Oh, by the Way, He’s Only a Sophomore : Golf: Torrance High golfer is quickly making a name for himself. He has already played in a PGA Tour event.

Torrance High golfer Ted Oh handles awards and accolades with the same low-key manner he displays on the course.

Oh, a 5-foot-9, 143-pound sophomore, has already played in a professional event, the L.A. Open, and last week won the L.A. City Junior Boys tournament for the second consecutive year.

Oh shot a three-round total of 220 at Griffith Park’s Wilson and Harding courses to become the tournament’s first back-to-back winner in 43 years. But when asked about his accomplishment, he did not seem to realize what he had done.

“I think somebody did tell me (about the 43 years),” Oh said. “That tournament has had some real good past winners like Corey Pavin. I am very proud to have my name on the trophy with them, especially two years in a row.”

Oh has led Torrance to an 11-1 record and a 6-0 mark in Pioneer League play.

“He’s a very long hitter, he has almost the perfect golf swing,” Torrance Coach Eloise Longwell said. “He’s very low-key. He is all business on the course. He does his own thing, he is pretty quiet and always to himself.”

For Oh, golf is work. He spends about 30 hours a week engaging in golf-related activities, and that has helped him get this far despite picking up the game only five years ago.

Oh started playing golf because he wanted to drive the carts. He spends about 15 hours a week on the driving range, another eight working on pitches and putts, and about seven in actual course play.

“Whenever I’m playing bad I just want to go out to the driving range and hit balls,” Oh said. “I usually am able to fix it.”

Oh said that boredom is never a factor for him at the driving range because he usually has his younger sister, Julie, with him.

“My sister’s always talking,” Oh said. “She’ll talk to me about anything from how she’s doing, to her social life, to PGA players.”

Julie Oh, an eight-grader, is one of the top junior high players in the area and is expected to be a teammate of Oh’s next year on the Torrance varsity.

Oh’s family came to the United States from South Korea when he was in the third grade. His father, Yeong, had competed as a baseball player in Seoul.

It was Yeong who suggested to Ted in February that he attempt to qualify for the Open after seeing Oh defeat Tiger Woods of Anaheim Western High in the Southern Section playoffs.

Woods, 17, was the youngest player in the 1992 Open, and Oh, 16, qualified as the youngest participant for this year’s tournament, shooting a 68 at the Los Serranos Country Club to make the PGA Tour event.

As tee time approached for the first round on Feb. 25, Oh began to get anxious when he saw several of his favorite golfers hanging around in the clubhouse. He chatted with and asked for advice from some of the PGA players.

Oh said that he got a lot of advice from former Arizona State golfer Phil Mickelson, who turned professional recently, and from Peter Jacobsen. However, Oh was leery of approaching the eventual winner, Tom Kite.

“That guy never smiled,” Oh said of Kite. “I was afraid to go near him.”

Oh calmed his nerves when he began the tournament with a birdie on the 10th hole. He finished the first round with a two-over-par 73, six strokes behind the leaders.

After missing a day because of a rainstorm, Oh finished the second round with a 75 and missed the cut of 145 by three strokes. He was the top amateur in the field, finishing four strokes ahead of Woods.

“I was not used to the galleries, people cheering for me,” Oh said. “I kept hearing people saying, ‘That’s the kid who qualified for the tournament.’ ”

After the tournament, Oh prepared for the start of the high school season.

“I said to myself, ‘Ted, this is the real world, playing in the L.A. Open was a dream come true,’ ” Oh said.

Oh is looking forward to the upcoming Southern Section playoffs because he will get a chance to compete against Woods.

“I have improved a lot since Christmas,” Oh said. “I realized I needed to be better. If you look at all the junior records (Woods has), you have to give respect to him, which I do.”

A lesson Oh learned from playing in the Open was how to handle himself on a course.

He was grouped in a threesome with professionals Ted Tryba and Jaime Gomez. Gomez shot an 81 in the first round but impressed Oh with how he handled a bad day on the course.

“I never heard him curse once,” Oh said. “In junior golf all the kids get frustrated out there, but he never lost his temper.”

Oh doesn’t let his emotions show much either. He’ll puff his cheeks a few times when he hits a bad shot, but usually only his eyes will tell what happened with his ball, either good or bad.

“I get a little mad when I make a bad shot, but the less mistakes you make the more often you get to the top of the hill,” Oh said. “Golf is a mental game, it’s just you and the course. It’s not like football or basketball where you have others to help you.”

Oh said he enjoys the solitude of golf and does not miss having crowds at his events like other high school sports.

“People don’t really come out to watch,” he said. “Golf is basically a one-man game.”