that you couldn't play a proper golf shot out of it," said Paul McGinley, who became familiar with the surface during his student days at San Diego University.
Renowned as a particularly strong, tough strain of grass, it was imported into the US from Africa 75 years ago, largely for use on polo grounds. Essentially, it was tough enough to resist the pounding of horses' hooves and at the time the Riviera course was completed in 1927, there were several polo grounds in the area.
The general belief in the Pacific Palisades region is that kikuyu seeds were inadvertently carried onto the Riviera course, where they took hold. And since the grass is a weed, it spread very quickly and was largely ignored by the course superintendent.
Before he knew it, the course was taken over by the grass and by that stage it was too late to take remedial action. Now, it borders every fairway and surrounds the greens, making pitch and run shots impossible. Players like Els and Price, however, would have learned how to cope with its special challenge, while developing their craft on South Africa's Sunshine Tour. Indeed Els chipped out of it to within four feet of the 72nd hole, but mis-read the par putt. Meanwhile, those who marvelled at the accuracy of journeyman Ted Tryba on the way to a stunning, course record 61 on Saturday, could have gained a fascinating insight from the player's immediate family. It seems that as a birthday ritual when he was a child, young Ted would hit plastic golf balls out of his grandfather's mouth, with a plastic club.
