GOLF / STEVE ELLING : Field Ages as Woods Runs Away

The waiting is the hardest part.

Tiger Woods of Cypress and Chad Wright are both 18 years old. They have battled innumerable times on the many junior circuits locally and nationally, with Woods almost always coming out on top.

Wright, of Ventura, who finished 10th in his first Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship over the weekend, is a fine player who earned a scholarship to USC.

Imagine the frustration. Woods finished 10-under at the SCGA to smash several long-standing tournament records.

“They started playing together when they were about this tall,” said Wright’s father, Jim, holding a hand at belt level. “I kept telling Chad, ‘Don’t worry, you’ll close the gap in a couple of years.’

“A couple of years went by and the gap didn’t close. A couple more went by, same thing. We’re still waiting.”

So are a few hundred others.

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Crowded out: Playing in the same threesome with Woods in the final round was Don Baker of Canoga Park, who said he felt like excess baggage at times and was a little overwhelmed by the considerable gallery of approximately 200 that followed Woods’ every move.

“I didn’t think I’d be nervous,” said Baker, who played on the PGA Tour in 1977-78 before regaining his amateur status.

“I wasn’t really nervous, but I couldn’t relax, either. I haven’t played in front of a gallery forever.”

At times, Baker said he had trouble making his way through the throng in his electric cart. There were no gallery ropes, so the crowd wandered around with the players.

“I didn’t get to see him play much,” Baker cracked. “There were too many people in the way.”

Baker shot 74, which left him in a two-way tie for fourth place and gave him his second consecutive top-10 finish.

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Fast facts: Woods’ play on the par-five seventh hole epitomized his record-breaking effort in the SCGA at Hacienda Golf Club. Saturday, he holed a sand shot from a green-side bunker for an eagle. Sunday, he made a twisting 35-foot putt from the fringe for an eagle. Two eagles in as many days on the same hole--all without so much as being on the green. . . .

Steinberg and Mike Turner of Sherman Oaks have accepted invitations to play in the 28th Pacific Coast Amateur, which begins Tuesday at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, Calif. The tournament features players from California, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and British Columbia. This year marks only the sixth time it has been held in the Southland. It is a 72-hole, stroke-play event. . . .

Paul Ladin of Westlake Village, who at age 61 was the oldest player in the SCGA field, finished with a final-round 72 that left him tied for 36th at 303. Ladin, the 1993 State Senior Amateur champion, next will play in the British Senior Amateur Championship Aug. 3-5 in Manchester, England. . . .

A pair of San Fernando Valley products had their SCGA records obliterated by Woods’ scintillating effort Saturday. Woods’ third-round score of 62 shattered the competitive course record of 66 at Hacienda set by Dave Olsen of Toluca Lake in 1992 and also broke the SCGA single-round mark of 64 set by former Taft High standout Duffy Waldorf at Stockdale Country Club in Bakersfield in 1982. Waldorf, who lives in Valencia, plays on the PGA Tour. . . .

The SCGA will be played next summer at the Santa Ana Country Club, a par-72 layout that measures 6,543 yards from the championship tees. Like Hacienda, built in 1919-20, Santa Ana is one of the older courses in the Southland. It was built in 1929. . . .

Emilee Klein of Studio City finished with an 11-over 82 in the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Lake Orion, Mich., but was still the second-lowest amateur in the field with a 72-hole total of 295. Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa., was low amateur at 291. This weekend, Klein is playing for the United States against Great Britain in the biennial Curtis Cup competition in Chattanooga, Tenn.