Driving Ambition : Late-Blooming Cal Lutheran Golfer Primed to Take Shot at National Title

All the king’s horses and all the Kingsmen couldn’t have put the California Lutheran golf team together for the NAIA tournament.

CLU, after all, did not field a full complement of golfers--six--in any of its matches this season.

“I think in my two years here, I maybe had six players twice,” Coach Mike Andonian said. “And one time, I got a couple of basketball players to help us out.

“But we still have had some good individual players.”

One of those individuals, senior Chris Wilson, will participate in the NAIA championships at Wyn Lakes Country Club in Montgomery, Ala., beginning Tuesday.

And his coach thinks Wilson will be competitive. “If he didn’t have a chance, I wouldn’t even be having him go,” Andonian said. “I wouldn’t have taken the team, even if they had qualified, because I don’t think we could have really done anything.”

Wilson, a 25-year-old transfer from Ventura College, was CLU’s most valuable player this season, and he is the first Kingsmen golfer to qualify for national competition in Andonian’s two seasons as coach.

A 1-handicapper, Wilson qualified for nationals the hard way by rallying to win the NAIA District 3 individual title over teammate Chris Morgando.

The scores from three regular-season rounds were used to determine qualifiers from the district. Wilson’s three-round total of 223 edged Morgando’s by two shots.

But going into the third round of the district competition at Elkins Ranch in Fillmore, it was Morgando who held a two-stroke lead over Wilson.

Morgando shot a 73 over the first round in the Kingsmen Classic at the Los Robles Golf Course in Thousand Oaks and followed with a 74 at Point Loma for a two-round total of 147.

Wilson shot a 71 in the first round but three-putted five times at Point Loma for a 78.

But he rebounded nicely at Elkins Ranch, where he shot a 74 while Morgando struggled to a 78 of his own, losing a trip to nationals in the process.

“They are pretty close. They’re both good,” Andonian said of his top players, “but Wilson is definitely our best player.

“The competition is going to be a lot more difficult at nationals than it is in these local tournaments, but I think if he can shoot in the low 70s, he could do pretty well.”

About 150 golfers will tee off Tuesday and Wednesday in a 36-hole qualifying competition for the two 18-hole championship rounds that will be played Thursday and Friday. The top 40 players in the qualifying competition will advance.

“The ultimate goal is to win,” Wilson said, “but right now, I’m mainly concentrating on making the cut after the second round.

“Then, I like my chances.”

Wilson admits he would not have felt that way a few years ago. Then he was still developing, both personally and as an athlete.

“I didn’t start playing golf really seriously until I was in my junior year in high school, and I think it hurt me,” he said.

“As a player, I’m maturing late. Now, I feel like I’m tournament-tough.”

Wilson’s idea of being “tournament-tough” is the ability shake off a mistake or a poor performance. It is not something he has always been able to do.

“I’ve broken many a golf club in the past,” he said. “I’d be unable to make a shot on one hole, and four or five holes later, I was still thinking about it. I’ve just always been a perfectionist.

“But in the last couple of years, I’ve gotten to where I can handle the pressure, the frustration of the game. And that’s mainly been because of being more mature now. I think you learn the temperament as you get older.”

Wilson was helped along in his development when his father, Tom, bought a driving range in Ventura eight years ago, during Chris’ junior season at Hueneme High.

“That’s when he kind of found out how good he could be, I think. That sounds like an ego trip for him, but I think that’s what happened,” said the elder Wilson, who has given up the driving range but still repairs clubs and also serves as his son’s personal instructor.

“He and his brother, they would be hitting golf balls every day,” Tom Wilson said. “He was really one of those kids who played very naturally.”

But the father acknowledged that his son used to lose his temper very naturally as well.

“Once, when he wouldn’t play well, he would just come unglued. He was like a Jekyll and Hyde. But now, his idea of how he plays golf has changed a lot, and I think he’s a lot better player,” he said.

“Now he’s managing to handle himself--and the courses.”

For that reason, Tom Wilson likes Chris’ chances for success in the national tournament as much as his son and Andonian do.

“If I was going to bet on anybody,” he said, “I’d have to bet on him because of his attitude. He’s got the right frame of mind.”

It certainly sounds like it.

“I expect some really good players,” Chris Wilson said. “But I think I’ll be able to give some tough competition, too.

“I feel like I’ll be able to do pretty well.”