Golf / Shav Glick : 15 From Southland in U.S. Open

Fifteen Southland golfers will be among the 156 teeing off Thursday in the 86th United States Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y.

Nine of them, including U.S. Amateur champion Sam Randolph of Santa Barbara and controversial Mac O’Grady of Palm Springs, are among an elite group of 61 who were exempt from qualifying. Randolph got in as the amateur champion, and O’Grady was among the top 30 money winners on the PGA Tour last year.

This will be Randolph’s last tournament as an amateur. The 1986 College Player of the Year will turn professional for next week’s Atlanta tournament. Also exempt is Oklahoma State’s Scott Verplank, winner of the NCAA championship two weeks ago. Verplank will be making his professional debut in the Open.

Other local exempt players are former Masters champion Craig Stadler, Mark O’Meara, Corey Pavin, Don Pooley, Jack Renner, Tony Sills and Scott Simpson.

Earning their way into the national tournament through qualifying rounds were Barry Jaeckel, Mark Pfeil, David Hobby and Brad Greer, all former Southern California Amateur champions, plus Don Dubois and Tracy Nakazaki.

Defending champion Andy North, who also won the 1978 Open, will be one of 10 former winners in the tournament. The others are four-time winner Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Fuzzy Zoeller, Hale Irwin, David Graham, Larry Nelson, Hubert Green and Jerry Pate.

The exempt list also includes Severiano Ballesteros of Spain, a former Masters and British Open champion, and Bernhard Langer of West Germany, the 1985 Masters champion.

Norm Bernard, head pro at the Redlands Country Club since 1971, was named golf professional of the year by the Southern California section of the PGA.

Bernard, 53, has been a PGA member for 20 years and has been active in promoting golf in the Redlands area. He received the YMCA Century Club award in 1973, is a co-founder of the Redlands Hospital tournament and has worked for six years in the People to People international golf program.

As a player, Bernard has qualified three times for the national PGA Club Professional tournament and has twice won the regional PGA’s pro-club champion tournament.

Also honored by the PGA section with an honorary life membership was Tom Crow, president of the Cobra Golf Co., for his work in sponsoring business school seminars and support of the Clubs for Kids program. The President’s Award for outstanding administrative work went to Norrie West, president of the San Diego County Junior Golf Assn.

Golf Notes The 12th annual Billy Casper Invitational is set for Monday at Industry Hills, with a noon shotgun start after a clinic by Billy Casper at 10:45 a.m. . . . Also scheduled Monday is the SoCal PGA players’ division tournament at the Victoria Club in Riverside. . . . Regional qualifying for the U.S. Public Links tournament will be held June 16 at Shandin Hills GC in San Bernardino and Singing Hills CC in the San Diego area. The finals will be July 14-19 at Tanglewood Park in North Carolina . . . Emily Stanfield of Azusa and Barbara Rowland of Silver Lakes tied for first with 83 in the Western American Golf Assn. tournament at Silver Lakes. . . . The SoCal Open will be June 25-27 at the Rio Bravo Resort in Bakersfield and the SoCal Amateur July 18-20 at Hillcrest CC.

Alondra Park, the most heavily played public course in the country, has a new clubhouse. There were 203,035 rounds played last year at the county-owned course operated by Steve Oh in Lawndale. . . . The San Diego Jr. Golf Assn. will open its season June 20 with the Stardust Invitational at Stardust CC. The feature event will be the 19th annual Optimist Junior World tournament July 15-18 on four area courses. . . . The 1989 U.S. Junior Amateur will be played at Singing Hills CC in El Cajon, the same course where Jack Renner of Palm Springs defeated Mike Brannan of Salinas in the 1973 junior championship. . . . Dates for the final PGA tour qualifying school are Dec. 3-8 at PGA West and La Quinta Hotel courses.

Frances Hirsh defeated Joan Hirsh, no relation, for the Brentwood CC women’s championship. . . . The California Left-Handed tournament will be played June 28-29 at Paso Robles GC. . . . Verbum Dei High School’s annual scholarship fund raiser is scheduled Monday at Riviera CC. . . . The Cal Poly Pomona athletic fund will benefit from a charity tournament June 16 at Via Verde CC in San Dimas. . . . The National PGA Academy of Golf for boys and girls 12 to 17 is offering one-week sessions at the La Quinta Hotel course, June 21-27 and June 28-July 4. . . . PGA West’s new stadium course, where Jack Nicklaus played two rounds to get ready for the Masters, will get its first tournament test during the PGA Club Professional tournament Oct. 2-5. The La Quinta Hotel mountain course and Mission Hills’ old course, site of the Dinah Shore LPGA tournament, will also be used in the $335,000 tournament for 350 players.

Cal State Northridge was ranked third in the final Division II poll conducted by Jones Sports. Florida Southern was top ranked. . . . Pat Burke of Cal State Dominguez Hills, winner of the last two Gary Sanders Memorial tournaments, was named to the academic All-American team with a 3.0 average while being the Toros’ No. 1 golfer for two years after transferring from Citrus College. . . . Qualifying for the U.S. Senior Open will be held June 16 at Old Ranch CC, with 102 players battling for eight spots in the June 26-29 tournament at Scioto CC in Columbus, Ohio. . . . The PGA’s national golf day will be June 15, with President Mickey Powell having set a goal of $300,000 for his fellow professionals. Last year’s special day raised $208,000. George Thomsen of Candlewood CC in Whittier is co-chairman of the event with Randy Smith of Dallas. . . . Western Advertising Golfer’s Will Hertzberg shot net 64s to win WAG tournaments in April at The Links at Monarch Bay and May at San Vicente CC. A group called the Terrible Twenties played their 720th monthly tournament last week at the Los Angeles CC, the 60th anniversary of their founding on May 19, 1926, at the old Flintridge CC. Member Bob Wolcott of Oakmont claims they didn’t even miss a month during the Depression or World War II. Winners at LACC were John Denton of Riviera and Jerry Halperin of Big Canyon in the low handicap flight, and Jack Wilder of Santa Ana and William Gee of Annandale in the high handicap flight.