GOLF / SHAV GLICK : Wi Has Chance for Rare Amateur Double

Charlie Wi, a South Korean-born 18-year-old golfer from Thousand Oaks, will attempt to accomplish this week something that has not been done in 48 years--win the Southern California Amateur championship and the California State Amateur in the same year.

Johnny Dawson, a Walker Cup veteran who won four Southern California Amateur titles, did it in 1942.

Wi, a graduate of Westlake High School who plans to enroll at Nevada Reno in the fall, won the State title last month when he defeated former champion Gary Vanier of Oakland, 3 and 2, in the 36-hole final at Pebble Beach.

He is one of 21 players exempt from qualifying for the 91st Southern California Golf Assn. event, which will be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Wilshire Country Club.

Also exempt is defending champion Paul Stankowski, 20, a senior at Texas El Paso, who won the tournament last year at Glendora Country Club. Stankowski, who lives in Oxnard and plays out of the CBC Port Hueneme Country Club, is also the Western Athletic Conference champion and lost a playoff against Mark Johnson of Barstow for medalist honors in the California State Amateur.

Exempt players include those who either finished in the top five in last year’s Southern California Amateur or Mid-Amateur, reached match play in the recent State Amateur, or won the SCGA Senior Amateur, the Tournament of Club Champions or the CIF-SCGA championship.

Among those are 1988 Southern California Amateur champion Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys and Braemar Country Club, Mid-Amateur champion Johnson of Sun ‘N Sky Golf Club and Austin Maki of Costa Mesa, the state high school champion from Estancia. Maki also won the Long Beach City championship last week.

Lee Davis, the 1975 Southern California champion from Los Angeles Country Club, also was exempt but withdrew because of back injuries. Davis won the event the last time it was held at Wilshire.

The remainder of the 65 in the 86-player field will be determined by qualifying rounds Monday at Industry Hills, Quail Ranch, San Clemente, Meadow Lake, Hesperia and Rancho Maria. A total of 358 golfers will attempt to qualify for the championship flight.

Three former champions--Brian Gaddy (1976), Dave Sheff (1986) and Bud Ardell (1980)--will be among those making the try, Gaddy and Sheff at Industry Hills and Ardell at Hesperia.

This will be the fourth time the championship has been played over the 70-year-old Wilshire course, a 6,531-yard, par-72 layout that is laced by a distinctive creek that can come into play on as many as 16 of the 18 holes. Pro Rick Rielly, club President Joe Shehab and superintendent Alex Galaviz have the course in ideal condition for the tournament--the oldest continuously contested amateur championship in the country.

Wilshire is the host club because Serge Baliff is president of the SCGA, and the championship tournament is traditionally played at the home course of the president. Baliff has been a member at Wilshire since 1947 and estimates he has played 6,000 rounds at the club. He has made a hole in one on each of the par-three holes and has a lifetime eclectic score of 45--nine birdies and nine eagles.

Baliff is also the only player to have participated in all 40 MacBeth Invitationals, the premier event of the Wilshire season. In 1978, at 57, he won it with Bill Randall as his partner.

In addition to the championship flight, another 756 players will tee off Monday to qualify for three handicap flights. All final rounds will be played next Sunday.

Golf Notes

Twelve former winners in the Optimist Junior World championships have entered the 23rd renewal of the event, which will start Tuesday on five San Diego-area courses. Eldrick (Tiger) Woods of Cypress, already a four-time winner, will try for a record fifth in the boys’ 13-14 class, which he won last year. Woods also won the 11-12 division in 1988 and the 10-and-under division in 1984 and ’85. Only one other player, Sharon Barrett of Spring Valley, has ever won four. Hers came between 1972 and ’79. An entry list of 750, including 150 from foreign countries, will compete, according to tournament director Norrie West. Play will be at Torrey Pines for the 15-17 age group, Mission Trails for the 13-14, Singing Hills’ Pine Glen for the 11-12 and Presidio Hills for the 10-and-under.

John Mason of El Cajon, a regular on the Golden State Tour, will defend his championship July 26-29 in the $110,000 Long Beach Open. The winner of the 72-hole tournament at Recreation Park and El Dorado will receive $20,000. A field of 280 pros and 30 amateurs will alternate courses on the first two days, with survivors of the 36-hole cut completing the tournament at El Dorado. Matt Pegan of Long Beach is the defending amateur champion. Among the favored pro entries are Brad Bell and Kevin Leach from the Hogan tour, Howie Johnson and Brad Gallagher from the Canadian tour, plus the 1988 United States Amateur champion, Eric Meeks, and his twin brother, Aaron.

Tom McHugh, for many years director of National Golf Courses, Inc., when its flagship course was Pomona National--now Los Angeles Royal Vista--will return to that position this week with headquarters in Vancouver, Wash. NGC operates three courses near the Oregon-Washington border, plus Ontario National in Southern California. L. A. Royal Vista is no longer part of the National group. . . . Southern California PGA apprentice professionals will play for their championship on July 23 at Singing Hills CC in El Cajon. . . . The second of five Oldsmobile Scrambles qualifiers in Southern California will be played Monday at Spring Valley Lake CC in Victorville. Next month, play will be held at North Ranch CC in Westlake Village, Coto de Caza and Singing Hills.

Hale Irwin, when asked by a Golf Digest writer in June 1985 for his opinion of special exemptions into the U.S. Open, said, “When the USGA invites, say, (Arnold) Palmer to play, it opens a Pandora’s box. How about Miller Barber or Don January, about the same age as Arnold, who are playing as well today as he is? Honoring the old champions by letting them play is a trip down nostalgia lane. If, in 1999, I were given a special exemption, I would respectfully decline.” As all know, Irwin received and accepted an exemption into the recent U. S. Open--and won.

Palmer will make his 33rd consecutive appearance in the PGA Championship Aug. 9-12 at Shoal Creek CC in Birmingham, Ala. It is the only major championship he has not won, but he has three second-place finishes. In 1984, Palmer received a lifetime invitation from the PGA board of directors to play in the event. . . . The United States Golf Assn. will return to its roots for championships in its centennial year of 1995 when it holds the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, in Southampton, N.Y., and the U.S. Amateur at the Newport Country Club in Newport, R.I. Shinnecock and Newport were among the five clubs that organized the USGA in the winter of 1894.

Entertainment and sports celebrities will participate Monday in the American Diabetes Assn.’s third annual Defeat Diabetes Invitational at Riviera CC. Spots are available for $300 a person and $1,400 for a foursome. Proceeds will be used for diabetes research. . . . The American Lung Assn. is offering a playing privilege card for $60 that will enable players to secure 42 free rounds on 30 courses in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, including Desert Dunes, Indian Hills, La Quinta Hotel, Mission Lakes, Rancho California and Moreno Valley Ranch. Card information is available at (714) 884-5864.