Amateurs Will Try to Edge Pros in Century Club Matches : Golf: After 20 years, club pros and amateurs tied with 10 wins each in annual competition.

It’s not quite like San Diego State’s baseball team splitting a 20-game series with the Padres, or the Aztec football team playing even with the Chargers, but the way San Diego County’s amateur golfers match up to their professional counterparts is only slightly less startling.

Those who play the game as a passion here are just as good as those who make golf their profession. Come Sunday, conclusion of the annual Century Club Matches tournament, the amateurs might boast about being better.

After 20 years, the series is tied, 10-10, in the only competition that matches the best amateurs against the top club professionals from throughout the county.

“Is that amazing?” said Scott Bentley, a member of the pro team that will try to reverse a 69-66 loss last year. “I find that amazing.”

After losing three in a row from 1981-83, the amateurs have gone 5-3 against their card-carrying counterparts since 1984.

Some players on both sides say they are out for blood, playing for pride and prestige. Others say they don’t hold much stock in this annual showdown of local players who have chosen separate paths.

One thing for sure, both sides should have incentive aplenty when they tee off Saturday at the San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista for the first of two rounds.

“We’re going to go out and kick their butts . . . kick them back to their home course,” said Chris Starkjohann, 36, club pro at Pala Mesa Resort in Fallbrook. “That’s why we’re pro. We’re going to win.”

Starkjohann played the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Buick Open and Los Angeles Open this year. In November, he’ll make his third attempt to qualify for the PGA tour by playing in a qualifying tournament at Ft. Ord. If he scores in the in the top 40%, Starkjohann will qualify. If he doesn’t make the cut, Starkjohann will join the Ben Hogan Tour--a scaled-down version of the PGA Tour, with cash prizes about 90% smaller.

Bentley, 34, club pro at Mt. Woodson Country Club in Ramona, had an explanation for the even series.

“I know from my own case, I’m playing less and less,” said Bentley, who honed his game at Valhalla High and SDSU, then tried the tour for three years. After earning $50,000 and breaking even, he quit.

“I decided that’s not good enough,” he said, “even though I was living at home; I was living cheaply.”

So he swapped life on the road for life in a pro shop.

“Some of us are still very good players, but now we’re in the golf business ,” Bentley said. “We’re pros because we give lessons.”

Pat Duncan, 36, considered the county’s top amateur with five City Amateur championships, chose the landscaping business over the golf business.

He’s never second-guessed himself. One reason is he believes teaching and managing a club would have destroyed his game.

“(The pros are) putting in 10-hour days working in the clubhouse; the last thing they want to do is play the course,” Duncan said. “They’re weekend golfers. And do you want to be at your course on your day off?

“You’re out there and one guy comes up to you and says, ‘That third green really (stinks). Another guy comes up and says, ‘Would you look at my swing?’ There’s no relaxation.

“That professional golf thing, it’s stress. It’s no fun.”

Duncan has played in the U.S. Open and the Shearson Lehman Open (now Buick Invitational) at Torrey Pines. He’s played the U.S. Amateur, he’s a mainstay at the State Amateur and he’s won the Southern California Amateur. All for fun, he says.

“I’m a family-oriented guy,” said Duncan, who plays three or four times a year with friend Craig Stadler, a PGA veteran. “I don’t have the dedication it would take to be a pro player.

“There’s no talk out there for 4 1/2 hours. It’s a negative game in a negative world. Everything around you is just negative, while you’re trying to be positive.”

His company, Duncan Landscaping, scored a two-year contract for residential development in Rancho Santa Fe, his hometown, earlier this year. With business going well, Duncan missed several amateur tournaments. He hasn’t played in three weeks. Still, he likely will be sharper Saturday than many of his opponents.

Bentley, for instance, finished 22nd in 1990 in the Club Professionals Championship, a national tournament. In 1991, he finished 57th. This year, he didn’t make the cut. Back problems.

Of course, you can be ambitious like Starkjohann, who finished fifth in the Club Pro tournament this year. At Pala Mesa, he manages 10 employees and runs a $1-million operation.

“I still go out and try to be competitive,” he said.

Starkjohann played the Bob Hope Desert Classic, the Buick Open and Los Angeles Open this year. In November, he’ll make his third attempt to join the Ben Hogan Tour--a scaled-down version of the PGA Tour, with cash prizes about 90% smaller--by playing a qualifier at Ft. Ord. “I’ve kind of left myself snake-bit, kind of knowing I can do it but haven’t,” said Starkjohann, who was short by two strokes in 1981 and one stroke in 1986.

Rivaling Starkjohann as his team’s top gun Saturday will be Craig Anderson, who finished fourth in the City Amateur, reached the second round of the U.S. Amateur, then won the U.S. Mid-Amateur at Bear Creek, his biggest victory. For good measure, Anderson and Bill O’Conner of Malibu won the Southern California Golf Assn. Four Ball Championship at Rancho Santa Fe Farms on Tuesday.

Anderson, 35, a Fallbrook general contractor, is playing his best golf, but he has no thoughts of playing for a living again. Like Bentley, he played three years (in Asia and South America) and quit. Back problems.

“I might have been still out there; it’s hard to say,” said Anderson, who shared a house with Stadler and another PGA player, Scott Simpson, while playing at USC. “But I like what I’m doing now. I like my life.”

He also likes the idea of beating the pros.

Said Anderson, “I think we get a little pumped up.”

Duncan has played this tournament 12 times. And he’s enjoyed giving his pro counterparts some serious whippings, like 98.5-36.5 in 1984, a 62-point blow out. The amateurs also won, 120-60, in ’78.

“The Century Cup to me is more of a fun deal,” he said. “The pros take it a lot more serious than we do. I grew up with a lot of those guys. I love playing against them. You want to beat their butt.”

Pretournament posturing already has begun, with both squads claiming that they could be stronger than they are. Duncan said some of the county’s best amateurs are under the minimum age, 21, to play this tournament. Starkjohann said five of the best club pros can’t play because they have not yet earned their PGA San Diego Chapter membership cards.

Otherwise, both sides boast, it would be no contest.

“We’re not sending our best guys against their best,” Starkjohann said. “The public doesn’t realize that five of our best pro golfers are apprentices.

“In my opinion, we could beat them every year.”

Century Club Through the Years

Year Winner Score 1972 Pros 55-35 1973 Amateurs 47-43 1974 Pros 115-65 1975 Amateurs 105-75 1976 Amateurs 102-78 1977 Pros 108-72 1978 Amateurs 120-60 1979 Pros 68.5-66.5 1980 Amateurs 78-57 1981 Pros 78.5-56.5 1982 Pros 81-52 1983 Pros 75.5-59.5 1984 Amateurs 98.5-36.5 1985 Amateurs 77-58 1986 Pros 74-61 1987 Amateurs 73-62 1988 Amateurs 69-66 1989 Pros 84.5-50.5 1990 Pros 75-60 1991 Amateurs 69-66

1992 TEAMS

Amateurs

Craig Anderson (Pauma Valley CC), Pat Duncan (Rancho Santa Fe GC), Gordon Jenkins (El Camino CC), Tom Kroll (Taylor Made GC), John Lovett (Meadow Lake CC), Pat Mateer (Rancho Bernardo Inn), Marcus MeloanCQ (Coronado GC), Jim Peters (Torrey Pines GC), Tony Scholl (Fairbanks Ranch CC), Mike Strode (Fairbanks Ranch CC), Victor Zayas (Torrey Pines GC).

Professionals

Scott Bentley (Mt. Woodson CC), Joe DeBrock (Torrey Pines GC), Hank George (Shadowridge CC), Gary Griggs (Stardust CC), Tommy Jackson (El Camino CC), Justin King (Torrey Pines GC), Bob Madsen (Singing Hills CC), Scott Mahlberg (Stardust CC), Ron Reiss (Stardust CC), Chris Starkjohann (Pala Mesa Resort), Fred Wood (Oceanside Municipal GC).