Golf / Thomas Bonk : Nobody Is Likely to Be Surprised by Kay Cockrell Anymore

Kay Cockrell surprised a lot of people when she became a two-time college All-American after joining the UCLA golf team as a walk-on. She surprised some more people when she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur title in 1986, and she probably surprised still more when she won it again this year.

Now, Cockrell wants to become a professional, and if she makes it through the LPGA’s qualifying school, nobody is likely to be surprised.

“This girl is one in a lifetime,” said Jackie Steinmann, Cockrell’s coach at UCLA. “She’s got everything: looks, skill, personality, poise, charm. She’s just a very special person.”

Rick Walker, Cockrell’s coach in Los Gatos, also believes the 22-year-old can’t miss.

“She’s like the class of the field now among the qualifiers,” he said. “She’s as good as most of them on the tour right now.”

Why are these people so high on Kay Cockrell? Maybe it’s because she has come so far. Cockrell did not play high school golf in Los Gatos because there was no team, although she did play junior golf. So one week as a freshman walk-on at UCLA, when a player got sick, Cockrell became the No. 5 player at the San Diego Lady Aztec tournament. She won it. She also got a scholarship.

“That one win surprised me,” Cockrell said. “When I won that, I got my foot in the door.”

And once that happened, she made the most of it. She became a three-time All-Conference selection and a two-time team captain. She was an academic All-American in 1985 and 1986, won an NCAA postgraduate scholarship and graduated in June with a a degree in economics and a 3.4 grade-point average.

But as successful as Cockrell had been in college golf, she really didn’t make her mark until she won the 1986 U.S. Amateur at Santa Cruz.

“I hadn’t won any national tournaments, nothing except college tournaments, so when I won the amateur, I was getting questions like, ‘Who are you?’ and ‘Where are you from?’ ” Cockrell said.

Then the week after she had won the Amateur a second time, in Barrington, R.I., Cockrell shot a 69 and led the first round of the LPGA Nestle’s Tournament of Champions. She was the only amateur in a field of 12 that included the LPGA’s top money winners and the winners of the four majors.

Cockrell, 5 feet 8 1/2 inches and 135 pounds, consistently drives the ball 220-230 yards, said Walker, who would like her to improve that distance. But he also said, “God didn’t give everybody everything.”

Besides that, said Walker, who coached Cockrell for nine years in his junior program, she can hit irons as far as any pro on the tour.

Cockrell may find out if that is true if she survives the LPGA qualifying school at Sarasota, Fla., where as many as 175 golfers are trying to finish in the low 25. Those who do will join another 25 qualifiers from a second section, plus all of those who lost their LPGA cards, in the finals in October in Houston, where 25 will get their cards and advance to the pro tour.

Cockrell is hopeful, but counting on nothing. “I try not to look too far in the future,” she said. “If I get out there and start playing every week, I’ll be able to compete pretty well in a year or two. I used to get nervous about things like that. I don’t any more.”

How does the Tujunga Open sound?

That’s what the Los Angeles Open could become, if the Junior Chamber of Commerce does more than just listen to a group of foreign developers who want to move the Open from the Riviera Country Club to the Sunland-Tujunga area.

The Cosmo Corp., of Japan, which owns land in the area and plans to build a golf course on the acreage, has already held preliminary talks with the Jaycees, who put on the L.A. Open. For 26 years, the L.A. Open has been played at Riviera, but Scott Kelly, the Jaycees’ director of marketing, said his group has been listening at least.

“We’ve had some interesting talks with them, about ‘what if?’ . . . but they haven’t even broken ground and they’re talking a couple of years down the road,” Kelly said.

“We have to take a look at it, but we’re very happy at Riviera and we have no intention of moving. That’s not to say we’ll close our ears to any other opportunities, though.”

Kelly said that the Jaycees’ three-year contract with Riviera expires after the 1989 tournament. In 1988, the L.A. Open will be played Feb. 22-28.

Golf Notes

In what could be called the Laura Davies Rule, the LPGA recently passed an amendment to its bylaws that permits nontour members who win a major title to be exempt from qualifying. After Davies won the U.S. Women’s Open in July, the LPGA decided to re-examine its policy about membership requirements. Before the amendment, players seeking LPGA tour cards were required to attend a qualifying tournament in the fall. Now, all major tournament winners will be exempt. . . . At Rio Hondo Country Club the other day, Tony Jones made a hole in one on the 220-yard 10th hole. Jones shook hands with Bruce McDonald, who was next up in the fivesome, then watched as McDonald followed with an ace of his own. McDonald’s ball landed on top of Jones’ in the cup. “So within 30 seconds of each other, there were two holes in one on the same hole,” said McDonald, the pro at Rio Hondo. Both golfers were using the same brand clubs and balls. “It was all so bizarre, so weird, that everybody just stood there and laughed for a while,” McDonald said.

Jim McLean, head pro at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., is the new director of golf and head pro at Tamarisk Country Club in Rancho Mirage. McLean, 37, a former All-America at the University of Houston, replaces Nick Turzian, who retired after 30 years at Tamarisk. . . . Bud Bradley won his fifth club championship at Wilshire Country Club, defeating Dave Burton in 34 holes. Bradley was also the medalist at 147. . . . Tickets for the Skins Game, which will be played Nov. 28-29 at PGA West in La Quinta are on sale. The toll-free number for tickets is 1-800-331-1234. . . . Pat Boone, Moe Bandy, Eddie Dean, Mickey Gilley, Howard Keel, Ron Masak, Gary Morris, Carl Perkins, Charley Pride, T. G. Sheppard and George Strait are among the celebrities scheduled to play in the fifth annual Academy of Country Music celebrity golf tournament on Burbank’s De Bell course Oct. 19. Proceeds from the tournament, will go to the T. J. Martell Foundation for cancer and leukemia research as well as the Neil Bogart Memorial Laboratory.

The Los Angeles senior men’s and women’s tournaments will be played on the same days, Oct. 15-16, at Rancho Park and Griffith Park. The deadline for entering either 36-hole tournament is Oct. 5, according to Jim Gilbert, golf coordinator for the city parks and recreation department. Last year, Millie Stanley won her sixth consecutive women’s senior title, and Bud Bradley won in the first tournament he was eligible to play as a senior. . . . Joe Biederman, 82, must have the Rancho Park nine-hole course down to a science. Biederman scored his seventh hole in one on the course, his fourth on the 98-yard seventh hole. Also at Rancho Park, Mark Burke won the club title by three strokes over Larry Salk. . . . The Southwestern Intercollegiate tournament will be played Oct. 5-7 at North Ranch CC in Westlake Village, site of the 1988 NCAA men’s national tournament. Of the 24 teams entered in the Southwestern, 20 made the cut at last year’s NCAA tournament.