Match Play Next for Wi in State Amateur

After five years, Charlie Wi should know his way around the Monterey Peninsula.

With a driver, certainly.

As a driver, not so fast.

After completing the first round of the 83rd State Amateur Championship this week, Wi hopped in a car with a friend and tried to find his way back to the Pacific Coast Highway via scenic, looping 17-Mile Drive.

Wi kept taking laps like he was cruising at nearby Laguna Seca Raceway.

As for the storied courses on the peninsula, Wi knows each twist and turn. The 22-year-old from North Hills finished with a 36-hole total of 147 to tie for seventh and advance to the 32-man match-play portion of the event, which begins today.

Five others from the region were pushed aside, but Chad Wright of Ventura and Jamey Forsyth of Chatsworth remained alive.

Wi shot a one-over-par 73 at Pebble Beach Golf Links on Tuesday and will face Mark Miller, 42, of Antioch at 6:42 a.m. at Pebble Beach. Miller shot 79 at Pebble Beach on Tuesday and made match play by one shot after finishing in a nine-way tie at 153.

Wright, an 18-year-old who graduated last year from Buena High and now plays at USC, shot an even-par 72 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course to finish in a three-way tie for ninth at 148. Wright, playing in his second State Amateur, will face Ed Cuff of Temecula today at 7:12 a.m. Cuff shot 152.

Forsyth, a first-time entrant, shot 78 at Pebble Beach to finish at 153. At 6:30 a.m., he plays Steve Woods of Upland, who won medalist honors by shooting 73 at Pebble Beach to finish at 142, one shot ahead of Tiger Woods of Anaheim. Steve Woods has been a quarterfinalist three years in a row.

All remaining play in the tournament, which concludes Saturday, is at Pebble Beach.

Wi made the cut with relative ease--which isn’t exactly news. Wi, a senior at Cal, has qualified for match play five times in as many attempts dating to 1990, when he won the tournament title two weeks after graduating from Westlake High.

He was two-under par through six holes Tuesday, a fast start that ensured a berth in match play. This despite a putting stroke that kept leaving him off-line to the right.

“I hit it pretty good, but I didn’t putt at all,” Wi said. “I didn’t have the yips, I had the push.”

Forsyth, at 6-foot-5, is the tallest player in the match-play field and might be the least experienced. Forsyth, 25, a 1986 graduate of Hart High who is an employee of Valencia Country Club in Santa Clarita, did not play high school golf.

He played soccer. Was an all-league goalie, in fact. “Golf was for weekends with my dad,” said Forsyth, who eventually earned a scholarship to Cal State Northridge.

It wasn’t exactly a weekend in the sun for the five others with ties to the region. Failing to make the cut were Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys (80-74--154), Birmingham High graduate Yasu Amaya (78-81--159), Paul Tanner of Sun Valley (81-78--159), David Saylor of West Hills (82-79--161) and Brandon DiTullio of Westlake Village (80-82--162).

Steinberg, 36, who missed the cut by one shot, failed to make two putts from inside four feet over the final three holes at Spyglass. Over the past 15 years, Steinberg had reached the quarterfinals three times and the semifinals twice.