Club Champions Shooting It Out : Golf: Several area players in the field of tournament at North Ranch today.

The Southern California Golf Assn.’s creme de la creme will will compete Monday in the 20th Tournament of Club Champions at North Ranch Country Club.

The 18-hole event, which begins at 10 a.m., includes 95 men’s club champions from the Southland.

Several area standouts have qualified, including 1993 State Senior Amateur champion Paul Ladin of Westlake Village (champion of The Quarry at La Quinta), David Saylor of West Hills (Wood Ranch CC) and Mike Turner of Sherman Oaks (Woodland Hills CC).

Thousand Oaks will be represented by club champions--Lee Davis (Los Angeles CC), Buz Greene (Saticoy CC), Mitch Phillips (Menifee Lakes CC), Steve Sparks (Sherwood CC) and John Thomas (Sunset Hills CC).

A favorite is Mark Johnson of Helendale, who in 1994 won the SCGA Mid-Amateur, the Pacific Coast Amateur and was runner-up to Tiger Woods at the SCGA Amateur. Johnson is club champion at Sun Valley Golf Course in La Mesa.

North Ranch’s Valley-Oak Course, with a rating of 73.0 and distance of 6,730 yards from the championship tees, will be played.

Turner said that despite the tournament being a a relative shootout at 18 holes, players must resist the temptation to play too aggressively. North Ranch can be punitive, he said.

“It’s a one-shot deal, but you can’t gamble on this course,” said Turner, a two-time L.A. City champion and former Cal State Northridge standout. “You have to be patient. The birdies will come because there are a couple of reachable par-5s.”