STATE AMATEUR GOLF : Molinelli Eliminates Rudolph

Dave Berganio of Sylmar led a seven-man Southern California contingent into the quarterfinals of the 81st California Amateur golf championship on Wednesday over a Pebble Beach layout that was still playing difficult after last week’s U.S. Open.

Only Steve Molinelli of Hillsborough, a suburb of San Francisco, prevented an eight-man Southern California sweep into the quarterfinals, and he did it with the biggest upset of the day, ousting top qualifier Harry Rudolph III of La Jolla in the opening round of match play.

Rudolph earned the medalist honors with a one-under-par 143 in the 36 holes of stroke play earlier in the week.

Rudolph was 4-up with only five holes to play when Molinelli started to turn things around. Molinelli, who earlier in the year finished second in the San Francisco City championship, won four of the last five holes then birdied the 19th to secure his upset victory.

Only eight times in the history of the state championship has the medalist gone on to victory. Sam Randolph was the last to do it in 1985.

Molinelli, 25, who played at the University of the Pacific and resumed playing golf late last year when he lost his job at a bank, was the final qualifier for the 32-man match-play field late Tuesday, emerging from a five-man playoff to grab the final spot.

Molinelli’s storybook performance continued in the afternoon when he defeated Malibu’s Bill O’Connor, 2-1.

Moving to the quarterfinals along with Berganio--the 1991 U.S. Public Links champion and Pacific Coast Amateur winner--were Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks, who won the prestigious tournament in 1990 only two weeks after graduating from Westlake High, and Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys, the reigning Southern California Golf Assn. amateur champion.

Also in this morning’s quarterfinals are Pat Duncan and Todd Demsey, both of Rancho Santa Fe, Mark Johnson of Barstow and Steve Woods of Ontario.

Berganio plays Woods in one quarterfinal match; Wi faces Steinberg, Molinelli takes on Johnson and Duncan faces Demsey.

The winners play in semifinal matches this afternoon with the 36-hole championship match scheduled for Friday.