GOLF / STEVE ELLING : Working Men Get Their Chance to Play

Lee Trevino calls ‘em the flat-bellies, those slim and trim products of collegiate golf factories with drives as straight as laser beams and waists as small as a good front-nine score.

Weekend warriors and working guys don’t have a chance against those darn college kids, who play eight days a week, at least.

A few years back, the working men were given a tournament to call their own.

The United States Golf Assn. established the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 1981 specifically for players beyond college age. For those with a little spare tire, perhaps, and no hair to spare on top.

Only players 25 or older are allowed to enter. They aren’t exactly graybeards--the U.S. Senior Amateur is for those aged 50 or above--but it gave working men a more realistic chance to compete.

“The Mid-Am players have to work for a living and have much less chance to play,” said Mike Peck of the Southern California Golf Assn. “This gave the non-college guys their very own tournament.”

Popularity skyrocketed immediately. The SCGA started its Mid-Amateur 10 years ago and response was remarkable.

“It grew like crazy,” Peck said. “Almost immediately we had to institute qualifying. We couldn’t just throw it open and say, ‘Come on out.’ ”

Don Baker, a former PGA Tour professional who lives in Canoga Park, won medalist honors in USGA Mid-Amateur regional qualifying last week at La Purisma Golf Course in Lompoc with a two-under-par 70 to beat 100 players.

The U.S. Mid-Amateur is scheduled for Sept. 18-23 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

Baker, 42, played at USC with Craig Stadler before trying the pro tour for two years in the late 1970s. He left the tour because he wasn’t winning enough dinero.

He parlayed his business degree into an accounting job. In short, he became another 9-to-5er with a wife and family who couldn’t play as much as he liked.

“I just play in a few tourneys every year,” Baker said. “I don’t have the opportunity to play all the time.”

Baker, for example, plays so infrequently that he picks his tournaments based on geography, not the significance of the event.

“I try to pick the nice courses,” he said. “That’s my main criteria.”

Baker was the low area finisher at the SCGA Amateur Championships last month at Brentwood Country Club, tying for 10th.

Baker had never before attempted to qualify for the Mid-Amateur.

“I think it should be for guys 40 and up,” he cracked.

The SCGA Mid-Amateur is Sept. 29-30 at Yorba Linda Country Club. The event’s growing popularity is reflected in the numbers: On Aug. 2, 209 players attempted to qualify for 70 available berths.

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Nationalism: A handful of players with ties to the region are playing this week in the U.S. Amateur Championship at the Champions Golf Club in Houston.

Among the players who qualified are Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks, Corby Segal of Burbank and David Saylor, a member of Wood Ranch Country Club in Simi Valley. David Berganio Jr. of Sylmar, the defending U.S. Publinx champion who played in last week’s Walker Cup matches, also is entered, as is his former college teammate from Arizona, Jason Gore of Valencia.

Mitch Voges of Simi Valley, the 1991 U.S. Amateur champion, also is playing.

First-round play opened Tuesday. After 36 holes of stroke play, the field will be cut to the low 64 for match play, with the final contested Sunday.

Defending champion Justin Leonard of Dallas, who plays at the University of Texas, is seeking to become the first golfer to win back-to-back titles since 1982-83.

The Amateur will be Berganio’s final amateur tournament. Berganio, 24, an NCAA Division I All-American, will play in the Canadian Open as a professional at Glen Abbey Golf Club on Sept. 9-12.

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And the winner is: The final of the first L.A. Amateur Putting Championship proved that age and gender don’t matter when it comes to sinking knee-knocking putts.

Chris Gibbs, a 32-year-old TV executive from Los Angeles, won the championship by making four of nine 18-foot putts on an indoor computerized putting green at Roger Dunn golf shop in North Hollywood.

Finishing second was Laurie Snedden of Santa Monica, the only woman to make the 16-player match-play portion of the event.

Clark Pingree, 14, of Toluca Lake, placed third.