Game, Competition Suits Scholl to a Tee : Golf: Businessman becomes first Century Club member to qualify for professionals vs. amateurs competition.

For all the Big Men on Campus wanna-bes who chose golf clubs over football cleats and ever second-guessed or regretted the decision, pay attention.

During the 1970s and ‘80s, Tony Scholl had a successful 15-year run as an executive with Great American Bank, where he incorporated the game with his work. He is the first club member to qualify for the Century Club Matches, a two-day tournament pitting 10 professionals against 10 amateurs, which will be played at the La Jolla Country Club this weekend. The professionals lead the series, 10-9.

“It truly has helped in my business career,” said Scholl, now an independent consultant with a financial services company. “If you’re at a cocktail party, you have a two handicap and the CEO of IBM is sitting there and he’s a 22, you just became his best friend. These guys would give away half their salary to be able to break 80.”

A nice turnaround from his anonymous high school days, where people were defined by what they played.

“When you’re in high school,” he said, “all the jocks look at the golfers, and I don’t have to tell you what they think of us. We’re the non-athletes. Eight years later, these guys would die to be able to hit a golf ball. No one’s going to go out and push a sled with them on the practice field when they’re 40, but everyone’s looking for a golf game. No matter what the age, you can always relate because there’s always something out there for you.”

Out there for Scholl were numerous business contacts and a keen sense of who to deal with.

“You can learn a lot about someone’s personality on the golf course,” he said.

At a young age in La Jolla, Scholl began to learn much about himself.

Scholl, now president of the Century Club and a golfer with a two handicap, contracted polio at age 8. Doctors decided that hitting golf balls from his wheelchair would be good therapy.

“It was a non-contact sport, but you used every muscle in your body,” said Scholl, who was in the wheelchair a year and kept golfing after his rehabilitation.

Later, his friends at USDHS would go to Windansea Beach while his father dragged him out to La Jolla Country Club.

“It was a chore, I just hated it,” said Scholl, who learned to love the game while he played at San Diego State and during his six years as an instructor at Mission Bay Golf Course and Stardust Country Club.

His affection for the game only gets stronger now that he has plenty of time to devote to it.

Scholl retired from the banking business two years ago with no regrets. Private practice, he joked, has freed him to pursue a more finely tuned golf game which, in turn, allows him to play in more tournaments and qualify for this amateur team.

“I get to work and 10 minutes later I’m out on the course,” he said with a laugh. Yet as the first club member to qualify for the Century Club Matches--known as the John Hine Cup until a few years ago--Scholl is mixing a pinch of humor with a cup of seriousness.

“There’s probably more pressure had I not been involved in the Century Club or had it not been a team event,” he said. “It’s like the Ryder Cup. I don’t want to be the last guy in the last group on Sunday who has to make a 10-foot putt to win the thing. If I play well, fine. If not, my family and my dog will still love me . . . I hope. I just don’t want to go out there and shoot a 100.”

Mike Strode, Century Club treasurer and chairman of this tournament, said all eyes will be on Scholl.

“You can bet everyone will be watching him,” he said. “We won’t be happy if he shoots an 85. We don’t want a dog; we want a thoroughbred out there.

“Tony’s an excellent player. I think he’ll do well. You don’t beat the people he’s beaten and not be pretty good. I don’t think he’s been higher than a two handicap since I’ve known him.”

High praise, but golf earning power, not prowess, is the primary requirement for club membership.

Each member must promote the Buick Open and meet a certain quota of ticket and pro-am spot sales.

Members can buy their way out of making their quotas, but Scholl said the whole idea is to promote golf in general and the tournament in particular.

“We’d rather they make their quotas honestly,” Scholl said. “The whole idea is to give the (PGA) tournament more exposure.”

Which trickles down and benefits the Century Club Matches.

“Better pros and amateurs are starting to play in more local tournaments to try and win the points to qualify for this tournament,” said Scholl. “So you’ll have a larger participation in the county open, the city open and all the other little tourneys you need to play to help you qualify.”

That Scholl made this team is no fluke. He broke his rule of thumb--not to set goals--and decided early in the year he wanted to make this team.

“I always admired the amateurs who made the team,” he said. “But I never had the time to participate in the events. I don’t like to set goals because, if you don’t make them, you get discouraged.”

It’s no secret the amateurs would love to win this weekend, but having never been on the team, Scholl said he didn’t know how much bragging rights--for San Diego golf supremacy--come into play.

“All I can tell you is the guys at last year’s awards ceremony (the professionals won) were having a good time, but it’s all in good fun,” he said.

Especially gratifying is the allotment of monies to charity. Two weeks ago, the Century Club gave out $150,000 to 17 different organizations. Next year, the focus will be on junior golf and the Boys’ and Girls Clubs’ of San Diego.

But the organization’s involvement in junior golf is not to groom a future professional.

“Our intention isn’t to create another Craig Stadler or Scott Simpson,” Scholl said. “It’s to take someone who can’t afford it, give them equipment. For $2, they can join the Junior Golf Assn. We want to keep them off the streets.”