Wright Begins With a Solid Round : Golf: Former Buena High standout fires four-over-par 76 at State Amateur Championship.

All golfer Chad Wright had to do was glance at the scoreboard tallies. The contrast was striking.

“Look at the difference in the scores,” he said aloud to nobody in particular.

With the field of 100 golfers split between two courses during the first round of the 83rd State Amateur Championship on Monday, Wright was one of only a handful of players who put together solid rounds at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Wright, a Buena High graduate who will be a sophomore at USC in the fall, shot a four-over-par 76.

Meanwhile, at Spyglass Hill Golf Course, the second tournament site, Tim Hart of Solana Beach and Kevin Marsh of Goleta each shot 68 to share the lead, and 1993 champion Casey Boyns of Pacific Grove shot 69.

Wright wasn’t surprised at the scoring differential.

“The greens were much softer (at Spyglass),” said Wright, who played a practice round there over the weekend. “Once you get past the first few holes, the wind doesn’t bother you much there.”

The greens and chilly, 60-degree weather on Monday were more than troublesome for the players at seaside Pebble Beach.

Of the low 27 players on the leader board, 23 played at Spyglass, including former champion Charlie Wi of North Hills, who shot a two-over 74 to lead all area players. Forty-one of 50 players at Spyglass broke 80. Only 21 of 50 at Pebble Beach did so.

The field switches sites today. The top 32 players advance to the match-play portion of the event, which begins Wednesday.

Jamey Forsyth of Chatsworth shot 75, and Birmingham High graduate Yasu Amaya shot 78 to remain within striking range of the projected cut. Both played Spyglass.

Longtime amateur standout Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys, playing at Pebble Beach, struggled and finished at 80, as did 17-year-old Brandon DiTullio of Westlake Village, the tournament’s youngest player.

Paul Tanner of Sun Valley shot 81 at Spyglass, and David Saylor of West Hills shot 82 at Pebble Beach.

As for Wright, 18, familiarity bred success. Last year, playing in his first State Amateur he shot 81 at Pebble Beach and failed to make the 36-hole cut.

“Experience definitely helps on these greens,” he said.

Wright had only one costly hole on Monday. On the par-4 eighth he hit his second shot into a gully. He later three-putted for a triple bogey 7.

Wi, who will be a senior in the fall at Cal, helped stake the South team to a two-stroke lead in the North-South competition. Steve Woods of San Jose fired a three-under 69 at Spyglass as the South had a five-man total of 363.