GOLF / STEVE ELLING : Andonian’s Drive Sparked Junior Growth

Grueling junior golf trips, circa 1966. . . .

Drive the ol’ Chevy wagon through the farmlands of Ventura County, up the Camarillo Grade and past the foothills, through the San Fernando Valley by way of Ventura Boulevard, over the Sepulveda Pass and into the Los Angeles Basin.

Moms and dads dutifully chauffeured their kids all over the map in the name of junior golf. Mike Andonian of Camarillo was among them.

Andonian is no tree-hugger. He didn’t form the Ventura County Junior Golf Assn. in 1967 because he was concerned about fuel conservation.

He was just feeling a little provincial, darn it. Plus, the commute was too much. He was practically carsick.

“I saw a need for it,” Andonian said. “The kids were all going to L.A. to play. I was too.”

Not anymore. Andonian’s association has supplied more than a place to play. It has helped in the development of many of the best players produced in the golf-rich region.

Dozens of talented players have competed in Andonian’s events for more than two decades, including Corey Pavin, who at the time was a scrawny kid from Oxnard High.

The 1993 VCJGA schedule includes 12 events in towns all over the county. This week, the Thousand Oaks Junior Championship is being conducted at Los Robles Golf and Country Club, followed next Tuesday and Wednesday by the Ventura City Junior Championship at Olivas Park.

On Aug. 30-31, the Ventura County Junior Championship--the association’s showcase event--will be held in Camarillo at posh Spanish Hills Country Club and Las Posas Country Club. USC-bound Chad Wright of Ventura is the three-time defending champion.

Andonian, 67, who taught at Ventura High for 21 years before retiring in 1986, admits he had personal reasons for forming the organization.

“I had ulterior motives,” he said. “My kids were playing junior golf. Now my grandkids are almost ready.”

Andonian took a look around and realized that Ventura County had plenty to offer junior players. With assistance from a handful of high school golf coaches from the area and the cooperation of several county club professionals, Andonian started the VCJGA.

“Our courses are just as good as L.A.’s,” he said. “So I figured, ‘Why not do something here?’ ”

What’s more, Andonian has done it on a shoestring. Juniors are charged a nominal annual membership fee of $25. Each tournament they enter costs a whopping $7, which includes green fees and prizes. Andonian gives $400 in booty after each tournament.

“We try to give them more than just a trophy, something they can use,” he said. “I won a few trophies in my time, and they’re all in the garbage now.”

Andonian also awards an annual scholarship to a college-bound member. The VCJGA has four age divisions and membership requirements are few: Players cannot turn 19 before Aug. 25 and must reside in Ventura County.

Winners of VCJGA events last summer include Wright, Camarillo’s Lawrence O’Neil (now playing at Houston) and Newbury Park’s Darren Humphrey (UC Irvine).

“We’ve had some pretty good players roll through here over the years,” Andonian said.

Thanks to Andonian, they don’t have roll off to L.A. to play.

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Quandary: To go or not to go, that is the question.

Monday, Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks qualified for the U.S. Amateur championship at the Champions Golf Club in Houston on Aug. 24-29. He shot 149 over two rounds at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach and survived a playoff to earn the final berth.

That may have been the easy part. Wi must now decide whether to make the trip.

The Amateur conflicts with the first week of school at California, to which Wi is transferring after three years at Nevada. Wi already has talked to Cal Coach Steve Desmoine, who wants Wi to play.

“He thinks I might have a chance to win, and if I did, it would be good for the program,” said Wi, who will redshirt in 1993-94 and have one year of eligibility remaining. “I want to play, but I don’t want to miss the first week at a new school. If I was still at Reno, it would be no big deal.”

Wi, the 1990 state Amateur champion, plans to talk to his athletic adviser over the next couple of days before deciding whether to make the trip.

Desmoine’s confidence in his newest player is hardly misplaced. Wi, 21, has played in the past two U.S. Amateurs and reached the round of 16 in match play last year.

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Invitation only: Emilee Klein of Studio City, one of the top amateur players in the nation, has been granted a sponsor’s exemption to play next week in the Minnesota LPGA Classic at Edinburgh USA Golf Club in Brooklyn Park, Minn.

Klein, a Notre Dame High graduate, now plays at Arizona State, which won the NCAA Division I women’s title in the spring at University of Georgia Golf Course. She placed 15th individually.