GOLF / RICH TOSCHES : Steinberg Chips Away at Letdowns

In a lifetime of high-level amateur golf, Craig Steinberg has learned to live with the up-and-down nature of the beast. Birdie one hole. Bogey the next. He recovers quickly from the lows and tries not to thump his chest during the highs.

But this summer has tested him severely.

First, it was the California Amateur championship, a tournament he has played 13 times but never won. This year, for the second time, he advanced to the semifinals of match play from a starting field of 132 golfers.

A high.

But then Steinberg, an optometrist and law student from Van Nuys, was thwarted down the stretch by Dave Berganio Jr. of Sylmar, losing in the semifinals as Berganio turned in a brilliant display of golf and overhauled Steinberg on the 17th hole.

A low.

Two weeks later, he submitted his application to play in the U.S. Amateur championship later this summer. A mere formality considering that Steinberg had played in this most prestigious of all amateur golf tournaments nine times.

But Steinberg, who makes a living from asking people to read the bottom line of eye charts, forgot to read the bottom line of his application. That space asks the applicant’s U.S. Golf Assn. handicap. Steinberg overlooked it. And the USGA promptly rejected the application, taking Steinberg out of his biggest tournament of the year.

A real low.

“What frustrated me is that the problem could have been solved,” Steinberg said. “They opened the application on July 14th and the deadline was the 15th. They spotted the error right away and my phone number is right on the application. In 15 seconds they could have solved the problem. I would have sent the new application in overnight mail and that would have been that.

“Instead, I got a letter from the USGA several days later saying because of the error, the application was rejected. I called Larry Adamson of the USGA and he told me, ‘I’m sorry. We’re very strict about this. That’s it. We’re sorry.’ ”

But last Sunday, Steinberg put all of that aside and stormed from four strokes back to win the Southern California Amateur championship in a playoff with Bob Clark of Murrieta at the Fairbanks Ranch Country Club in Rancho Santa Fe. It was Steinberg’s second consecutive victory in the Southern California Amateur.

High again.

Sort of.

“Winning the Southern California again is a real lift,” Steinberg said. “But getting rejected for the U.S. Amateur is still so frustrating.”

But then there is more good news. The other prestigious national amateur tournament, the U.S. Mid-Amateur, for the past two years has been played in October, during the same week that Steinberg has been buried in midterm exams at La Verne Law School.

“There was never any debate,” Steinberg said. “As important as golf has been to me, law school is far more important.”

This year, however, the dates for the U.S. Mid-Amateur, to be played in Michigan, were changed to the last week in September.

“That’s the latest bright spot,” Steinberg said. “The Mid-Amateur is a great tournament. And to be honest, I’ve got a much better chance of winning that than I did the U.S. Amateur. Life goes on.”

Voges has his day: Simi Valley’s Mitch Voges, whose reward for winning the 1991 U.S. Amateur championship has been a year of exhaustion and frayed nerves, missed the cut in the British Open last week.

For one day on the famed Muirfield Golf Course in Scotland, however, he shined under the slate-gray skies.

Voges, 43, began his British Open by shooting a brilliant 34 on the front nine Thursday. His back-nine score of 37 left him with an even-par 71. Despite being seven strokes behind scorching-hot co-leaders Steve Pate, also of Simi Valley, and Raymond Floyd, Voges was tied after the first round with Greg Norman, Gary Player, Chip Beck and Ian Baker-Finch of Australia. He was ahead of Craig Stadler (72), Tom Watson (73), John Daly and Curtis Strange (74s) and Jack Nicklaus (75).

In the second round, however, the gusty wind that harassed many of the world’s best players also bothered Voges. He shot a 79 and missed the cut by seven strokes.

By virtue of his U.S. Amateur title last year, Voges was invited to play in the most prestigious tournaments in the world this year, including the Masters and the Memorial, along with dozens of lesser tournaments. He has not fared well, missing the cut in every pro event.

At the recent California Amateur championship, he was disqualified in the first round after bending his putter in frustration and then continuing to use it.

Great Sorrow: Michael Smith of Ventura won the Ventura City championship by a stroke over the aptly named Doug Sorrow, also of Ventura. Smith shot a 36-hole score of 142 at Olivas Park and Buenaventura golf courses on Saturday and Sunday. Jim Honer of Oxnard was third with a 144.

She’s in: Angie Ravaioli of Moorpark has qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open that begins today at the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania. Ravaioli, who plays out of the Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley, was the top money winner on the fledgling Players West Tour in 1991.

Upcoming: The American Cancer Society’s golf tournament will be held Monday at the North Ranch Country Club in Westlake Village.

Information: 805-983-8864.