GOLF : City Tournament Starts Saturday

The 75th annual Los Angeles City Men’s Golf Championship and Handicap tournament begins Saturday and Sunday at Griffith Park.

It will conclude June 27-28 at Rancho Park golf course.

Mark Corley won last year’s tournament when he made a 45-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole of a playoff to defeat Travis Williams.

Several Senior PGA Tour players have been invited to play in the Don Drysdale Hall of Fame Seniors Invitational tournament Nov. 20-22 at Desert Falls Country Club and Marriott’s Desert Springs Resort’s Palms course in Palm Desert.

The senior tour players will compete for a purse of $300,000, with a first prize of $50,000.

Proceeds from the tournament will benefit Desert Hospital in Palm Springs and Boys and Girls Clubs in the desert area.

Golf Notes

Shel Jensen, who is credited with major improvements on Griffith Park’s Harding and Wilson courses, has retired after a 33-year career with the Los Angeles City Dept. of Recreation and Parks. . . . The first Bill Shoemaker Celebrity tournament will be held June 30 at San Dimas Country Club. . . . The American Diabetes Assn.’s fourth annual celebrity tournament is scheduled June 29 at Riviera CC.

The fifth annual Efren Herrera celebrity tournament will be held Monday at Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights. Proceeds from the tournament go to the Efren Herrera scholarship fund for college-bound Latino students. Herrera is a former UCLA and NFL kicker. . . . The third annual Kevin Dobson celebrity tournament, benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Institute, will be played July 17-19 at Ojai Valley Inn & Country Club.

Free golf lessons will be provided for boys and girls under 18 at Rancho Park (June 30-July 2) and at the Sepulveda golf center (July 7-9) from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. . . . The International Junior championship of Temecula Valley will be held July 15-17 at Bear Creek CC, Menifee Lakes CC and Rancho California GC. . . . The Long Beach men’s city championship is July 3-5 at Skylinks, Recreation Park and El Dorado GC. . . . The Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship is scheduled July 17-19 at Fairbanks Ranch CC in Rancho Santa Fe. . . . The Long Beach Open professional tournament will be held July 23-26 at El Dorado and Recreation Park.