Mary Budke Wins Women’s City Golf Title

There were no crowds at Rancho Park Golf Course Thursday--no galleries of fans following the leaders on the final day of the Los Angeles City Women’s Golf Championships.

But the lack of attention didn’t detract from the fact that the women who played in the 67th annual tournament are some of the best golfers in the Southland.

Mary Budke, 36, an emergency physician who won the U.S. Amateur title 18 years ago, shot a 75 in the final round for a total of 224 to win the title by four strokes.

“This is my second golf career,” said Budke, who plays at Oakmont Country Club and lives in South Pasadena. “I won the U.S. Amateur (in 1972) and the collegiate individual (while at Oregon State in 1974) and played on the World Cup team, then went on to medical school. I didn’t play at all from 1980-86, and when I started again, I played so badly, I couldn’t break 95 for years.”

While Budke is on her second golf career, Heidi Voorhees, 17, a senior at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, is preparing for her first. Voorhees, who played in Budke’s group, began the day six strokes off the pace and made it interesting on the back nine, where she had three birdies and eagled No. 15. She shot a 73 to finish in second place with a total of 228.

“This is going to be a long night,” Voorhees said. “I have grad night at Disneyland, a Mass, and then I graduate the next day.”

Voorhees will attend USC in the fall.

Claudine Rubin of Woodland Hills Country Club shot a 79 to finish third at 230.

City Golf Notes

Rancho Park’s Terri Melanson, the City defending champion, shot an 85 in the opening round and, despite her subsequent 74 and 75, finished fourth at 234. . . . She was followed by Linda Pearson of La Canada Country Club at 236 and Sylvia Kim of Wood Ranch Country Club at 238. . . . Jennifer Choi, a 17-year-old senior at Beverly Hills High School who will attend UCLA next fall, was tied for seventh place at 241 with Laree Sugg, a junior at UCLA.