Golf is an unforgiving sport. Take, for...

Golf is an unforgiving sport. Take, for instance, Bob May of La Habra, who last year at age 15 became the darling of the sportswriters when he shot a 67 and became the youngest golfer in the 44-year history of the Los Angeles Open Amateur Qualifying Tournament to win the crown.

But more important, it let him compete with some of the world’s greatest professional golfers at Hillcrest Country Club, which was not kind to him at all. He shot rounds of 73 and 76 and failed to make the cut of 144.

But this is a new year, so May, one year older and one year wiser, will again compete Monday against 147 other two-or-less handicap golfers in the qualifying tournament, from which only two will get to play with the pros in February. “Last year one of the pros in the Open said Tom played golf like he was 30 years old,” said Tom Sargent, golf pro at Yorba Linda Country Club, where May plays. “This year May is going to be better able to handle the pressure.”