THOUSAND OAKS : 200 to Play Golf in Boy Scout Benefit

More than 200 golfers from around the country will tee off at 11:15 a.m. today as the eighth annual Ventura County Boy Scouts golf tournament gets under way at the North Ranch Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

Leilani Bueltmann, finance director of the Ventura County Council-Boy Scouts of America, expects to raise $50,000 from this year’s event, which features pro golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez. Proceeds will benefit scouting services, she said.

“Some of the teams paid $5,000 to play,” Bueltmann said. Those teams, called Eagle sponsors, will eat breakfast with Rodriguez at the country club this morning. All players paid at least the minimum entry fee of $200 each; they will receive sweaters and a videotaped recording of them in action during the tournament, she said.

This is the first year that Rodriguez has been involved in the Boy Scouts fund-raiser, Bueltmann said.

But apparently his announced participation has been a great drawing card. “We’re having to turn people away,” she said.

Bueltmann said a lot of communications companies are participating this year, such as AT & T and GTE.

“We have people flying in from Colorado, Florida and Dallas to play” as well as local participants, she said.