GOLF NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK : Gibson Gets Wire-to-Wire Victory

After leading the Los Angeles City Men’s Golf Championship for three rounds, Scott Gibson couldn’t help but feel the tournament was slipping away Sunday.

On the par-3, 12th hole at Rancho Park, Gibson took a double-bogey after reaching the green in four.

He remained in the lead after his troubles at 12, but he was finding it difficult to concentrate on his shots because his closest competitors were in his foursome and gaining fast.

“I was trying not to pay attention to what they were doing,” Gibson said. “But then someone came up to me and said, ‘Isn’t he tied with you?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I think so.’ ”

Kevin Bailey of Toluca Lake had birdies on the 13th and 14th holes to move even with Gibson, a Huntington Beach High graduate who will be a sophomore at Tulsa this fall.

“As soon as he tied me, I thought, ‘You know what? I’m not winning anymore and I have to stop playing conservatively,’ ” Gibson said.

Actually, conservative was just fine. Bailey bogeyed the next two holes and Gibson had pars the rest of the way. Gibson finished with a one-over 287 total, a stroke ahead of Bailey, who shot two-under 69 Sunday.

The wire-to-wire victory was a nice surprise for Gibson, who was Tulsa’s top player last season.

“It’s really one of my first wins,” he said. “It wasn’t a junior tournament and I’ve never won a college tournament.”

Gibson won the tournament, which was held at the Griffith Park Harding and Wilson courses, June 19 and 20 and Rancho Park Saturday and Sunday, despite having little local knowledge. He had played Rancho Park for the first time the previous Wednesday.

He also did it without much practice. Gibson isn’t a member of a golf club, so he has a hard time finding a place to work on his short game. Other than the practice round, his only preparation for the final weekend of the City Championship was hitting on the range Thursday.

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Gibson, a Times’ all-county selection for the Oilers in 1992, says his game has improved substantially at Tulsa. He advanced as an individual to the NCAA Midwest Regional at Ohio State, and going into the final round was tied for the second and final spot to advance to the NCAA Championships.

But he shot 42 on the back nine and finished with a 79, well off the pace.

Even in failure, however, Gibson was gaining valuable experience.

“It helped me out,” he said. “I don’t think I could have done as well in the City tournament if I hadn’t played in the college tournaments.

“I just have a lot of confidence in my game right now. It doesn’t matter who I’m playing.” Gibson also said playing in inclement weather has toughened him up.

“At Tulsa, we were out practicing when it was 9 degrees with the wind chill and we were hitting balls when it’s snowing,” he said. “You don’t get that much in California. I mean, when it’s windy here that’s nothing compared to the wind in Texas and Oklahoma.”

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Next up for Gibson is the Long Beach Men’s City Championship Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

He will face a strong field of 208, which includes Jason Gore, who won the Pacific 10 Conference title as a freshman at Arizona last season; John Lovett of Escondido, who won the Pasadena City Championship, and defending champion David Vale of Palm Desert.

The championship flight starts Saturday at Recreation Park and continues Sunday and Monday at Skylinks and El Dorado, respectively.

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Leonard Santoro of Fountain Valley qualified for the U.S. Senior Open by shooting one-under 70 Monday at sectional qualifying at Mesa Verde.

Santoro, 50, who is a member at Industry Hills, shot 34 on the front nine and tied for medalist honors with Chuck Jones of San Diego.

Several local players are alternates after attempting to qualify at Crystalaire Country Club in Llano, Calif. Martyn Temple of Anaheim and Dennis Murphy and Larry Griggs of Irvine each shot 73s, in a seven-way tie. Ray Vanyo of Banning and Bill Clemo of Marina del Rey won the first and second alternate spots in a playoff.

The U.S. Senior Open is July 8-11 at Cherry Hills in Englewood, Colo.

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Jason McDaniel, a freshman on the Saddleback College golf team last spring, made the most impressive showing of Orange County golfers last week at the California Amateur Championships at Pebble Beach.

McDaniel, from San Clemente High, was the only county player among the final 32.

He had four birdies in his final five holes to win his first-round match, 1-up, over Craig Anderson of Fallbrook.

He came back to beat Greg Galasso of San Jose, 3 and 2, in the round of 16.

McDaniel was eliminated by Kevin Riley of El Cajon, 2 and 1, in the quarterfinal round.