Division II Golf Champion Burns Leaves Northridge

Cal State Northridge will begin its first Division I golf campaign Monday at a tournament in Santa Barbara minus a rather important component--its best golfer.

Bob Burns, the NCAA Division II individual champion last season, has left school, Coach Jim Bracken said Friday night.

Burns, 23, of San Fernando, won the Division II title by two strokes last spring after taking a six-shot lead into the final round. After that performance, the former Kennedy High golfer took on the famed Muirfield course in Scotland during the British Amateur championship.

He qualified for match play, only to lose to Robert Eggo of France on the 21st hole of his opening match.

Burns also won the 1987 state junior college golf championship as a student at Mission College.

In an interview last summer, Burns said that his long-range goal was to qualify for the PGA Tour.

“Golf is a funny game,” he said. “I’ve competed at many different levels, from high school golf to junior college golf to Division II college golf, and I have risen with each of them, winning at each level. The step to the PGA Tour is obviously a much bigger one than any I’ve taken so far, but I believe I can make that step too.”