Golf : Randolph Leads USC Into Pac-10 Tournament

National Amateur champion Sam Randolph will make one of his final collegiate appearances before turning professional when he leads USC into the Pacific 10 tournament next week at the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley.

Randolph won the Pac-10 title as a freshman, but he has finished third the last two years. This season he has won the Western Intercollegiate title in San Jose and was low amateur in the Masters. He is also the California Amateur champion.

UCLA is defending team champion and has won three of the last four Pac-10 tournaments, but the Bruins are not expected to repeat. They are ranked only eighth among western region schools, trailing USC, Arizona State, Fresno State, Stanford, Oregon, Cal State Long Beach and San Jose State.

Favorites are USC, with Randolph and Brian Henninger, and Arizona State, led by Billy Mayfair and Rich Dietz, both All-American candidates. Other individuals include Carl Wagner of Stanford, George Daves of Oregon, runner-up last year to Duffy Waldorf of UCLA, and Alberto Valenzuela of UCLA, a senior from France.

The tournament will start May 5 with 36 holes, followed by 18 each on the next two days.

This week, both USC and UCLA will tune up for the Pac-10 tourney by playing in the 14th annual Sun Devil-Thunderbird Invitational at the McCormick Ranch course in Scottsdale, Ariz. Four other Pac-10 schools and second-ranked Florida will also participate.

Golf Notes The 15th annual Pride of the Foothills Invitational, one of the Southland’s most prestigious private club tournaments, is set for Friday through Sunday on the narrow fairways of Glendora CC. . . . Ram safety Nolan Cromwell will be the host of a celebrity tournament Monday at Los Coyotes CC for the benefit of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. . . . The Joe McGrath Memorial, a fund-raiser for the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, is scheduled Friday and Saturday at Rancho San Joaquin GC. . . . The 17th annual Holy Cross Hospital Guild tournament will be played May 5 at Porter Valley CC.

Five Palm Springs-area courses will be busy May 5-6 when 640 women compete in the 28th annual Desert Event of the Women’s SoCal Golf Assn. Favorites are Mary Elizabeth Callaghan of Los Angeles CC, Sue Ewart of Old Ranch, Jane Booth and Judy Murray of California, Maggie Volz of Porter Valley and Jodie Kulp of Candlewood. Host clubs will be Canyon, Desert Horizons, Eldorado, Indian Wells and Tamarisk.

Jean Zedlitz of Amador Valley High in Pleasanton, one of the nation’s top-ranking high school golfers, will enroll at UCLA. Zedlitz played No. 1 on the boys’ team and won the PGA junior championship last August in Florida. . . . Art Schilling of Mesa Verde and Paul Wise of Hillcrest will defend their SoCal PGA four-ball championship this week at Desert Falls CC in Palm Desert. Fifty-one teams are entered in the match play event. . . . The Golden State tour will play Monday at Jurupa Hills in Riverside and May 5 at Shandon Hills in San Bernardino. The GST seniors will play Wednesday at Quail Ranch and May 5 at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto.

For the women pros: Group Fore will play Tuesday through Thursday at Green River CC in Corona, after a Monday pro-am. Another pro-am, benefiting the David Kahn/Alzheimer’s Day Care Center, will be played May 5 at Soboba Springs CC, followed by another 54-hole tournament starting May 6. . . . The Futures Golf tour will be at River Ridge GC in Oxnard for a $14,000 tournament starting Monday. . . . The LPGA western teachers’ division tournament at De Anza CC in Borrego Springs starts today with a pro-am, followed by 36 holes Monday and Tuesday.

Check signals: The Junior Golf Assn. of So Cal has not been turned over to the SoCal PGA, as reported earlier. Instead, the junior golf organization has merged with the PGA. Lou Bastanchury and Jane Booth will continue as administrators of the program. Lou is president of the newly named SCPGA Junior Golf Assn., with Tom Sargent vice president, Booth secretary and Bob Lovejoy treasurer.

Rick Rhoads, former USC All-American and brother of Riviera pro Ron Rhoads, won the Northern California PGA championship with a 2 and 1 win over Curtis Jones at Carmel Valley CC. Rhoads, head pro at San Francisco CC, defeated former touring pros Bob Lunn, Dick Lotz, Bob Wynn and Rob Boldt en route to the final. . . . Entries will close May 7 for the U.S. Women’s Public Links tournament. Qualifying is set for May 19 at El Dorado GC in Long Beach, with the finals June 18-22 at Stevens Point, Wis.

The Raiders’ Howie Long and a number of his teammates and Ram players will play in the 18th annual Multiple Sclerosis Executive Crown tournament May 19 at Wilshire CC. . . . Former Ram Jack Youngblood will hold a celebrity tournament May 12 at Newport Beach CC for the John Tracy Clinic. . . . SoCal Lefties will play Sunday at Rancho San Joaquin GC. . . . Tom Hawkins is the third president this year of the Griffith Park men’s club. He succeeded Mike Clements, who retired after two months in office. Clements had succeeded Newell Morris, who died shortly after being elected. Marty Tregnan is president emeritus.

Host George Peppard and more than 80 entertainers and athletes will play in the 16th annual L.A. Police-Celebrity tournament May 17 at Rancho Park. . . . An antique golf club evaluation clinic, sponsored by the Ralph W. Miller Golf Library, will be held May 13 at Industry Hills. Frank Hardison will offer expertise on hickory shafted clubs. . . . Bonnie Holmes defeated Barbara Kellogg in retaining her Western Hills club championship. . . . The Norm Crosby Tri-Club tournament, for the benefit of the United Jewish Fund, is scheduled May 5 at Calabasas Park CC.