Golf : A Wide-Open Field Makes Tournament a Hit-or-Missing Proposition

Al Geiberger, Johnny Dawson, Smiley Quick, Barry Jaeckel, Tony Sills and Tom Seaver’s dad, Charles, have won it.

Craig Stadler, Mark O’Meara, John Cook, Corey Pavin, Phil McGleno (now Mac O’Grady), Scott Simpson and his dad, Joe, are some who tried and didn’t win it.

The Southern California Amateur, which is the nation’s oldest continuously contested amateur golf championship, is also one of the most prestigious in the country.

This year’s 87th annual tournament will take place July 18-20 at the Hillcrest Country Club, home club of Southern California Golf Assn. President Pete Patman. Qualifying rounds at six courses will determine the field for the final 72 holes.

Brad Greer of Mission Viejo, winner the past two years, has turned professional so he is unable to defend his title. Also missing after turning pro will be Sam Randolph, the U.S. and California Amateur champion who was runner-up in the 1983 and 1984 Southern California tournaments.

Two former winners, Ted Richards and Brian Gaddy, are in the field of 379 in the championship flight. Richards won in 1954 and again in 1961, while Gaddy won in 1978.

Championship flight qualifying will be conducted at Brentwood, Hacienda (Whittier), Silver Lakes (Helendale), Village (Lompoc), San Luis Rey Downs (Bonsall) and Quail Ranch (Moreno) courses, with 64 players advancing to Hillcrest. Three others, Mid-Amateur champion Bernie LeBeau of Bakersfield, Steve Rhorer of Virginia and Greg Starkman of Hillcrest are exempt. Rhorer and Starkman finished in the top five in last year’s tournament at the Virginia Country Club in Long Beach where Greer won by a record 12 strokes.

With such a wide-open field, there are no solid favorites. Among the entries are six who made it to the 32-player match play in the recently completed State Amateur--Pat Duncan of Rancho Santa Fe, Bryan Gorman of Bonita, Mitch Voges of Wood Ranch, Scott Almquist of Santa Ana, Tad Buchanan of Palos Verdes and Buz Greene of North Ranch.

Also entered are 1983 U.S. Senior Amateur champion Alton Duhon of Griffith Park and Ken Tanigawa and Bobby Lasken of UCLA.

A number of prominent players, notably Los Angeles and Southern California junior champion Bobby May and former U.S. Amateur runner-up Brian Lindley, are missing because of tournament conflicts. May will be playing in the Optimist Junior World in San Diego and Lindley will be in the U.S. Public Links championships in North Carolina.

The championship flight will play 36 holes on July 18, after which the field will be cut to the low 32 for 18 hole rounds on July 19-20. Handicap flights will also conclude at Hillcrest.

The qualifying lineup, with leading candidates:

BRENTWOOD (129 players for 22 spots)--Former champions Ted Richards of Bel-Air and Brian Gaddy of Annandale, former U.S. and California seniors champion Alton Duhon of Griffith Park, Tad Buchanan of Palos Verdes and Ken Tanigawa of Bel-Air.

QUAIL RANCH (57 for 10)--Ray Vanyo of El Rancho Verde, Terry Andrews and Steve Lass of El Prado, Scott Degnan of Victoria.

HACIENDA (79 for 13)--Bobby Lasken of Candlewood, Kemp Richardson of El Niguel, Scott Almquist of Santa Ana and Jason Bittick of Yorba Linda, star of Esperanza’s high school championship team.

SILVER LAKES (23 for 4)--Kent Richardson of Bakersfield; Darrell Nelson of Oak Tree in Tehachapi.

VILLAGE (41 for 7)--Tom Stankowski of Port Hueneme, Mitch Voges of Wood Ranch, Buz Greene of North Ranch and Tony Lehman of Birnam Wood.

SAN LUIS REY DOWNS (47 for 8)--Bryan Gorman of Bonita, the San Diego city champion; Jon Buchman of Fairbanks Ranch, Pat Duncan of Rancho Santa Fe, Jerry Michals of San Luis Rey Downs and Mike Swingle of San Diego, winner of the CIF-SCGA Invitational.

Golf Notes Lee Trevino will conduct a “Learn With Lee Golf Clinic” Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the El Dorado course in Long Beach which is open to the public. Proceeds will help the SoCal junior program. . . . The L.A. County Amateur will be played July 19-20 and July 26 at the Knollwood, Diamond Bar and Mountain Meadows courses, with the championship flight at Knollwood. . . . Entries close July 16 for the U.S. Amateur in Shoal Creek, Ala. Local qualifying is Aug. 11 at Big Canyon and Las Posas. . . . The Golden State Tour will play Monday at Shadowridge CC in Vista, Friday at Brookside GC in Pasadena and July 16 at Los Serranos.

Defending champion Jim Woodward will have the home-course advantage when he goes for his second straight win in the $50,000 Toyota SoCal PGA match play championship next week at Wood Ranch. Challengers include 1983 and 1984 winner Paul Wise, Arne Dokka and former touring pros Rafe Botts, Frank Beard and Chuck Courtney. After two rounds July 14, two July 15, two July 16 and a 36-hole final July 17, the winner will receive $8,000 and an exemption to the PGA Club Pro championships, the L.A. Open, San Diego Open and Bob Hope Classic. Woodward tuned up by winning the SoCal Open last week at Rio Bravo in Bakersfield.

Six Pac-West college women will leave Tuesday for an 18-day tour of the Far East, which will include a match with a team from the People’s Republic of China at the Arnold Palmer-designed course in Guangdong Province. On the team are Kim Saiki of USC, last week’s winner of the Broadmoor Invitational; Pearl Sinn, Arizona State; Janet Ruma, Arizona; Kay Cornelius and Julie Carmichael, Stanford; and Heather Hoder, Arizona State. Coaches Jackie Steinmann of UCLA and Linda Vollstedt of Arizona State will accompany the players. . . . For the first time since 1974, the Golf Writers Assn. did not vote a player into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The nominees, Peter Thomson, Roberto de Vicenzo and Gene Littler, were so evenly rated that none received the required 75% of the votes cast.

Former USC golfer Tracy Nakazaki, who was runner-up to Kris Moe in the 1983 State Amateur, has decided to skip the tour qualifying school this fall to gain more experience playing on the Asian tour. . . . Long-hitting Les Menchen defeated Big Bill O’Connor to win the Calabasas GC championship with a club record 292. . . . The 15th annual SoCal Women’s Masters for club champions from both private and public courses, will be played Monday at Alta Vista, Tuesday at California and Wednesday on the Zaharias course at Industry Hills. Defending champion is Jody Martin Culp of Candlewood. . . . The Boys Club of Hollywood will play host to its annual charity tournament July 14 at Riviera CC.

Elrick (Tiger) Woods of Cypress will attempt to become the first player in Optimist Junior World history to win three titles in the same age division when this year’s 19th annual tournament gets underway next week. Woods has already won the 10-and-under class twice at Presidio Hills. Last year he won by 14 strokes. The July 15-18 tournament has attracted more than 750 juniors from 40 states and 20 foreign nations. The 15-17 classes will play at Torrey Pines. . . . Industry Hills has announced two summer tee-time bargains. Seniors, 60 and older, can play for $10 on non-holiday Mondays and Tuesdays on the Zaharias course instead of regular $25, and anyone can play twilight golf, after 3 p.m., on either the Zaharias or Eisenhower courses for $7.50 weekdays and $10 weekends and holidays.

MountainGate CC, the American Golf-operated club that sits high off the San Diego Freeway near Mulholland Dr., has reopened its third nine holes. Redesigned by Ted Robinson, the South 9, at 3,601 yards, is much longer than the two nines on the north side of the clubhouse, and much more challenging. . . . Brookside and Santa Anita, two courses which deteriorated badly under municipal control, are back in good condition with new management. American Golf took over Brookside from the city of Pasadena and Santa Anita Associates took over the county course in Arcadia. . . . Abe Kaufman, a starter at the old Western Avenue course for 15 years, has come out of retirement to handle starting chores at Santa Anita.