GOLF / STEVE ELLING : O’Brien Spans Area Codes With Long-Distance Calls

What better to call upon when dialing long distance than a telephone pole?

Shane O’Brien uses a designated hitter of sorts when he enters long-drive contests. His Langert model bears little resemblance to a normal driver.

It is 50 inches long, seven inches longer than a standard driver. It has a bright red graphite shaft. The metal wood has a club face with just seven degrees of loft, steep by any standard. He uses it only during long-drive events, because it’s too hard to control during normal play.

And when O’Brien swings it, well, finesse be damned.

“It’s just a matter of trying to hit it solid,” said O’Brien, who played the past two seasons at College of the Canyons. “There’s no such thing as aiming. You just hope it comes down where it’s supposed to.”

Sometimes, it does. Saturday, O’Brien placed second in a sectional qualifier in the National Long-Driving Contest at Vista Valencia Golf Course in Valencia. He ripped a drive of 346 yards 10 inches, second only to Michael Hooper of Culver City, who jacked one 348 yards 21 inches.

Entrants pay $15 for six balls in the grip-it-and-rip-it competition. O’Brien, 19, bought one parcel of balls, posted his mark and watched as all comers took their best shots.

Hooper finally bettered O’Brien’s yardage on his fourth batch of balls. Both will advance to the Southwest regional qualifier in Bakersfield on Aug. 21. The championships are in Boca Raton, Fla., Oct. 9-10.

There are some swipes taken in these events that would make fundamentalists gasp. The intent is to murder the ball and hope it falls within the designated boundaries. Many of the long-drive specialists can’t play a lick.

“If it was ‘Hit it, find it and play it,’ I’d be going to Boca Raton,” O’Brien said, laughing.

No question, O’Brien can do more than bang a ball lopsided. In May, he placed third in the state junior college championships in Monterey and led Canyons to the team title. Earlier this month in a qualifying tournament for the U.S. States Public Links Championships, he led all players with a first-round 68 at Mountain View Golf Course in Santa Paula.

O’Brien was hardly broken up about finishing second in the long-drive event, which he won two years ago. He estimated that Hooper was in his mid-30s, as were many of the other entrants.

“I’ve got the size (6 feet 4 inches, 230 pounds), I’ve got the club-head speed, and I’ve got youth on all of ‘em,” O’Brien said.

“I can keep doing this for a long, long time.”

By hitting it a long, long way.

*

L.A. City redux: It was a fearsome foursome. In fact, the whole gang was there.

Playing in the last group in the final round of the L.A. City Men’s Championship at Rancho Park Golf Course on Sunday were four of the tournament’s 54-hole leaders.

What a home stretch it was.

Scott Gibson, who plays at the University of Tulsa, won at 288 with a final-round 73. Former Cal State Northridge standout Kevin Bailey finished one shot back, and Tony Bordwell, a senior at Northridge, was two shots off the pace.

All three, along with Danny Moreno of Griffith Park, were in the final group. There was considerable ebb and flow on the back nine.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Bordwell, an El Camino Real High graduate. “It was great, having three or four guys with a shot at winning it.

“I definitely had a shot at it.”

Who didn’t?

Bordwell played the first five holes three-over, then birdied Nos. 7 through 10 to move back into contention. Gibson, who lives in Huntington Beach, double-bogeyed the par-three 12th, which tightened matters considerably.

Bailey birdied 13 and 14 to move within a shot of Gibson. Bordwell, keeping the pressure on, lipped out birdie putts at 15 and 17.

Gibson remained steady, however. After the debacle at No. 12, he parred the final six holes to narrowly hold off any last-ditch charge.

Mike Turner, another former Northridge player and a two-time L.A. City champion, finished in a four-way tie for fourth at 291.

Moreno also tied for fourth in a group that included Jim Lundstrom, a member of Knollwood Golf Course in Granada Hills.

*

State fare: None of the seven players from the region who qualified for the State Amateur last week on the Monterey Peninsula managed to advance past the second round of match play.

Nuggets from Pebble:

* Casey Boyns, a caddy at Pebble Beach who lives in nearby Pacific Grove, proved he knows the lay of the land by shooting 73-70 to earn medalist honors. He kept his hot streak alive by winning the title on Friday.

So, how much does a caddy make? Boyns earns $35 per round, plus tip. Most caddies carry two bags per foursome and try to get in at least two 18-hole rounds per day.

Boyns is well known in the region and his services are in high demand. How famous is he? Nintendo markets a Pebble Beach cartridge for its home video game unit. When starting the game, players are asked to select a caddy--one is a guy named Casey.

* Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys has a very well-defined Waterloo.

For most players, the 14th hole at Pebble Beach is a relatively tame, 565-yard par 5. Steinberg just can’t quite seem to get the hole figured out.

In his second-round loss last week to Gary Vanier of Pleasant Hill, Steinberg seemingly gained the upper hand when Vanier failed to reach the putting surface in three. Just like that, however, Steinberg’s advantage disappeared when he three-putted from 35 feet for bogey. Vanier got up and down to save par, moving to 3 up with four holes to play.

Last year, in a semifinal match against Dave Berganio of Sylmar, Steinberg had a 15-foot birdie putt on the 14th. Meanwhile, Berganio was 50 feet from the hole. Of course, Berganio canned the putt, Steinberg missed, and Berganio went on to win, 1 up.

* Though Thousand Oaks’ Charlie Wi was unable to defeat Todd Andrews of Pepperdine in a second-round match that lasted six hours and 21 grueling holes, he was still the talk of the tournament afterward.

Needing to win on the storied 18th hole to send the match into sudden death, Wi reached the 548-yard par 5 with two booming driver shots.

The second shot, a fade that started well over the Pacific Ocean, traveled an estimated 275 yards into a slight breeze and settled on the front of the green. Wi, 21, characteristically understated the accomplishment when friends asked about the shot.

“I got lucky,” said Wi, perhaps the most popular player in the field. “I was so nervous when I was taking (the club) back.

“I thought, ‘What am I doing? I’m never gonna make it.’ ”

* Trouble is, after all this time, they might demand a receipt.

Steinberg, 35, used a year-old Acushnet putter in the tournament. On the shaft was a bright orange price tag, left there from the day he bought it.

Steinberg figured that if he didn’t like the new club, he could always return it.

“That was the original plan,” Steinberg said. “But then I started playing well with it.”

Is it too late to make an exchange?

In his match with Vanier, he three-putted at Nos. 2, 3, 14 and missed a handful of relatively easy ones. Steinberg said the longest putt he made all week was from approximately 20 feet, and that came on his second-to-last hole of the event.