Golf : Sam Randolph, Scott Verplank Head Top Field

For the first time in recent golf history, two U.S. Amateur champions will compete in the same collegiate tournament when Sam Randolph of USC and Scott Verplank of Oklahoma State tee up Monday in the eighth annual Southwestern Intercollegiate meet at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village.

Verplank, who also made a historical impact on the game when he won the Western Open as an amateur last summer, defeated Randolph, 4 and 3, in the 1984 U.S. Amateur final at the Oak Tree course in Edmond, Okla. This year, Rudolph prevailed, defeating Peter Parsons of Georgia, 1 up, in the final at Montclair, N.J. Verplank lost in the quarterfinals.

Both players had remarkable summers leading to their senior season in college golf. Both played on the U. S. Walker Cup team that defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 13-11.

Verplank, in addition to becoming the first amateur to win a PGA event since Gene Littler in 1954 at San Diego, won the Texas, Sunnehanna, Western and LeJet Amateurs, the Porter Cup and was low amateur in the U.S. Open.

Randolph lost the NCAA title to Clark Burroughs of Ohio State in a playoff, but won the California State Amateur, was Pacific 10 Golfer of the Year, low amateur in the Masters and recipient of the Fred Haskins Award as the outstanding college player of 1985.

The two will tee off Monday at 8:30 a.m. for 36 holes, with a final round Tuesday in the 54-hole tournament, considered the most prestigious of the fall-winter season.

Also entered are three second-team All-Americans from last year, Todd Hamilton of Oklahoma, Brian Watts of Oklahoma State and Bob Estes of Texas. Randolph is defending champion.

UCLA is the defending team champion, but faces a formidable field that includes NCAA champion Houston and runner-up Oklahoma State. The Bruins, who lost All-American Duffy Waldorf to graduation, will be led by Bobby Lasken and freshman Ken Tanigawa.

Other teams include Pepperdine, whose No. 1 player is UCLA transfer Reagan Bayless; Stanford, with former national junior champion Rick Marik of Yorba Linda; Brigham Young, Fresno State, San Jose State, Lamar Tech, Arizona and Arizona State.

The public is invited free of charge.

Golf Notes The $100,000 J&B; Gold Putter Award putt-off Saturday and Sunday will end an era in Las Vegas golf. The liquor company is ending its six-year golf sponsorship, which also included a $200,000 pro-am in the spring. Company vice president Joe McKenna said that $1.3 million was spent financing the two events last year and received minimal national exposure--meaning no TV. In the final J&B; event on the Desert Inn putting green, defending champion Patty Sheehan has been installed a 6-1 favorite on the Vegas line, but no champion has ever repeated. The winner will receive $50,000. . . . The LPGA hard-luck player of the year may be former USC player Denise Strebig of San Bernardino. She was forced to miss a tournament because of a previous commitment and then, in the final event of the season, the San Jose Classic, Strebig failed to survive the 36-hole cut. This left her with only 69 rounds--and there is a 70-round minimum for the putt-off even though Strebig’s 29.86 putting average would have qualified her.

Former U.S. and current L.A. senior champion Alton Duhon of Griffith Park heads a strong entry in the 35th annual L.A. City Senior championship Thursday and Friday at Sepulveda’s Balboa and Encino courses. Duhon won in 1982 and repeated last year. Joe Margucci won in 1983. . . . Doug Richter of Ojai is the new SoCal Lefties champion after shooting a 72-68--140 on the El Prado courses. Mike Butler of Huntington Beach took low net with 134. The southpaws will play Oct. 20 at Elkins Ranch in Fillmore. . . . A second chance at qualifying regionally for the PGA tour is set for Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at Desert Falls CC in Palm Desert. The main event will be 108 holes Nov. 20-25 at Grenelefe GC in Haines City, Fla. . . . Mitch Voges shot 148 and won Wood Ranch CC’s first club championship by 10 shots over Bill Messick. . . . Steve Allen will be the host at a charity tournament for the Jeffrey Foundation for Handicapped Children Nov. 4 at Braemar CC in Tarzana. . . . A team of Andy Andresen, Don Baxter, Will Hertzberg and T. K. Vodrey will represent the Western Advertising Golfers in the national final Friday and Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Baxter and Hertzberg were members of WAG’s winning team in 1982.

Corky Dahl of El Caballero will defend his SoCal PGA Senior championship this week at Jurupa Hills in Riverside. A record 74 senior pros are entered in the $31,000 event, which will open with a pro-am scramble Wednesday. The 36-hole tournament Thursday and Friday also will be a qualifier for the National PGA Senior tournament. Favorites include Bobby Rosburg, Norm Bernard, Pat Chartrand and Manuel Quezeda. . . . Ted Richards, 61, will go for his fifth SoCal Senior Amateur championship Monday and Tuesday at the Alisal course in Solvang. Richards won four of the first seven played, but will face stiff competition from Alton Duhon, Dick Runkle, John Richardson and Dick Lytle.

UCLA’s Kay Cockerill, a senior from Los Gatos, is off to a fast start. She won the BYU Invitational with a 72-70-75--217, helping the Bruins to the team title, and then won the prestigious Ohio State Invitational by eight shots after shooting a 216. UCLA finished second to national champion Florida, playing on Ohio State’s Scarlet course, where the 1986 NCAA tournament will be held. . . . The USC women will play Oct. 21 in the Donna Caponi celebrity tournament at Irvine Coast CC in a benefit for the women’s athletic program. . . . The golfing Lasken family is split. Former California junior champion Bobby is at UCLA and sister Kimi is at USC where she recently shot a 69 to beat her better known teammates, Flori Prono and Kim Sakai, in a match at Oakmont. . . . Club champions: Larry Salk, over Bob Biniak, at Rancho; Stan Funk, 2 and 1 over Jack Boyer, at Penmar; and James Carson, 2 and 1 over Joe Vieson at Los Serranos.