GOLF NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK : Improved Play Helps Quiet Dauphin’s Nerves

John Dauphin’s introduction to Champions Golf Club, the site of this week’s U.S. Amateur Championship, was sudden and a bit nerve racking.

Dauphin, of Placentia, arrived in Houston on Saturday and decided to see when he could get on the course for a practice round. The starter said he could go off immediately, so without the benefit of much of a warm-up, Dauphin went to the first tee.

Like all college golfers, Dauphin of San Jose State has prepared for plenty of tournaments, but this was the U.S. Amateur.

To compound the jitter factor, Jay Sigel, an amateur golf legend, was in the group behind Dauphin. Sigel has played on a U.S.-record nine Walker Cup teams and is the last man to win consecutive U.S. Amateurs. Dauphin felt eyes upon him.

“I was thinking, ‘Gee, I don’t want to hit one bad in front of this guy,’ ” Dauphin said. “I kind of got nervous right off the bat.”

Dauphin’s nerves were likely soothed by the fact that he is playing some of his best golf lately.

He qualified for his first U.S. Amateur by turning in the low score at sectional qualifying at Carlton Oaks in Santee. He shot one-over-par 73 in the morning and then broke the course record of 69 with a 68 in the afternoon.

Several weeks before, Dauphin had finished the Long Beach City Championship tied for seventh, posting a three-round total of one-under 215.

Those two results gave him a good feeling after a below-average junior season at San Jose State.

Dauphin, who led Saddleback College to consecutive Orange Empire Conference team championships in 1991 and ‘92, said it took time to adjust to the academic rigors of the four-year school. His grades were strong but his golf game suffered. After shooting 71 to put himself in third place after the first day of the Big West Conference Championship, he faltered with an 82 and a 78 and finished out of the top 20.

He still was struggling a bit early this summer, when he finished third in the club championship at Alta Vista, a title he won in ’91 and ’92. He then failed to qualify for the Southern California Golf Assn. championship and was wondering if his game would ever turn around.

It started to improve at the Long Beach City tournament and continued at Carlton Oaks, especially in the afternoon round on the tough Pete Dye-designed course. He had three birdies on the front nine and three birdies and two bogeys on the back.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve played that well,” Dauphin said.

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Placentia’s finest: The Dauphin family lives near the Alta Vista course, about four houses from the family of another Orange County golfer who is playing in the U.S. Amateur, Chris Tidland.

Dauphin graduated from Valencia High a year before Tidland, who won the Southern Section individual championship as a junior in 1989.

Tidland, who will be a junior at Oklahoma State, was the top qualifier at Big Canyon in Newport Beach.

“It’s kind of funny--two guys living down the street from each other both playing in the U.S. Amateur,” Dauphin said. “What are the odds?”

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Tiger Woods of Cypress also is in the 315-player field at the Amateur, which started Tuesday. Woods, who will be a senior at Western High School, was exempt from sectional qualifying because he won the U.S. Junior Amateur.

It was his third consecutive junior amateur title. Woods missed the cut at the 1991 U.S. Amateur and lost in the second round of match play last year.

Tidland missed the cut by two strokes last year.

Scott Richardson, a Laguna Niguel resident who played for Saddleback College last spring, and Iain MacDonald of Fullerton are the only other local qualifiers.

Woods led the way among the county contingent with 72 Tuesday. Richardson and Tidland had 73s, Dauphin 77 and MacDonald 79. The low 64 after two rounds of medal play continue in the match-play portion; the 36-hole final is scheduled Sunday.

Notes

Pat McCormick’s third Pat’s Champs Celebrity Golf Challenge will be held Sept. 28 at Tustin Ranch. It is open to the public. Several former Olympic champions will be on hand, including McCormick, who won gold medals in the women’s three-meter board and 10-meter platform events in 1952 and 1956. Four-time discus gold medalist Al Oerter (‘56, ‘60, ‘64, ‘68), two-time decathlon champion Bob Mathias (‘48, ‘52), two-time shotput champion Parry O’Brien (‘52, ‘56), Bob Seagren (pole vault, ‘68) and Billy Mills (10,000 meters, ‘64) are the other Olympic titlists participating. The entry fee for the scramble format tournament is $200 and includes an autograph party, awards dinner and auction. Proceeds go to a foundation that helps keep troubled children in school. For information call (310) 493-3733.