It’s a Wi Lead of Two Strokes as He Slips in SoCal Amateur : Golf: North Hills ace gives back three shots on final two holes, allowing Corral to close in with a 63.

If not for the 18th hole. . . .

If not for an 18-year-old kid. . . .

. . . It would be a complete runaway.

Charlie Wi of North Hills holds a two-shot lead entering today’s final round of the Southern California Golf Assn. amateur championship, but oh, what might have been.

Wi, who shot an even-par 71 at Santa Ana Country Club in the third round Saturday, gave away three shots over the last two holes and will play in the final group with upstart teen-ager Jorge Corral, whose blistering 63 was about all that kept Wi from blowing away the field.

“I wish I could have finished up with par, par,” said Wi, who has a 54-hole total of 210, three under par. “I could have opened a big, big gap.”

The chasm is fairly sizable nonetheless. Only three players are within seven shots of Wi, including Corral in second place at 212.

Five of the top 10 players on the leader board have ties to the region. James Lundstrom of Mission Hills shot 73 and is alone in third at 214 and former Cal State Northridge star Jeff Sanday shot 70 and is alone in fourth at 215.

Corral, 18, lives in Tijuana and will play next season at USC. He was seven under after 11 holes and didn’t exactly cave in thereafter.

“First time I’ve ever lost by a stroke a hole,” said Don Baker of Canoga Park, a former PGA Tour pro who played in Corral’s threesome and shot 76. “He’s solid. He hit the ball better as the day went on.”

It seemed as though Wi was doing likewise until he wobbled on the final three holes. Wi, an All-American at California and the reigning Pacific 10 Conference individual champion, was three under for the day when he hit an unsightly 100-yard drive on the par-four 16th hole.

He somehow salvaged par by getting up and down from 140 yards.

After he bogeyed the par-three 17th, Wi sprung a large leak on the final hole.

His three-wood from the middle of the fairway on the 440-yard par four found a greenside water hazard and he finished with a double bogey.

Take away his double trouble on the 18th and Corral’s mind-boggling score, and Wi would have had a whopping six-shot lead.

“We’ll get ‘em tomorrow,” Wi said. “Hopefully, I got that out of my system.”

The Westlake High graduate even second-guessed himself for his play down the stretch.

Wi pronounces his surname “We.” His decision on the 18th had him asking “Why?”

With a four-shot lead over Corral, Wi decided at the last second to gun for the flagstick on his approach shot on 18, rather than play for the middle of the green.

“Just when I got over the ball, I decided to go right at it,” Wi said. “I don’t know why, but I do that sometimes.”

If Corral had any lapses in judgment, nobody noticed. His 63 broke the competitive course record by two strokes and tied the overall record set during a practice round three years ago by some guy named Fred Couples.

Can you say muy caliente?

“I was putting very good,” said Corral, who had eight birdies and no bogeys. “I am very focused. These are very fast, beautiful greens. They are very pure.”

When Corral finished his round, playing partner Ed Cuff of Temecula cracked, “I want to know how the hell you shot 149 [over the first two rounds].”

Corral said he once shot 64 in a tournament, but when asked how many times he one-putted Saturday or to describe his longest birdie putt of the round, he drew a complete blank. Too much excitement, it seems.

“This tournament is big time,” he said with a grin.

James Camaione, a member of the Crystalaire Country Club in the Antelope Valley, shot 72 and is tied for seventh at 218.

The group at 218 also includes Chad Wright of Ventura, who shot 73 and managed only one birdie.

Jason Gore of Valencia struggled to a 76 and finished tied for 15th at 221.

Darren Humphrey, a graduate of Newbury Park High, carded a 70 and moved into a tie for 20th at 223.

Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys shot 76 and also is at 223.