GOLF NOTEBOOK / MARTIN BECK : Manos Makes Good on Second Career Shot

Kelly Manos gave professional golf his best shot after graduating from USC in 1989.

Manos joined the professional Golden State Tour, golf’s equivalent to a Class A baseball team.

As a touring professional--if you call driving around California in a truck touring--Manos didn’t win a tournament.

“I gave it a year’s try and didn’t do it after that,” said Manos, who in 1983 won the Empire League individual championship and helped Los Alamitos to the league title. “It’s pretty tough, you’re either making it or missing it by a couple shots. It’s not a very stable life.”

Then Manos found another way to making a living from golf: he got a job as an assistant pro at Yorba Linda Country Club. And now a few years later, his competitive playing career is taking off.

He qualified for the Los Angeles Open and missed the cut by three strokes and qualified for Nike Tour events in Southern California the last two years.

Monday, he won the Southern California PGA’s apprentice championship on the fourth hole of a playoff. Manos and Jim LeTourneau of Shadowridge Country Club in Vista tied at six-under-par 136 after two rounds at Singing Hills Country Club in El Cajon.

Manos made par on the fourth hole of the playoff to qualify for the national PGA assistants championship at PGA West in La Quinta in November.

Manos, who shot 69-67, said his iron play was outstanding.

“I was knocking my irons one foot from the hole,” Manos said. “I hit my wedge about a foot from the hole about three times. I’ve never experienced anything like that. It was awesome.”

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Tiger Woods, who won the Southern California Amateur last month, finished in a tie for eighth at the Porter Cup, a major tournament on the amateur circuit, Saturday at Niagara Falls Country Club in New York.

Woods, an 18-year-old from Cypress, shot six-under 204 for the tournament, which was shortened to three rounds because rain, and finished three shots behind the winner, Allen Doyle of LaGrange, Ga.

Next stop for Woods is the Western Amateur, which starts today at Point O Woods Golf and Country Club in Benton Harbor, Mich.

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Fullerton’s Terry Noe, who won the U.S. Junior Amateur title last week, hardly had to time celebrate before he was off to another tournament.

Noe is in Mexico City playing with the Southern California team in the boys’ Junior Americas Cup. Jin Park, also of Fullerton, Jimmy Lee of Irvine and Michael Chavez of San Diego are Noe’s teammates.

Fullerton’s Jenny Lee, who plays with Noe and Park on the Sunny Hills High golf team, is playing in the girls’ Junior Americas Cup this week in Hawaii.

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Jeff McGraw of Fullerton and Steve Wagner of Mission Viejo qualified for the California Junior Amateur tournament, which starts Monday at Sunnyside Country Club in Fresno.

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Golf tip of the week: Dave Duran, an assistant professional at El Niguel Country Club, says putting is one of the most misunderstood parts of the game. “It is in fact simple; people make it difficult,” he said.

It doesn’t matter what the stance, grip or stroke you use as long as you have chosen the exact line the ball must travel and have a feeling for how hard to strike the putt.

“Lastly, the player must have a stroke which is comfortable, repeatable and consistent with his intended line,” he said.