Golf / Shav Glick : Stankowski Leads SoCal Team in Pacific Coast Play

When Paul Stankowski of Oxnard won the 90th annual Southern California Amateur golf championship last Sunday at Glendora Country Club, he became the first teen-age winner of the prestigious event in 10 years.

Stankowski, 19, a junior at Texas El Paso, shot 279, nine under par, over the narrow, tree-lined course, defeating Randy Drake, the home club favorite, by three strokes. It was the second summer victory for Stankowski, who a few weeks ago won the Oxnard city championship.

His next outing will be the 23rd annual Pacific Coast Amateur tournament, which starts Tuesday at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. Stankowski heads an eight-man team that will represent the Southern California Golf Assn. in the 72-hole event.

Other team members are David Stockton of Mentone, last year’s runner-up; Jerry Michals of Vista; Craig Steinberg of Tarzana; Buz Greene of Thousand Oaks; George Lombino of Lynwood; Jack Spradlin Jr. of San Diego, and Pat Duncan of Rancho Santa Fe.

Representing the Southern California Public Links Assn. will be Kelly Manos of Cypress, Dan Pouliot of Burbank, Tony Chieffo of Granada Hills and Dave Fernandes of Woodland Hills.

After the Pacific Coast Amateur, Stankowski will try to qualify for the United States Amateur, Aug. 7, at Palos Verdes, where 114 players will be going for seven berths in the tournament at Merion, Pa., Aug. 22-27.

The last teen-ager to win the SoCal was Jeff Hart of Solana Beach, who was 19 and a student at USC when he won in 1979. The only younger winners in the nation’s oldest continuously contested amateur tournament were Al Geiberger of Santa Barbara in 1956 and Doug Clarke of La Jolla in 1977, who were 18.

Stankowski, who plays out of the SeaBee Golf Club of Port Hueneme, received a scholarship from UTEP on the basis of winning the Channel League championship as a senior at Oxnard High. He also finished fifth and third as a 16- and 17-year-old in Junior World tournaments.

Paul, whose brother Tom won the Los Angeles City junior title in 1982 before playing four years at Arizona State, has been playing golf since his father started him in the game at 8. Tom, who is now playing on the Golden State Tour as a professional, caddied for Paul in his Glendora triumph.

Southern California golf enthusiasts were taken by surprise when popular Tom McHugh was released as professional and course manager at Los Angeles Royal Vista, formerly Pomona National, in Walnut.

McHugh, 60, started at the 27-hole facility in 1967 as director of the National Golf Courses properties that included the Ontario and Corona courses as well as Pomona. He left briefly in the 1970s to become director of golf at Cathedral Canyon Country Club in Palm Springs, but returned in 1977.

“The course (Pomona National) lost more than $100,000 in 1977 and we turned it around in three years,” McHugh said. “I ran the course like it was my own. I wouldn’t have done a thing different if I’d owned it myself.”

One of McHugh’s most successful innovations was a St. Patrick’s Day tournament for which players signed up months in advance to make sure they could get starting times. He also thought up the Comedian’s Golf Classic and the California 500 Celebrity tournament, which featured such players as James Garner, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Joey Bishop and Claude Akins.

“We didn’t have a meeting of the minds on the way the course should be operated,” A. C. (Sandy) Waterhouse Jr., owner of L.A. Royal Vista, said of McHugh’s dismissal.

Dan Horning, formerly of the San Ramon National course in Northern California, has replaced McHugh.

Golf Notes

The purse for the 18th annual Queen Mary Open, Aug. 17-20, has been increased $10,000 to $110,000, according to tournament director Doug Ives. First two rounds will be played at the Skylinks and Lakewood courses in Long Beach, with Lakewood the site of the final two rounds. John McComish, last year’s champion, will not defend, since he is now playing on the PGA Tour. The Len Kennett Putting championship will be held at Lakewood in conjunction with the tournament, offering a purse of $7,500.

Mark Calcavecchia’s win in the British Open moved him up to fifth in the Sony worldwide rankings, behind Seve Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Curtis Strange. . . . Pro Bob Spencer of Sierra La Verne knows the way around his home course. Spencer, who is playing in the Senior British Open this week, has made three holes in one this year at Sierra La Verne, the most remarkable with a driver on the downhill 405-yard 11th hole. Two days earlier, he had missed an ace on the same hole by a foot, according to George DeLellis, who witnessed all three aces.

Al Geiberger, Jack Nicklaus, Kathy Whitworth and Hubie Green have been inducted into the Collegiate Hall of Fame. . . . Robert Gamez of Arizona, the Pacific 10 champion, has been awarded the Nicklaus Trophy, given annually to the top collegiate player in the country. . . . When Brad Greer won the Greater Sacramento Open, it was the first time a player had ever repeated as champion in a Golden State Tour event. Greer is a two-time SoCal Amateur champion from Huntington Beach.

Mark the dates on your 1990 calendar: Jan. 4-7, MONY Tournament of Champions, La Costa; Jan. 17-21, Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, La Quinta; Feb. 15-18, Shearson Lehman Hutton Open, Torrey Pines, San Diego, and Feb. 22-25, Nissan Los Angeles Open, Riviera.

Julie Lynd of Lake Arrowhead CC won the 18th annual Southern California Women’s Masters championship by two strokes over defending champion Sue Ewart of Old Ranch. Lynd shot 230 in the tournament for club champions, which was held at Industry Hills, California and Sierra La Verne. Low net was a tie between Kiiko Kimihara of Industry Hills and Sue Hanki of Palm Meadows at 226. Teri Melanson of Rancho Park had long drive of 254 yards.

Rancho Park’s nine-hole course is open again after having been closed for several weeks during construction of a new irrigation system. . . . Billy Casper, Johnny Miller and Gene Littler are the three best male golfers and Mickey Wright the best female golfer born in California, according to Golf Digest.