Heat Takes Its Toll on SCGA Field : Amateur golf: Defending champion Stankowski slips to second-place tie with Voges after 67 on first round. Wi barely survives cut.

Paul Stankowski of Oxnard and Mitch Voges of Simi Valley had to settle for a second-place tie midway through the 91st Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship.

And, on a Friday hot enough to wilt a shrub, the only man to play two better rounds of golf than they did was a landscape architect.

Pat Duncan, 32, of Rancho Santa Fe, put together rounds of 67 and 72 over the tight, 6,531-yard Wilshire Country Club course to grab first place. Stankowski, 20, had rounds of 67 and 73 and Voges, 40, shot 72-68 to trail Duncan by a stroke.

Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks, the 18-year-old who stunned the state’s amateur golfers a month ago by winning the California Amateur on the Monterey Peninsula, struggled in the 100-degree heat. He posted an opening-round 73 and then stumbled to a 76. His total of 149 was also the 36-hole cut. He and 31 others advanced to today’s second round. The championship round is on Sunday.

Among those who did not advance were Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys, who lost to Wi in the semifinals of the state championship and was the 1988 SCGA amateur champion. He shot rounds of 72 and 80, carding a 9 on No. 17, a par-4, during the afternoon round.

Chris Zambri, 19, of Thousand Oaks, shot rounds of 76 and 68 and made the cut at 144, while Don Baker of Canoga Park recorded rounds of 76 and 72 and also made the cut at 148. Also advancing were Chris Etue of Canoga Park (145) and George Gottschalk of Lancaster (149). David Olsen of Sherman Oaks shot a 153.

Stankowski, a junior at Texas El Paso, won the tournament last year at the Glendora Country Club. He tied for low medalist honors in this year’s state amateur tournament before losing in match play to Wi.

He said the blistering heat wore him out following his morning round of 67.

“I really felt it at the end of the first round,” he said. “I was really tired. I sat in the shade for an hour, and then didn’t even want to get up again. Later in the day I think it started to bother me. I lost my concentration a little bit and my focus wasn’t there.”

Stankowski captured the Oxnard City championship by a whopping eight strokes three weeks ago, and said he knew he would have to bring his best game into the SCGA tournament to win.

“There is a stronger field here than there was for the state amateur,” he said. “This tournament just has better golfers, from top to bottom. I knew I had to bring my A-1 game to win this one. And I think I have.”

Voges, who plays out of Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley, finished in the top five in last year’s SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship, and made it to match play of the 1990 state amateur.