TRANS-MISSISSIPPI FOUR-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : O’Connor, Anderson Win Easily

Eighteen years ago, when Bill O’Connor, a Beverly Hills real estate developer, was storming the Los Angeles amateur golf circuit with huge tee shots and a hearty sense of humor, he noticed a kid named Craig Anderson hanging around his country club.

O’Connor was on his way to winning more than two dozen amateur titles. Anderson, 15 at the time, was three years shy of a golf scholarship at USC. Little did the hot shot and the kid know that nearly two decades later, they would team to win a national championship.

O’Connor, 46, and Anderson, now 33 and a Fallbrook landscape contractor, shot a three-under-par 69 in the final round Thursday to win the Trans-Mississippi Four-Ball Championships at The Farms Country Club.

The twosome finished the best-ball mid-amateur (25 and older) tournament at 13-under 203 for three rounds on the par-72 course. And they finished the day the way they started, three strokes ahead of Pat Duncan of Rancho Santa Fe and Randy Reznicek of Vista, who also shot 69.

O’Connor, who made 10 birdies in the tournament, was a big reason the team jumped to a four-shot lead after Tuesday’s opening round. Their eight-under 64 was, by two shots, the best single round among the 59 teams. But when O’Connor faltered on the final two days, the kid took over.

By the time victory was certain, with Anderson putting for par on the 54th hole, O’Connor walked over to his partner, put his arm on his shoulder and slumped. It was comic relief: O’Connor, 6-feet-9, leaning all his weight on Anderson, who is 5-11.

They looked like man and boy again.

“I was lousy, but I’m still the best at choosing partners,” O’Connor joked. “That was a very apropos moment, I think.”

While a small gallery looked down on the 18th, O’Connor hooked his second shot out of bounds after his tee shot settled behind a tall mound left of the fairway. He decided at that point to put away his clubs and let Anderson, who had all four of his team’s birdies, finish it off. Anderson wound up putting for eagle, then knocking in a 1 1/2-footer for the par.

“This is my horse, and I’m proud to know him because I ride better than most,” O’Connor said. “This man, the last two days, was awesome.”

“He had seven birdies the first day,” said Anderson, returning the compliment. “He just struggled the last two days.”

Anderson finished with 11 birdies and the only eagle of the tournament. He birdied the first two holes Thursday, as well as the 380-yard fourth and the par-five, 501-yard ninth. But O’Connor might have made the most crucial shot of the day on the way to the twosome’s only bogey on the par-four, 381-yard 15th. After both players had to take penalties, O’Connor buried a tricky 15-foot downhill putt to avoid a double bogey that would have opened the door for Jack Spradlin Jr. of San Diego and Frank Merhar of La Jolla, who had just birdied 16 to pull to within two strokes.

Spradlin and Merhar promptly double-bogeyed 17 and wound up in a third-place tie at 207 with Jim Myers of Oceanside and Kemp Richardson of Laguna Niguel. O’Connor and Anderson played the final three holes in par.

Anderson and O’Connor decided to play together as a team for the first time this year, and this is their second victory. They also won the Golden Nugget at Antelope Valley and finished second at the International Four-Ball Championships at the Palm Beach (Fla.) Polo Club in January.