Sudden Injury, Slow Healing Jolt Golfer’s Career Off Course : Colleges: Enrico Montano was expected to be Cal State Dominguez Hills’ mainstay this year. An auto accident has changed all that.

In the split second when Enrico Montano decided to save a life, he may have sacrificed his golf career.

Montano, known as “Mr. Clutch” on the Cal State Dominguez Hills golf team, has yet to swing a club for Coach John Johnson this season. Last December he swerved to avoid a small animal on a road in Bel Air, and his car hit a utility pole. A passenger was badly hurt, and Montano suffered torn cartilage and a severe sprain in his left elbow.

The elbow has been slow to heal, restricting Montano’s swing. It has also been extremely painful for Johnson.

The veteran golf coach was counting on Montano, a junior, to be the team leader this year and shoot some of his patented sub-par rounds. Last year the 68 Montano fired in a qualifying round of the NCAA Division II finals got the Toros into the national tournament.

Montano then responded with a 72-hole total of 310, sparking Dominguez Hills to a 12th-place finish. Individually, he wound up 27th in a field of more than 350 players.

At the beginning of this season, Johnson thought his team had enough experience to challenge for the national title. Only one player was gone from last year’s team. But with Montano out, he said, “we went from a veteran team with him to a team of very inexperienced players without him.”

Montano was out for a cruise on a twisting road on a foggy night when the animal crossed in front of his car.

“There were cars on the right. I couldn’t turn that way, so I went left into a pole,” he explained. “I was wearing a seat belt, and I still got banged up.”

The small car was totaled. Montano was hospitalized and released with his arm in a sling.

A five-month layoff didn’t help much. When he recently tried to hit a bucket of balls at a driving range for the first time since the accident, he felt some pain.

“This (comeback thing) should be interesting,” he said.

Johnson, whose team has skidded after a good start, would like to have Montano back for the final two NCAA qualifying rounds later this month. However, he admitted, “I think that is unlikely.”

Montano, whose specialty was booming tee shots, is equally glum about his chances. “I can’t hit too many drivers,” he said.

Besides, he knows better than to rush his return.

“If I do play, I have to play well,” he said. “Shooting an 80 or a 75 won’t help anyone.”

Montano was caddying for his father, Henry, at the Rancho Park municipal course in West Los Angeles when he got seriously interested in golf. He took lessons from some of Southern California’s best pros, including former UCLA Coach Ed Merrins. He joined the golf team at Beverly Hills High School, was a four-time letterman and was voted into the school’s hall of fame.

“I love the game,” Montano said.

Twice, on a lark, he has tried to qualify for the Los Angeles Open. His best round was a 67 at Brookside in Pasadena.

Montano is a fiery competitor, according to Johnson.

“He was a team leader, not only from the standpoint of ability but from the standpoint of competition,” the coach said. “The (NCAA) regional tournament wasn’t the only time he came through for us.”

Johnson likes to tell a story about Montano. At last year’s Southern California Intercollegiate at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Montano needed to birdie the par-five 18th hole to win the tournament.

“He hit his (second shot) in the water (in front of the green) and had to take a drop (with a one-stroke penalty),” Johnson said. Lying three, “he took out a pitching wedge and chipped into the cup to win it.”

Johnson said Montano is a much better player than his 78.9-stroke average last season would indicate, adding that he would score considerably lower if he ever regains his form.

“I think he will be all right,” Johnson said.

Montano would like to think so too, but the nagging pain in his elbow reminds him to take it slow.

“This is the kind of game where you have to put in a lot of time,” he said. “Right now I can’t do that. In this game, you have to know so many different shots. It’s incredible. You have to put in hour after hour of practice.”

Montano said there has been one benefit to his layoff: He has had time to read books about golf and watch instructional videos.

But will he be able to come back from his injury and reach his goal of playing on one of several amateur tours?

“I think I have as good a chance as anyone,” Montano said. “I’ve proven to myself that I can shoot sub-par (golf). It’s just a matter of the right day at the right time.”

But he acknowledged that a return to his previous form won’t come as suddenly as the split-second decision that got him into this situation in the first place.