Golf : Greer to Seek Second Win at Queen Mary

Brad Greer, the two-time Southern California Amateur champion from Huntington Beach who won the California State Open in his first tournament as a professional last Friday at Ventura, will try for two in a row this week in the $60,000 Queen Mary Open at the Lakewood Country Club.

Greer shot a four-under-par 276 to win the State Open by two shots over long-hitting John McComish of Santa Maria. The Greer collected $8,100.

The winner’s share in the Queen Mary, which starts Thursday, is $9,000.

Ernie Gonzalez of Chula Vista, a southpaw playing his first year on the PGA Tour, is defending champion in the field of 220 professionals and 12 amateurs.

Gonzalez’s biggest check this year was for $1,450, two weeks ago in the Western Open, where he finished tied for 43rd.

Last year, Gonzalez shot a 14-under-par 274 to win the Queen Mary by a stroke over Don Levin and Bob Tway.

Another new pro is Dennis Paulson, the Orange County Amateur champion from Santa Ana who upset defending champion Duffy Waldorf in the California State Amateur.

Most of the area’s outstanding mini-tour pros will be in the starting field. Included are Ted Lehmann of Thousand Oaks, winner of the San Diego County Open and runner-up in both the Kansas Open and the Tijuana Pro-Am; Mark Blakely of Temple City, Southern California Open champion and runner-up in the Victoria Open, a Tournament Players Series event; Tom Lamore of Santa Ana, Nevada Open champion; Ed Luethke of Clovis, winner of the Golden State Tour summer championship and runner-up in the Southern California Open; McComish, 1982 California State Open champion and leading money-winner on the 1985 NGA mini-tour; and Brad Sherfy of Visalia, 1984 Central California Open winner.

Several old-timers from the tour, Frank Beard, Bob Lunn and Ray Carrasco, are also entered. Beard, 46, director of golf at Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs, is resuming a playing career after three years in semi-retirement. Lunn is a former winner of the Los Angeles Open.

Among the 12 amateurs will be Brian Mahon of UCLA, runner-up to Greer in the Southern California Amateur.

The tournament starts with two pro-amateurs, one for seniors Tuesday and a regular $7,000 pro-am Wednesday. The 72-hole championship starts Thursday.

Golf Notes

Turnabout: Ken Everett, who used to attend junior clinics given by PGA champion Dave Stockton when Everett was playing for San Gorgonio High School in San Bernardino, returned the favor when he taught Stockton how to ski. Everett does double duty at the Keystone Ranch resort in Colorado, working as a golf pro in the summer and skiing instructor in the winter. Everett played at UC Riverside with Gary McCord before giving up college golf to concentrate on skiing. . . . In the last 10 rounds Sam Snead has played on the Senior tour, he has shot his age of 73 or better seven times, including a four-under-par 68 in the final round at Syracuse. . . . The day the seventh hole at Harding was lengthened from a par 4 to a par 5, Don Newcombe recorded the hole’s first eagle. . . . The SoCal PGA stroke-play championship will be decided Monday at Mesa Verde CC along with qualifying for the PGA Club Professionals tournament.

USC’s Sam Randolph and UCLA’s Duffy Waldorf will be in Pine Valley, N.J., this week to represent the U.S. in the 30th Walker Cup against teams from Great Britain and Ireland. Play among the 10-man teams in the biennial competition is Wednesday and Thursday. . . . JoAnne Carner, the LPGA’s all-time money winner and five-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion before turning pro in 1970, will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame after being selected by an overwhelming choice in Golf Writers Assn. balloting. . . . The 29th U.S. National Seniors Open Golf Assn. championship will be Oct. 9-11 on three courses in Reno. . . . A team of John McGlone, Daryl Thompson, Bill Nichols and John Tucker won Los Serranos’ best-ball tournament by six strokes. . . . Millie Stanley of Wilshire will defend her California Senior Women’s Amateur championship starting Monday at the Old Del Monte course in Monterey.

The 37th National Amputee Golf Assn. championships start Monday at Singing Hills CC in El Cajon. . . . The 1991 Ryder Cup matches have been awarded to the PGA West, a course in La Quinta that won’t be completed until the fall of 1986. It will be the first Ryder Cup play in SoCal since 1959 when the United States defeated Britain, 8-4, at the Eldorado CC, in the Palm Springs area. . . . James LaStrapes edged former U.S. Senior Amateur champion Alton Duhon to win the Ricky Bell Memorial Scholarship Fund tournament at Brookside. Flight winners were Fred Sutton, Mike Smith, John McNeil, Barbara DeGroot and Kathy Kiel. . . . The West Coast International Golf Merchandise Show is Aug. 26-27 at the Long Beach Convention Center. . . . Oklahoma State’s Scott Verplank is as good a student as he is a golfer. Verplank, whose win in the Western Open was the first by an amateur in a PGA event since Gene Littler won the San Diego Open in 1954, is a member of the NCAA All-Academic team with a 3.36 grade-point average.