GOLF / SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP : Woods, Cuff the Ones to Beat at Hacienda

One group not happy to see the Southern California Golf Assn.’s Amateur Championship tournament at Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights this weekend is the local caddies.

The sort of players who make it to the SCGA Amateur are insurance salesmen, truckers, mechanics and stockbrokers who long ago learned to bring both a bagful of clubs and an extra set of shoulders to carry them.

For instance, Ed Rieu’s caddie doubles as an on-course good luck charm and off-course wife.

“Everybody who knows Ed knows Emma,” said Rieu, an Orange mortgage broker. “She caddied for me in the (1993) Southern California Senior and I won. And we had a real good tournament at Pebble Beach (at the California Amateur).”

A field of 92 will play 36 holes in today’s qualifying round to make the 42-player cut for the 18-hole rounds Saturday and Sunday.

Rieu, 55, is not concerned with the long first day.

“It’s a thinking man’s course,” he said. “The greens are quick, and though you don’t have to hit long, you have to be smart. And it’s been overcast lately, so I think I’ll keep up all right.”

Defending champion Todd Demsey will not compete. The 1993 runner-up, Craig Anderson, will, along with Bob Clark, runner-up in 1992, ’91 and ’90.

“I’ve been trying to win this tournament since ’88 or ‘89,” Clark said. “You will not find a better field in the country.”

Clark’s caddie will be Rod Faurot, who was Clark’s golf coach at Cal State Los Angeles when he won the 1969 NCAA championship.

Clark, 47, and Rieu agree that the men to beat are Steve Woods and Ed Cuff. Woods, 22, won the California Amateur at Pebble Beach, with Cuff the runner-up.

Said Clark: “I think the names up front will be Woods, Cuff, Mark Johnson and, hopefully, a guy named Clark.”