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Worley Revisits Source of Past Turbulence : Golf: After giving up the game, the golfer from Coronado is back and tied for sixth in the county tournament.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Curtis Worley spent the better part of early Wednesday trying to calm the nerves of his two young sons after lightning and thunder had rudely awakened them in Coronado.

Worley didn’t get much sleep before he left for his 8:13 a.m. tee time in the 63rd annual $65,000 Buie San Diego County Open Golf Tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal.

At 8:30, lightning struck again, causing a rare weather-related delay in the first round of the nation’s sixth-oldest professional golf tournament. Play resumed 30 minutes later, then was delayed again for 45 minutes because of wet conditions.

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Fog blew across Torrey Pines’ South Course an hour later, but it soon dissipated.

All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful day for Worley.

Five and a half hours after beginning, Worley emerged with a three-under-par 69, leaving him in a five-way tie for sixth, two strokes behind leader Mac O’Grady of Palm Springs.

Despite the conditions, discomfort and anxiety, Wednesday was no worse than even Worley’s best day in 1981, his lone year on the PGA Tour.

“Don’t talk about ‘81,” said Worley, 35. “I had so much fun that year, I quit for nine years.

“Cold turkey. I just gave it up. I got so burned out and so frustrated with the way I was playing, I had to get out. And my way out was to quit. Completely quit.”

Just like that? “Just like that,” he said.

Worley, a former All-American at San Diego State, a former state, county and city amateur champion, was a former golfer at 26.

He not only removed himself from the game, he canceled subscriptions to golf magazines, stopped watching tournaments on TV and quit following them in the newspapers.

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He and his wife, Molly, then moved from his native Coronado to Orange County.

He went back to school, worked as a fireman for a year, then hooked on with a company that designed computer systems for fire departments.

Four years ago, he was promoted to vice president.

He was happy, life was good . . . but something was missing.

As much as he lamented the idea of returning to the game that once caused him so much anguish, he knew he had to give it--and himself--a second chance.

As abruptly as he quit golf nine years before, Worley quit his high-paying job last summer, moved back to Coronado and resumed his childhood passion.

“It was immature,” Worley said of his decision to quit the pro tour. “Especially after only one year. I should have given it at least another year.

“You’re young. You do foolish things. But hindsight is 20/20.”

Worley says it has taken him about a year to regain his powerful game, which once enabled him to win a number of long-drive competitions.

His ambition is to get his PGA exemption card back this November at the PGA qualifying school.

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Should that happen, he plans on enjoying it this time.

“I enjoy the game so much more now,” he said. “Now that I’ve had a taste of the real world, golf is very enjoyable these days.”

Golf Notes

The second round of the Buie San Diego County Open begins this morning at 6:45. The tournament field will be cut after the round to approximately 60 golfers for Friday’s final round, which begins at 7 a.m. . . . James Almand of San Diego and Takeshi Teraoka of Encinitas each shot par 72s to lead a group of 24 amateurs. . . . After flying in from Wichita, Kan., Monday, Mike Orlowski of Palm Springs withdrew from the tournament Wednesday afternoon. Neither he, nor the airline he used, has any idea where his clubs and luggage are. “It’s been two days,” Orlowski said. “I have a feeling somebody out there has a real nice new set of golf clubs.”

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