Golf / Mal Florence : Steve Pate Returning to San Diego Area--One of His Favorites

It’s understandable if Steve Pate is partial to the San Diego area. The PGA Tour was in its early stages last year and he had already won two tournaments.

The former UCLA All-American won the MONY Tournament of Champions at La Costa followed by a victory in the Shearson Lehman Hutton Open, formerly known as the San Diego Open.

“My goal last year was to win twice and I did it in San Diego, so I’d have to say it’s been a pretty good area for me,” Pate said.

Pate would, of course, like the new year to be as rewarding as 1988. Winning early certainly eases any anxiety he might have as to how he’s progressing.

Pate, 27, who will defend his title in the Tournament of Champions starting Thursday at La Costa, has steadily advanced on the money list in his 4 years on the Tour.

He earned $89,358 in 1985, $176,100 in 1986, $335,728 in 1987 and $582,473 in 1988.

“After that great start I was hoping to win more,” Pate said. “I guess I was a little greedy, but I had a good stretch at the end of the year even though I didn’t win. Coming back to La Costa puts me in a winning frame of mind again.”

Asked if he has any long-term goals, the Simi Valley resident said: “I’d like to win every week but, obviously, that isn’t going to happen. I’d like to win more than once this year and defend one of my championships.

“I haven’t made any major changes in my game, or mental approach. I’m just getting better at it, like refining my swing. And I don’t let bad things bother me.”

Pate says the T of C is the best quality field of the year. To qualify one must win a PGA Tour tournament, or the British Open in the 12 months since the last Tournament of Champions.

And there’s quite an attrition rate from year to year. Of the record 38 qualifiers in 1988, only 13 will return to shoot for the first prize of $135,000 and a total purse of $750,000.

Pate, who finished 12th on the money list in 1988, played in 30 tour events in 1988.

“I’m going to try to play less than 30 tournaments this year, but I hate to read about people making all that money while I’m sitting at home.”

The Nabisco Championships last November at Pebble Beach paid Curtis Strange $360,000 for winning a playoff with Tom Kite.

Asked if the Nabisco tournament unfairly tilts the money winning total, Pate said: “I think it does. That it can swing that much in one week I don’t think is particularly fair. But if I had to make a decision of not having the tournament, or having it, I’d have it the way it is.”

Pate is sometimes confused by galleries with Jerry Pate, a former U.S. Open winner, whose career has been curtailed by injuries.

Steve Pate takes it in stride.

“I don’t think I look a whole like Jerry,” “A lot of people follow me because they think I’m Jerry. In an offhand way it gives me more recognition.

“Some people even ask me about diving in a lake.”

Jerry Pate made a famous splash after winning the Tournament Players Championship in 1982--and the memory lingers on.

As for Steve Pate, he might not be adverse to diving in a lake if he shoots consecutive rounds of 66 as he did last year on his way to winning the rain abbreviated T of C by a stroke over Larry Nelson.

After he won last year, taking a check for $90,000, Pate said: “I’m not going to lie to you that I was disappointed that the last round was canceled. A win is a win. You take it any way you can.”

He has been sharp lately, shooting a 64 to tie the course record at Kapalua in Maui in the Kirin Cup competition.

It was also a memorable year off the course for Pate.

“I was on the fifth hole playing in the Honda tournament when I got word that my wife, Sheri, was about ready to have our first child. I ran off the course, set a speed record driving to the Miami Airport and just missed the plane by 2 minutes,” he said. “I had to wait 4 hours for the next flight.

“In Los Angeles, I raced to the hospital from LAX and missed my daughter Nicole’s birth by an hour. Fortunately, Sheri and Nicole came through in great shape, but I was a nervous wreck.”

Golf Notes

Orel Hershiser, the Dodger Cy Young Award winner; New York Mets catcher Gary Carter and Julius (Dr. J) Irving, the former star forward for the Philadelphia 76ers, will be among celebrities in the 30th annual Bob Hope Chrysler Classic to be held Jan. 11-15 over four courses in the Palm Springs area. Other celebrities include baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, and former professional sports stars Don Meredith, Johnny Bench and George Blanda. Former president Gerald Ford is among the traditional participants. . . . Howard Cosell’s Day with the All-Americans celebrity tournament precedes the Bob Hope tournament on Jan. 10 at the Morningside resort course at Rancho Mirage.

Rare eagles: Cliff Rettig eagled a 495-yard par-5 hole at the San Luis Obispo Country Club. Not that newsowrthy in itself. However, his wife, Pat, eagled the same hole the next day with a 7-wood shot from 135 yards. . . . Jim Porter has been named director of golf at Oakmont Country Club. He replaces Skip Whitt, who is retiring after 14 years with the Glendale club. . . . The 16th annual St. Francis Hospital of Santa Barbara pro-celebrity golf tournament is scheduled Jan. 23 at Santa Barbara Community golf course. . . . Thirteen French junior golfers, 8 boys and 5 girls, will play a match against a Southern California team Jan. 29-30 at Industry Hills. . . . Actor Robert Wagner returns to the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am tournament Jan. 23-29 after a 21-year absence. He reportedly made a hole-in-one at the 1967 tournament. . . . Chi Chi Rodriguez is the winner of the 1989 Bob Jones Award for distinguished sportsmanship, an honor given by the United States Golf Assn.