GOLF : Hazeltine’s Open Jaws Closed Quickly on Garcia

The playoff of the 91st U.S. Open was grinding along Monday, full of drama and suspense, and Louie Garcia of Camarillo, who had qualified for the prestigious tournament for just the second time in his life, looked down at his golf clubs in the humid, heavy air of Chaska, Minn.

Then he tossed the clubs into the trunk of his rented car and drove to the airport and came home.

Garcia, if you hadn’t heard, was not involved in the 18-hole playoff to crown the U.S. Open champion. That honor belonged to Payne Stewart, the guy in the short pants, and Scott Simpson, the guy who played the final three holes as one would imagine Bart Simpson might play them, giving Stewart the victory.

And as Stewart clenched his fist and shouted in jubilation on the 18th green, Garcia was already winging his way back to California, a knockout victim on the treacherous Hazeltine National Golf Club course.

Garcia, 45, a teaching pro at Camarillo Springs Golf Club who qualified for the Open in ’75 at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill., struggled to a 10-over-par 82 in the opening round of the tournament. He already had retired to the clubhouse before the deadly lightning that marred the tournament--one spectator was killed and several others were injured--began crashing onto the course.

The next day, Garcia played slightly better, shooting a 78. But when the 36-hole cut came, he was long gone from the tournament, missing the mark by 13 strokes. He stayed to watch Saturday and Sunday.

A dismal experience, you might think. But you would be wrong.

“It was the best experience I’ve ever had,” said Garcia. “Everybody at the Open treated me like I was Arnold Palmer. I’ll never forget it.”

Garcia was one of just 90 nationwide qualifiers from a field of more than 6,000 golfers who had tried. He beat back nearly all local challengers at Industry Hills in May and then made the Open field with two days of terrific play at Riviera Country Club.

“Riviera was just a week before the Open,” Garcia said. “All of a sudden, I’m standing at Hazeltine in Minnesota. It all happened so quickly. It didn’t really hit me until I was there. Then I had to try to understand the course and put together some kind of strategy for making the cut. It didn’t work out. But there will be a next time.”

His opening round, which turned out poorly, had started well. Playing in the second group to tee off, he birdied the first hole. He was, briefly, the leader of the U.S. Open.

“A marshal at the course was following me and he reminded me of that,” Garcia said. “He told me that no matter what happened from there, I could always say I led the U.S. Open.”

Of course, if you’re the first driver to get your car started at the Indy 500, that doesn’t assure victory in the race.

Nevertheless . . .

Golfing legend Greg Norman shot an opening-round 78 and withdrew because of injury. Lee Trevino shot a 77, as did Seve Ballesteros. Two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange also had a 77.

“I wasn’t really prepared for the tournament . . . that monster of a course,” Garcia said. “But I did the best I could. I have, honestly, never played a course that difficult. The greens were so fast, there was no way to prepare for them. You’d lag a 10-foot putt and watch it go four feet past the hole.”

Garcia has his sights set on playing the PGA Seniors Tour in five years, when he turns 50.

“I feel I can strike the ball as well as just about any of the seniors. But those guys are so tough mentally, so focused on every shot. That’s the difference. I can’t do that yet,” Garcia said. “At the Open I found myself concentrating and focusing at first, but then my mind would wander and things started to go wrong.”

Camarillo trio: Garcia wasn’t the only golfer from Camarillo to play in the U.S. Open.

Brad Sherfy, a former UCLA standout who also qualified at Riviera just a week before the Open, had his problems too. He shot rounds of 78 and 72 and missed the cut by three strokes. Sherfy will get another crack at the big time this summer. He has qualified to play in the PGA Championship at Crooked Stick Country Club in Carmel, Ind., Aug. 8-11.

And the best golfer from Camarillo, Corey Pavin, shot rounds of 71-67-79-72 and finished seven strokes behind Stewart and Simpson. For his efforts he earned $26,958, which kept him firmly atop the PGA’s 1991 money list with $748,856 in earnings.

Title defense: In the world of real golf, the kind where it costs you money to play the game, Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks, who completed a magical dance to victory across the breathtaking courses of the Monterey Peninsula last summer to win the California Amateur championship at the age of 17, will return next week to defend the title.

Wi, who made the 1990 tournament at the last moment as an alternate, can become the first player since Dr. Frank Taylor in 1954-55 to post back-to-back victories in the tournament.

Wi, who recently completed his freshman year at Nevada Reno, where he finished with the best stroke average on the team, defeated veteran Gary Vanier of Pleasant Hill--the 1982 state champion--in last year’s final of match play.

Wi will head a local contingent that includes 1990 Southern California Golf Assn. Mid-Amateur champion Mitch Voges of Simi Valley and 1988 SCGA amateur champion Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys. Also in the 102-player field are Jimmy Chang of Westlake Village, Bob Frishette of Burbank, Chris Etue of Canoga Park and Brian Lamb of Newbury Park.

The tournament will start Monday with 36 holes of stroke play competition at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Club.

The top 32 golfers advance to match play, which will begin Wednesday. The championship match is scheduled for Friday.