SoCal players looking to make lifelong memories
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correpondents
SAN DIEGO -- Charley Hoffman can remember getting up at 4 a.m. and driving to Torrey Pines in hopes of getting an early starting time. The San Diegan qualified to play in the Buick Invitational there three times as an amateur, too.
Jason Gore grew up a little further up north up the Pacific Coast in Valencia. But he'll never forget the first time he ever played the South Course with a friend from his junior golf days named Ryan Bogan.
"It was like the first time we ever had a cart," Gore said with a wry grin. "I had a brand new set of Pings, and it was kind of bouncing as I went along and got stuck somewhere and went underneath the wheel and broke my pitching wedge.
"That was my fondest memory of Torrey Pines."
That said, the two southern Californians are poised to have an even more memorable week at this spectacularly scenic and consummately challenging municipal links.
Hoffman starts the third round in third place at 7 under, four strokes off the pace set by Camilo Villegas, while Gore is tied for sixth with five players at 5 under. Long Beach native Paul Goydos also figures prominently into the mix at 6 under.
In the last 21 years, all but six of the winners of the Buick Invitational have come from Southern California -- including 10 of the last 12. Of course, Tiger Woods has won the tournament six times and Phil Mickelson three, so that skews the numbers.
Woods, the four-time defending champion, is on injured reserve, though. And Mickelson is wielding a decidedly uncooperative putter and finds himself in a tie for 17th at 2 under with two rounds remaining on the testy South Course that hosted last year's U.S. Open.
Familiarity with the poa annua greens -- and the patience required to prosper on them -- might be one explanation for the collective SoCal success over the years.
"We grew up on this stuff," Gore acknowledged. "My local home public golf course had these greens, and ... they probably weren't quite as good as this. You just kind of have to trust your feel and go with it and understand that you're going to get some bad bounces and you're going to get some great bounces."
"I think if you grow up on bumpy, slow poa annua you sort of have an idea how to play them," Hoffman agreed. "You're going to miss a few and make a few that you think you're going to miss.
"It's like when you go to Florida, you see guys that always play well in Florida, and you see the guys in California always play well on bumpy poa annua."
Goydos and Hoffman have each played the Buick Invitational 11 times previously with a tie for ninth in 1994 and a tie for 16th in 2006 their best finishes, respectively. Gore tied for 26th in his 1999 debut but has not finished higher in six other starts prior to this year.
Hoffman has displayed the best form of late -- losing to Kenny Perry in a three-hole playoff last week at the FBR Open. Gore and Goydos just made their first cuts of the season on Friday.
Maybe their fortunes will change this week. Goydos, the man with the self-deprecating sense of humor, sees a formidable challenge in the big-hitting leader from Colombia.
"I'm not overly excited about playing long ball with Camilo on the South Course the next two days," Goydos said. "There's really not much advantage for me there. But I'm just happy to be playing well and happy to be playing on the weekend."
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