SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. Nov. 8, 1994 -- Jack Nicklaus, in the Bay Area to inspect progress on his new golf course in the East Bay, had a confession to make:
"I may be too old (54), but I don't believe that yet. ... As long as I have the discipline to work on my game, I'll keep at it."
He played golf recently with flat-bellies Fred Couples and Davis Love III. On a 600-yard hole, Nicklaus hit driver, 3-wood "and I was still 138 yards from the hole." Love was on the green in two shots."I can't hit it out of my shadow," the Golden Bear said.
But if Nicklaus' tee shots are shortening, his view of the world of golf is lengthening. Nicklaus was embarking on a 21-day trip -- in his new Gulfstream G4, with a 10 1/2-hour range -- that would take him to Borneo, Brunei, Java, Taiwan and Japan before his return to the U.S. He was to check on development of new courses carrying his design firm's logo, which will add to the 118 already in operation.
In the East Bay, the Nicklaus firm is constructing Ruby Hill, a private development in the midst of what promises to be a new golf mecca in Northern California before the end of the decade. In the Livermore Valley, near the intersection of Highways 580 and 680, three new courses are going in: the Nicklaus venture; the Northern California Golf Association's Poppy Ridge; and the Wente Brothers' project, a Greg Norman design.
LINKS NOTES: Juli Inkster of Los Altos heads a field of LPGA pros who will challenge men from the PGA and Senior PGA Tour in the Pebble Beach Invitational, Nov. 17-20 at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Old Del Monte. Information: (408) 484-2151. ... Purse for the 1995 AT&T-Pebble Beach National Pro Am has been raised to $1.4 million, making first place worth $252,000. ... Operation Give a Damn is sponsoring a four- player-per-team scramble Monday, Nov. 14 at Golden Gate GC. Call (415) 994-8271 to enter this event benefiting youth intervention programs.
HOLE IN ONE: Red Griffin, 189-yard 11th Franklin Canyon, 5-wood ... Orvil Ray Bedford, 189-yard 11th Franklin Canyon, 5-iron ...Cal Potro, 139-yard 12th San Jose Muni, 8-iron ...Dave Snyder, 121-yard 11th Skywest, 9-wood. Send golf notices to Pat Sullivan, S.F. Free Press, 82 Mary St., S.F., 94103, or phone (415) 459-5426.