GOLF NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK : Booth Enjoys the Open Despite Problems

Kellee Booth tried to block out the thoughts. Sure, it was her first U.S. Women’s Open, but it wasn’t the first time she would be playing against the world’s best golfers.

This spring, Booth, 18, from Coto de Caza, played in the Dinah Shore, one the LPGA’s major tournaments, and missed the cut by one stroke.

So while teeing off last Thursday at Indianwood Golf and Country Club in Lake Orion, Mich., Booth was telling herself this was just another tournament.

“I tried not to think about it,” she said. “But it probably was in the back of my mind that this is The Open .”

From a competitive standpoint, the Open was over quickly for Booth, whose putting deserted her early.

Three putts on the second hole gave her a double-bogey 6 and three putts on the third for a bogey 4. After four-putting No. 6 for a triple bogey, Booth was seven over par.

“It was one of those days,” Booth said. “In the past when I have played badly I would putt decently to salvage my round. Well, on that day both of those things went wrong.”

She finished with an 11-over 82, which was among the 11 worst scores of the day. The poor first round wasn’t without precedent for Booth.

Playing in her final junior tournament earlier this month, the Rolex Tournament of Champions in Oklahoma, she shot 80 on the first day before recovering to finish second.

“This year my game has been extremely good or extremely bad,” Booth said. “I don’t know, it’s been kind of weird.”

Booth, who will attend Arizona State on a scholarship, rallied on the second day at the Open. She shot one-over 72 and her 154 total tied her for the eighth-best score among the 21 amateurs entered.

It wasn’t the performance that Booth had hoped for, but she still had fun.

“I definitely wanted to have a good time, which I did,” she said. “I met a lot of really nice people. The people there were extremely nice and really supportive.”

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Next up for Booth is the U.S. Women’s Amateur, Aug. 8-13 in Hot Springs, Va. It will be the first U.S. Amateur for Booth, who won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship last summer.

She qualified by shooting five-over 77 at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach Tuesday.

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Mr. 57: Jason Chapple, a junior player from Irvine, says he posted a 13-under 57 in a practice round at the Alhambra Municipal course July 16.

Chapple was getting accustomed to the 5,100-yard layout a few days before a qualifying tournament for the California Junior Amateur, and his game was clicking from the outset.

He birdied the first hole, made eagle on the par-5 second and shot six-under 30 on the front nine.

Then he made 3s on each of the final nine holes--two eagles, three birdies and four pars--for a 27.

Chapple said his round was witnessed by a man from Maine who signed his scorecard and told him to report his round to the pro shop.

Chapple said he did just that, but the man he showed his card to apparently wasn’t an employee of the course, because no one at the course remembers talking to Chapple that day, said Gerald Wisz, the head professional.

“It’s kind of like the guys in the pro shop don’t believe me but I didn’t know what to do,” said Chapple, who will be a senior at Woodbridge High. “I was actually shaking after the round. It was just a really weird moment. On the way home I started thinking that I should have had someone in the pro shop sign my scorecard.”

Wisz holds the course record of 59, and Chapple’s round came when the course was set up to less-than tournament specifications.

Chapple’s game came back to earth in the qualifying tournament--he hit his first tee shot behind a tree and sprained his wrist when his club hit a tree root on the next shot.

After reaching six-over after 16 holes, he finished strongly--a birdie and an eagle gave him a 73, good enough to make a playoff for the final spot. He lost the playoff.

The sprained wrist kept him away from golf for about a week, but didn’t diminish his enthusiasm for his play this summer. On July 11 he won his first local junior tournament at El Niguel Country Club.

“This summer, I’ve just been ripping it up,” he said.