GOLF / RICH TOSCHES : Tour Opened Blewett’s Eyes to Poverty

Mike Blewett of Westlake Village has learned a lot about golf in the past two years. He has learned a lot more, however, about life.

Playing mostly on the Asian Tour, Blewett has seen levels of poverty that some social workers--let alone golfers--do not encounter in the United States. He has played golf in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Thailand.

“And I like playing in Asia,” he said. “You learn a lot about yourself over there. It is so much different.

“There is a language barrier, a food barrier, a sickness barrier and a heat factor that you just don’t have to worry about here. And there is such a cultural wall to overcome.

“I have changed a lot. My outlook on life has changed. When you see people with no money at all and no house and no shoes on their feet, and I’m worrying about shooting a 75 on a golf course . . . it just makes you stop and think.”

Ted Lehmann of Thousand Oaks, a 1983 graduate of Brigham Young University, also played on the Asian Tour and has similar impressions.

“When I was in Calcutta,” Lehmann once told a reporter, “I couldn’t believe the poverty. It made Tijuana look like a resort.”

Blewett was back in town on Monday and played in a Golden State Tour event at the Woodland Hills Country Club. He finished in a tie for third place with Don Fiala and Mark Singer, both of Simi Valley. All three shot 2-under-par 70s, three strokes behind winner Pat Carrigan of San Dimas.

The third-place finishers each earned $530.

Lehmann, meanwhile, finished in a tie for eighth place in last week’s Southern California Open at the Rio Bravo Country Club in Bakersfield. Lehmann, who played briefly on the PGA Tour in 1987, shot rounds of 71, 69 and 73 and finished six shots behind the winner, Robert Meyer of Sacramento.

Lehmann earned $566.

Thanks a million: A news conference will be held at noon today at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks to announce the return to the posh club of a $1 million charity tournament featuring some of the world’s best players.

The second Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities Invitational will be played in the fall.

Last year’s inaugural event at the new course featured Greg Norman, course designer Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Curtis Strange, Tom Kite and more than a dozen other top golfers. The three-day tournament raised more than $1 million for several charities, including the Ronald McDonald House, a support program for children with cancer.

Most of last year’s participants have indicated that they would return again in the fall.

Everything’s Klein: Emilee Klein, 16, of Studio City, captured last week’s American Junior Golf Assn. tournament in Aspen, Colo., blitzing the field for a four-stroke victory in the 54-hole event.

Two years ago at the Carmel Valley Golf and Country Club, Klein became the youngest player to capture the women’s state amateur tournament. She won the Los Angeles City Women’s Championship when she was 13.

Pavin, Pate cash in: Corey Pavin of Oxnard has risen to 35th on the PGA money list. He has earned $232,884, including $4,400 for finishing 37th in last week’s $1 million Buick Classic in Harrison, N.Y.

Steve Pate of Simi Valley is 48th on the list with $182,567.

Better than the boys: Lindy Donnelly, 13, of Thousand Oaks, captured the title in the girls’ 12-14 age bracket of the Junior Invitational at Desert Falls Country Club last week with a round of 84. Her score was eight strokes better than the winner of the same age bracket in the boys’ division.