Corey Pavin pursues a healthy course

Corey Pavin took a crash course on stroke prevention and wound up in self-analysis. Some of it had to do with his family health history. Some of it had to do with his game.

Pavin has a strong family connection to heart disease, one of the risk factors for stroke. His grandmother died of a stroke, and his father died of a heart attack the week of the 1997 PGA Championship. Also, his wife's grandmother had a stroke and heart problems.

"It's in our blood, so to speak," he said.

Still, he never made the correlation between a stroke and a golf slump until he began preparing for his part in the American Stroke Challenge next month.

For example: A stroke can occur when you least expect it.

"We were just talking about someone in their 30s, a good athlete, having a stroke," Pavin said by telephone from his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. "It can hit you at almost any age."

Interestingly enough, Pavin was 35 and at the pinnacle of his career in 1995 after winning the U.S. Open and going 4-1 in the Ryder Cup. His game hasn't been the same since.

Another thing about a stroke -- it could be fatal to ignore early symptoms.

"They deny the fact that they're having one," he said. ``That's part of the Stroke Challenge, to make people aware of what's happening."

And that's when the light came on.

"I wasn't aware of my game going south," said Pavin, coming up on the three-year anniversary of his last win on the PGA Tour. "My wife told me that things aren't so good and I kept saying, 'It's OK. It will come back.' I think it was sort of a denial thing for me."

Pavin's struggles have not been nearly as bad as those of Chip Beck, who can't even make a cut, or Ian Baker-Finch, who couldn't hit a fairway. But for one of the smaller players on tour, Pavin's crash sounded like a redwood cut down in the forest.

How far has he fallen?

Tiger Woods was still at Stanford preparing for final exams and the U.S. Open the last time Pavin cashed in at the 1996 Colonial Invitational. David Duval had yet to win a tournament. Some Americans still wondered what the Ryder Cup was doing in a trophy case on the other side of the Atlantic.

Exactly what happened is still somewhat of a mystery to him.

Pavin was the classic grinder whose mastery with the wedge and putter was such that his game never left him for long, and never strayed too far when it did.

He won at least once in 10 of his first 13 years on tour and only twice finished out of the top 30 on the money list. The highlight was 1995, when he closed with a 68 at Shinnecock Hills to beat Greg Norman by two strokes.

Pavin won the Colonial Invitational the next year, but hasn't even been in contention since. His only explanation is that his swing broke down, which put so much pressure on his short game that it wasn't long before it crumbled, too.

It would have been convenient to blame an equipment contract that put new clubs in the bag for the start of the 1997 season, but his troubles actually began in 1996.

"Winning Colonial was an aberration," he said. ``I really think that even before that, my game was in jeopardy. I just didn't want to realize it."

The Stroke Challenge is in its fifth year and already has raised $487,200. It begins Monday in New York, where Pavin and Nancy Lopez will have a putting and chipping contest in Central Park.

During May, Bayer Aspirin will donate $1,500 for every birdie they make to the American Stroke Association.

"I want to go make a bunch of birdies," Pavin said.

There's reason to believe Pavin can help fill the coffers, particularly after his performance two weeks ago in the MCI Classic.

After Pavin missed the cut in the Masters for the first time in his career, sports psychologist Dick Koop told him he could either wait for a good tournament to build confidence, or learn to play confidently.

"I couldn't wait for something to happen," Pavin said. ``I can't wait any longer. I just have to go out there and believe I'm going to play well."

It worked. Pavin wound up two shots out of a playoff, tied for fifth. It was his best finish on tour since he won Colonial.

Could this be the start of something grand?

"I'm not going to hold my breath," Pavin said. ``I've been doing that a long time. I just want to be aware that I still have to work hard and concentrate on what I'm doing."

TRW