Valentine's Days to remember

Last Monday, Valentine's Day, I played golf with my usual group--Mike, Joe and Perry--at Mountain Gate Country Club in Brentwood, a course I had never played before. Being in that part of the city the day after watching Bob Dylan on the Grammys the night before, brought back memories of a great Valentine's Day I had on Feb. 14, 1974.

It was a Thursday and Bill Shirley, the Times' sports editor, sent me out to Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades to help cover the L.A. Open. I was fortunate to meet some of the biggest names in golf that day, including Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Weiskoff. They were the Big Three of the sport in those days, so they got a lot of attention in the press room after their rounds were completed.

The fellow who was running the press room, whose name I can't remember, later called several writers together and said, "I'd like to introduce to you some of our up-and-coming players on the tour," and he brought in Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw.

*****

add Valentine's Day: After the first round of the tournament was over, I drove to Santa Monica and picked up a friend of mine named Georgeann Gettz and we headed for the Forum in Inglewood to see Dylan perform with The Band in a show that was part of the Before the Flood tour. It was a great concert and it capped off a day and night that always makes me smile.