Lanny Wadkins - "Riviera" SHORT TRACK

Intro Music 0:07

Straight down the middle. It went straight down the middle.

Lanny Wadkins 0:13

Then it started to I think my wins at Riviera are what stand out to me. I love Riviera. I think it's one of the best golf courses we have ever played.

Mike Gonzalez 0:24

Um still stands up well today. Still stands up even today.

Lanny Wadkins 0:27

Tell you how well it stands up. I won in 79 and I came back in 85 and shot 20 under. And that tournament record still stands to this day. It's the longest standing tournament record on tour. 20 under at Riviera. And that was back in with wooden headed clubs and gotta perch of balls. Yeah. And I wound the golf ball. Well, and I had and I'm and I'm it wasn't like I had I had a two-shot league on the last day with I'm playing with uh Hal Sutton, who'd won a PGA there two years earlier, and Corey Paven, who would win two more times at Riviera himself. So I've got essentially major championship winners that I'm playing with the last day. And I remember I had an old caddy named Griff, and Pavin made a couple of putts early, like on two and three, and I've already birdied one, and Griff looked at me and said, This guy's ready to go today. I said, Griff, he ain't beating me with Justice Butter on this golf course. I I know how I'm hitting it. And I mean I just I I always the thing that gets me, and I'll deviate here a second, watching today's players, they don't play with a plan, especially if they're leading a golf tournament. I'm blown away that when I hear a guy say, I'm gonna go play one shot at a time, and I'm gonna have fun and I'm gonna smile and I hope it works out. Well, screw that. You know, I never I I'm gonna take the bull by the horns there and say, you know, when you get a chance to win, you better give it everything you've got. Yeah. Because it those chances don't come along very often. So I always had a plan, and I did it about three or four different times because it was a tough plan. But I knew if I did it, I was gonna win if I was leading a tournament. I want to play the last round and not have a five on my card. Now think about that. That means you're gonna birdie all the par fives, you're gonna handle all the par fours, and you you know you're not gonna make any mistakes on the par threes. So I did that at Riviera. I played the last round, leading by two, did not have a five on my card. It also meant that I was grinding my ass off on seventeen with a seven-shot lead to make birdie at 17 to achieve my goal. Yeah. I walked to 18 with an eight-shot lead. To this day, it still ticks me off that Sutton Birdie'd 18 to get within seven.

Mike Gonzalez 2:46

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Intro Music 3:07

Whack down the fairway. It went smack down the fairway. Then it started to slice just smidge offline. It headed for two, but it bounced off nine. My caddy says long as you're still in the state, you're okay. Yes, it went straight down the middle, quite away.