GOLF / MAL FLORENCE : For a Spot in the U.S. Open Field, You Walk a Tightrope for 36 Holes

The elimination process through playoffs is a staple in sports. However, in U.S. Open qualifying there aren’t any second chances, such as there are in a best-of-seven series in the NBA or the World Series.

It’s an exceptionally tight squeeze for players trying to qualify for the U.S. Open on June 17-20 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.

Nowhere is this more evident than the sectional qualifying that will be held today at Valencia Country Club.

Fifty-nine players, a mix of pros and amateurs, will try to get the four spots available to them in the Open field.

Moreover, they must play 36 holes--with a short break for lunch if they’re lucky.

The field is so strong that it’s almost impossible to predict who will qualify.

“If you played 36 holes five consecutive days, you’d have a different four guys at the top each day,” said amateur Craig Steinberg. “It’s the difference of one or two putts hanging on the lip.”

Steinberg, 35, who has won the Southern California Amateur Championship three of the last five years, will be trying for the ninth time to qualify for the U.S. Open.

He hasn’t made it, but he has come ever so close.

It’s a diverse field that includes 43-year-old Mitch Voges, the 1991 U.S. Amateur champion from Simi Valley; Manny Zerman, twice a runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Championship; pros Mike Springer and Dennis Paulson, a former national long driving champion; USC golf Coach Jim Empey and two teen-agers--Ted Oh, 16, and Tiger Woods, 17.

“No matter who qualifies, it’s not an upset,” Voges said. “You have 59 strong players.”

The sectional qualifiers had to survive local qualifying unless they had an exemption, such as Voges’, based on his winning the U.S. Amateur.

For example, Steinberg and Oh had to qualify at the local level at Industry Hills, one of the most demanding courses in Southern California.

Nor will the 7,000-yard-plus Valencia course be easy.

“I think it may be a bit too long for me,” said Steinberg, a practicing optometrist who is pursuing a law degree at the University of La Verne San Fernando Valley campus.

Playing in a strong qualifying field is not a new experience for Voges.

“It’s always something like that,” he said. “Like in 1972, the first year I qualified for the Open. I qualified in Dallas, along with Tom Kite, Ben Crenshaw, Bruce Lietzke, Homero Blancas and one other guy.”

Voges noted that U.S. Open included a 36-hole test on the final day in 1964, the year Ken Venturi barely survived the heat at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., to win. Since then, the U.S. Open has been 18 holes a day over four days, with an 18-hole playoff on Monday if necessary.

However, Voges, Steinberg, Oh, Woods and others will be grinding for 36 holes today.

“Valencia is a long course, and there is a lot of walking between tees and greens,” Voges said. “There are short 7,000-yard courses and long 7,000-yard courses.

“It’s a grind. I’m a pretty emotional guy and player, and I don’t like to eat in the morning and you go all day long on nervous energy.

“Whether you get lunch depends on the pace of play,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of 36-hole events where you have time only to sign your card, go to the bathroom and get right out there.

“I haven’t been playing a lot. I could play well, I could play mediocre. I wouldn’t be surprised either way.

“There’s not much room for error in the game of golf. If your club face is one quarter of an inch off on a 200-yard shot, you’re 50 feet off line--the difference between being close to the hole or in someone’s back yard.”

*

Woods, who has won numerous junior titles, has had an upset stomach this week and hasn’t been able to practice.

Earl Woods said that his son was paired with New Zealand’s Grant Waite, a non-winner on the tour, in the recent Byron Nelson tournament at Irving, Tex.

Neither Waite nor Woods made the cut. The next week Waite won the Kemper Open in Potomac, Md.

Golf Notes

The LPGA tournament that has been held at Los Coyotes Country Club since 1989 has been renamed for the event scheduled Sept. 27-Oct. 3. The LPGA Southern California Classic at Los Coyotes, presented by the Los Angeles Times, is the new title for the $550,000 tournament. The City of Hope will be a major charitable beneficiary. . . . The fourth annual Jerry Buss celebrity tournament and dinner auction will be be held Monday at Riviera CC. Proceeds will benefit “Love is Feeding Everyone (LIFE).”

The Los Angeles City men’s golf championship and handicap tournament will be held June 19-20 and 26-27 at Griffith and Rancho Park courses. Entry deadline is Saturday. For information, call (213) 660-2153. . . . The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and the Agoura/Las Virgenes Chamber of Commerce will hold a benefit tournament at Sunset Hills CC in Thousand Oaks on June 21.

The Long Beach Men’s Senior Amateur championship is scheduled Wednesday through Friday at Recreation Park Golf Course. . . . The 13th annual NFL Alumni charity tournament will be held June 14 at Los Coyotes CC. . . . LPGA pro Michelle McGann will be a special guest at the American Diabetes Assn.’s fifth annual Partners for a Cure tournament on June 28 at the Wilshire CC.

The 10th annual Jaime Beth Slavin Celebrity golf and tennis tournament will be held today at El Caballero CC, with golf and tennis beginning at 11:30 a.m. Mike Connors is the tournament host and the event is for the benefit of the Family Assistance program. For information, call (818) 986-3134. . . . The Howie Long Miniature Golf Classic for Kids will be held Wednesday at Redondo Beach Malibu Castle. The event is sponsored by Taco Bell Corp., and benefits children ages 5-12 who suffer from a variety of illnesses and social problems. For information, call (310) 783-0575.