Golf / Rich Tosches : Tamburro Attended School of Longshots

Here are a few reasons why John Tamburro was not considered a heavy favorite to qualify Monday for the U. S. Amateur tournament:

He had never played golf in high school or college. The number of players in the U. S. Amateur who have not played golf in school is roughly the same as the number of golfers who have never kicked their ball out from under a shrub when no one was looking. It is a very small number.

He had not been playing well at all in the weeks leading up to the qualifying tournament.

And his putting, which is the secret to golf, had become so horrendous that on Sunday night, during a really horrible bout of putting at the Calabasas Country Club, he gave his putter the ride of its life, whipping it across a green and onto a cart path, where it landed on its head and suddenly looked more like something a plumber might use to pull a fur ball from a clogged drain than it did a golf club.

And so, Tamburro headed into the biggest tournament of his life with no confidence, no familiar putter and, it would seem, no hope.

Then he banged out rounds of 70 and 73 at the Friendly Hills Country Club to earn the seventh and final berth (out of a field of 104) that qualified him for the 1988 U. S. Amateur, to be played Aug. 23-28 in Hot Springs, Va.

“I guess I knew I could do it, but I had been playing so poorly and had so little confidence that I was surprised when I made it,” said Tamburro, 23, of Tarzana. “There will be a lot of practice between now and the tournament. I’ve got a lot of work to do on my game.”

Not nearly as much work, however, as he will have to do on his old putter if he ever wants to use it again.

“I really gave it some air time,” Tamburro said. “The shaft is bent and it curls up. I’d say it has about an 8-degree loft to it now.”

Tamburro works as an assistant starter and pro shop salesman at the Calabasas Country Club. When his 3-year-old putter suffered a serious case of the bends after being launched Sunday night, Tamburro borrowed another putter from the pro shop and used it Monday to shoot his 36-hole total of 143.

“And the most ridiculous thing is, it’s almost exactly like the one I threw and broke,” he said. “The weight is the same and it feels about the same. It shows how much of a mental game golf is.

“I hadn’t thrown a club in years, but that old putter had turned on me and I got frustrated and let it fly. I’m sorry I did it. It feels great when you do it. It really relieves the pressure. But when you walk down to pick it up you feel so ridiculous . . . so guilty.”

Tamburro, who missed qualifying for the U. S. Amateur last year by just three strokes, wanted to play golf at Cal State Northridge four years ago but was told by Coach Bill Cullum that, with no high school experience, he need not apply.

Tamburro said. “When the new coach, Jim Bracken, asked me to come out for the team last year, it was too late. I was graduating.”

Pupil of the game: Another area qualifier for the U. S. Amateur is Van Nuys optometrist Craig Steinberg. He tied for first at the Santa Maria Country Club by shooting rounds of 72 and 76.

Tim Hogarth of Van Nuys had to settle for the first-alternate position, losing in a playoff for the fourth and final berth to Matt Kayson of Santa Barbara.

Kayson turned in one of the strangest performances in U. S. Amateur qualifying history, blistering the Santa Maria course with a 4-under-par 68 in the morning to take a four-shot lead over the field, and then hacking his way to an 8-over-par 82 in the afternoon. But he beat Hogarth with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

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Juniors: If Monday’s junior invitational tournament at the Mission Viejo Country Club is any indication, the Valley should be well-represented in girls’ golf tournaments for many years.

Heidi Vorhees of Sherman Oaks finished second in the 15-17 age group, while Emilee Klein of Tarzana won the 12-14 age bracket and Allison Wilson of Sepulveda finished first in the 11-and-under age group.