Hoffarth: Rain does its number on Riviera again, but it's only a fleeting issue

PACIFIC PALISADES >> Whether or not the weather really matters at Riviera, it figures out a way to soak itself into the storyline of the Northe Trust Open.

Pages and pages of data have been kept on this matter since Thor began tossing around lightning bolts onto the Doppler radar screen. But when this PGA Tour event comes around at Hogan’s Slip-N-Slide Alley, they throw out all the records.

There’s enough empirical evidence that rain will not even consider helping out a drought-stricken Southe Califoia population unless it coincides with the world’s best golfers’ arrival at the storied country club.

They just know how to bring it. They’re the professionals.

“Every year, we just come to expect that it’ll rain at least one of the days,” said Gordie Johnson, the longtime marshal on the 10th hole, as the sun was starting to make itself known in the late moing Thursday.

“We’ve been drowned like rats some years, wading through all that mud before they got these concrete paths put in… it can be a real mess.”

Even if we’re enduring the most outrageous February heat wave recorded – like, this week – a downpour comes.

Not that we’re complaining. Give us a rain-check on that.

Plenty of PGA L.A. Tour stops have been shortened or delayed because it got too sloppy. Last year, it arrived during the three-man playoff that would decide the champion.

This year, it snuck in late Wednesday, pounded the course oveight, and hung around when balls were in the air at about 6:40 a.m. By about 9 a.m., it moved on.

“We’re finally now able to start taking off layers that we had on this moing,” Sue Robelotto, the marshal captain at No. 2, said around noontime.

You’re welcome, the golf gods would say if allowed to speak.

As much as rain may mess with traffic, flash floods and patio fuiture, it is a welcome sight for a golf course, especially one like Riviera that traditionally drains with the best of them. With it come more opportunities for the pros to go for the flag stick, stick their landings and gain some confidence.

“I’ve never seen the golf course look better,” touament director O.D. Vincent said prior to the first round. “The rain was a blessing. The course (had been) so firm.”

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Looking sharp is one thing. Playing sharper is another.

Bubba Watson, the 2014 Northe Trust Open champ who was in a three-way tie for the early lead at 5-under 66, was happy to wake up early and knock things off before noon Thursday.

“Today is totally different than yesterday (pro-am practice round on Wednesday),” he said. “Yesterday was rock hard, fairways were running, greens were running … Today, obviously with the rain, it was easier. The golf course is accepting shots.”

Rory McIlroy accepted that assessment.

“With these conditions, it didn’t punish you,” said the 26-year-old from Northe Ireland who should be immune to poor weather conditions. He managed a 4-under 67 in his first round at Riviera and has little qualms with being tied for fifth with three days to play.

But then came Camilo Villegas to flush away all that logical thinking. Challenging the course record with a string of birdies on his back nine, the Colombian ended three-shots clear of the field with an 8-under 63.

Almost everyone else who was in the closest vicinity to his score were part of the early Thursday players. They might have gone to bed already by the time Villegas finished just before darkness, unaware of what he pulled off.

“Obviously, the rain yesterday made the golf course a lot more accessible,” he admitted. “I was surprised to see the balls (hit with) 5- and 6-irons stopping the way they were stopping on the greens.”

Just as surprised as Jordan Spieth might have been as a contrast to Villegas’ performance, finishing 16 shots behind him and one short of the bottom of the 144-man field.

Spieth, too, was an afteooner left high and dry with bogeys after bogey wrapped around the famed Bogey’s Tree on the 12th hole.

There’ll be no more precarious precipitation in the forecast from here out at the touament, sadly.

All those mud puddles that formed on the dirt-and-gravel cart paths that caused splash-zone trouble for spectators on Thursday should dry up. All the wet grass that collected on the bottom of the fans’ flip flops will fling itself away.

Even the wet sand that Fred Couples was flinging around in a fit of frustration on the 10th hole will be much more manageable.

“Maybe as the weekend goes on the course will be firmer and faster,” said McIlroy, with some whimsey. “I have enough problems just trying to figure out putts that go toward the ocean.”

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