Above Riviera's 10th Before Greenside Bunkers Added

One of my favorite images of Riviera is below, cropped to focus on the 10th hole circa 1927 before George Thomas and Billy Bell added the greenside bunkers which took the short par-4 to another level. It's followed by a view today with all of the tournament hoopla, cart paths, fairway lines, rough, Eucalyptus and the hideously re-shaped fairway bunker paying homage to Desmond Muirhead's spiral and mermaid years.
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"I bet I'm the only guy that has to work (Wednesday)."

Jill Painter with a super story on Tom Gardner, an assistant pro at Bel-Air Country Club who got in the Northern Trust Open at the local SCPGA qualifier.

After the 11 a.m. shotgun start at the exclusive country club, he'll race down Sunset Boulevard, about four miles from Riviera Country Club, and get some work in on the driving range and putting greens.

Gardner has his own crucial tournament this week. He qualified as a club pro to play in the Northern Trust Open, which starts Thursday.

"I bet I'm the only guy that has to work (Wednesday)," Gardner said with a laugh.

Gardner, 33, got the rest of the week off to play on the PGA Tour, so he's been the star at Bel-Air, a place filled with stars like Luke Wilson, Jerry West and Pete Sampras.

"Since I've qualified, it's been a fairly big thing at Bel-Air," Gardner said. "They've sent out emails, and the membership has been unbelievable. They're so supportive. They've really made this fun.

"It's been a dream of mine to work at a golf course like this, and there's 300 people congratulating me and telling me how proud of me they are."

He goes off at 1:15 Thursday on #1.

Questions Surround Gulbis Decision To Pose With Painted Swimsuit In Swimsuit Issue

You can feel the tension as golf.com's Jeff Ritter doesn't back down in questioning the decision to use a body painted swimsuit for Natalie Gulbis's SI Swimsuit issue shoot. Uh, so yes, that's paint. How do they do the part where...oh this can't end well. Just check it out. On newstands this week.
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