GOLF : Wi Takes First Step Toward Second Title

Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks, trying to become the first golfer since 1955 to repeat as the California Amateur champion, powered his way into today’s start of match play on the Monterey Peninsula by shooting a 75 on Monday on the Spyglass Hill Golf Course and a 75 Tuesday over the majestic Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Wi, 19, was one of 32 golfers from the 102-player field to move into the match-play rounds. Accompanying him will be Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys, the 1988 Southern California Golf Assn. champion who lost to Wi in match play last year. Steinberg shot rounds of 76 and 73 for a 149.

The cut was 155.

Among those failing to advance were veteran Mitch Voges of Simi Valley, the 1990 Mid-Amateur champion, Chris Etue of Canoga Park, Jimmy Chang of Westlake Village and Bob Frishette of Burbank. Voges had a 36-hole score of 160 after a disastrous 86 on Monday. Etue shot a 159, Frishette a 160 and Chang a 161.

Posting the top score of 145 was Sandy Galbraith of Fountain Valley. He opened with a round of two-under-par 70 at Spyglass and shot a 75 Tuesday at Pebble Beach.

Wi can become the first player since Dr. Frank Taylor to successfully defend his title. He won the title last year just weeks after graduating from Westlake High.

Two rounds of match play were scheduled for today and Thursday with the 36-hole championship match to be played Friday.

Some vacation: Phillip Anders of Grand Forks, N.D., spent a pleasant month in Southern California.

Unfortunately, he was here for five weeks.

The final week, he says, negated the previous four. Funny how getting cracked in the groin with a screeching golf ball can do that.

Anders, 19, spent nearly every day of his vacation playing golf, from the Knollwood Country Club in Granada Hills to the remote Elkins Ranch Golf Club in Fillmore. His mishap occurred at Elkins Ranch last Friday.

“I was in the rough and hit a three-wood,” Anders said. “It went about 50 or 75 feet and hit a tree. And it came right back at me.”

Anders related the story Monday, as he sat and watched his friend and golfing partner that day, Jack Dorn of Sylmar, hit golf balls at the practice range at the Van Nuys Golf Course. Anders was unable to participate. Anders, as a matter of fact, was unable to do much of anything.

“It just nailed me,” he said of the ill-fated shot.

Ted’s excellent adventure: Ted Lehman of Thousand Oaks, a veteran of pro golf tours from Bangkok to Melbourne, came within a stroke of winning the Southern California Open last week, falling on the third hole of a playoff to Chris Starkjohann of Fallbrook.

Lehman, 30, shot an opening-round 72 on a tough Rio Bravo Country Club course in Bakersfield, a score that left him six strokes behind leader Bryan Gorman of San Diego. But he came back with rounds of 69 and 67 in the 54-hole event to finish in a tie with Starkjohann after regulation.

The winner earned $3,600. Lehman picked up $2,160.

Lehman was a standout at Thousand Oaks High, finishing second in the 1978 state high school championship and earning a scholarship to BYU. Since turning pro in 1983, however, Lehman has struggled. He played only briefly on the PGA Tour and has spent every season pounding the foreign tours and the mini-tours in the United States.

Jon Fiedler of Malibu, a teaching pro at Los Robles in Thousand Oaks, shot a 213 in the Southern California Open, finishing five shots off the lead. Also turning in good showings were Paul Holtby of Simi Valley and Brad Gallagher of Canyon Country (215) and Tim Hogarth of Van Nuys (216).

Upcoming:

* St. Demetrios Church will hold a youth benefit tournament Friday at Camarillo Springs Golf Course.

Information: 805-492-2274.

* Kids Go to Camp tournament, to benefit disadvantaged youths from the north San Fernando Valley. Event to be held July 1 at Porter Ranch Country Club.

Information: 818-365-3231.

* Greater Los Angeles Golf Invitational, to benefit the National Jewish Center of Immunology and Respiratory Medicine in Denver. Entry fee $500. To be played July 1 at the Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley.

Information: 818-905-1300.