Tarzana Golfer Tied for Pacific Coast Lead : Unlucky Seven Handcuffs Waldorf

Duffy Waldorf of Tarzana lost sole possession of first place in the Pacific Coast Amateur Golf Championship at the Los Angeles Country Club on Wednesday when he shot a 2-over-par 73 to tie for the lead in the four-day, 72-hole tournament.

Waldorf, who shot a 3-under-par 68 Tuesday to take a two-stroke lead in the first round, is tied for the lead with a second-round score of 141. Ed Cuff Jr. of La Mesa shot a 1-under-par 70 Tuesday and an even-par 71 Wednesday to move from second place into a tie for first.

Waldorf birdied the first two holes and the 18th hole, but faltered with a triple-bogey 7 on the fifth hole. He shot the front nine in a 3-over-par 39. He came back with a 34 on the back nine, including eight pars and the final hole birdie.

“Golf is such a fluky game,” Waldorf said. “There are so many variables that affect how you do. The air currents are constantly changing, the ground’s not uniform, the grass can be wet or dry. There are certain times when you can read it right and there are others when, well, you can’t.

“For example, I just came back from a tournament in Colorado where you’re up 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level and the air is lighter and the ball goes farther. You have to adjust your swing for that.”

Waldorf seems to have adjusted rather well. Tuesday, he shot a 2-under 33 on the front and a 1-under on the back nine. Despite his 2-over par Wednesday, Waldorf is still well ahead of most of the competition, including four other Valley residents in the tournament.

Mark Phillips of Studio City, who was runner-up to Waldorf in last year’s tournament, is in a three-way tie for sixth place, with a second-round score of 5-over-par 147. Phillips, a former Pierce College golfer, was an even-par 36 on the front nine, but shot a 1-over on the back course for a 72.

“I was kind of scrambling my way around,” Phillips said. “I had a few bogeys, but I can’t really pinpoint where I went wrong. . . . The course was wet this morning and the greens were better, not as spiked up as Tuesday. Overall, it was a little truer and I was able to get a better line on it.”

Lee Davis of Thousand Oaks shot a 77 Wednesday to bring his two-day total to an 8-over 150. Davis is in a tie for ninth. Oliver Rheinfurth of North Hollywood was one stroke behind Davis with a second round score of 151, after shooting a 78 Tuesday and a 73 Wednesday.

David Hamilton of Van Nuys shot a 9-over 80 in the first round and a 76 in the second and failed to qualify for the final 36 holes.

Forty-nine players made the cut for the final two rounds at 155. Jack Nicklaus II shot a second-round 82 Wednesday after a 3-over-par Tuesday and also missed the cut.

Although Waldorf has won nine collegiate tournaments this year, and remains in the lead going into the final 36 holes, he isn’t overly confident.

“Oh, there are any number of guys who could beat me--or have beaten me,” Waldorf said. “Sam Randolph, Brad Greer, Tracy Nakazaki . . . “

But Waldorf’s penchant for pulling out the tough ones--and making it look easy--earned the 22-year-old UCLA graduate this spring’s NCAA Golfer of the Year honors.

Last month, Waldorf won the Rice Planters Golf Tournament at the Snee Farm Country Club in Mount Pleasant, S.C., where he set a course record. He also competed in the Western Amateur Tournament in Benton Harbor, Mich., and the Porter Cup in Buffalo, N.Y.

“I spent two days at home the entire month of July,” Waldorf said. “I was on the road the rest of the time, competing in amateur tournaments. I even went over to Hawaii to compete in a tournament, but I didn’t qualify, so I ended up taking a week of vacation instead.”

All golf and no play can not only make you dull but, as Waldorf said, it gets to you after a while. The Hawaiian vacation was a welcome, if unexpected, break in an otherwise busy summer.

In June, Waldorf was on the road for more than three weeks on his last tour with the UCLA mens’ golf team. He said he made it home for only a week--and that was to take final exams--before graduation.

Last week, Waldorf made it to the quarterfinals in the Broadmoor Men’s Invitational Golf Tournament at Colorado Springs, Colo., but lost to Tracy Nakazaki, 2 and 1, in the match. When the Pacific Coast Tournament concludes Friday, Waldorf will stay home for a week and then leave for the 30th Annual Walker Cup Match and U.S. Amateur competitions.

Waldorf is one of 10 U.S. golfers chosen to compete in this year’s Walker Cup Match at Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey. The U.S. team will play against a team from Great Britain and Ireland in this prestigious tournament.

“I think my victory in the Rice Planters Tournament put me on the Walker Cup team,” Waldorf said. “I broke the tournament record there by two strokes, even though I lost a seven-shot lead. I won it in the playoffs.”

Waldorf, who graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in psychology, says he has applied much of what he has learned in the classroom to the golf course.

“Studying psychology has shown me how important attitude is,” Waldorf said. “It’s a particular way of handling things. If you hit a bad shot, chances are you’ll have that on your mind and the next one you will hit in anger. And that next shot will go bad because you were mad. I have to get the anger out of my system before I hit the next shot.

“But, I’m fortunate, really, in that I don’t have a real bad temper.”

Waldorf said that after a tough day--like Wednesday, when he triple bogeyed on the fifth hole--he tries to breath deep or refocus his attention in order to regain his composure.

“I try to think of something else when I get upset, “ he said. “I forget or lose the anger and erase it from my mind. I think about what I’m going to do after the tournament, or tomorrow, things like that. It works.”

So far, so good.