On His Home Course, Woods Is Favored to Win Golf Title

USC is hosting the Pacific 10 Conference men’s golf championships today through Wednesday at Big Canyon Country Club, but the golfer most familiar with the course is not a Trojan.

He is Stanford’s Tiger Woods, an honorary member of the country club. The club, one of Orange County’s most exclusive, gave Woods the membership after he won his second U.S. Junior Amateur title in 1992. Since then, Woods has played and practiced here regularly. He considers it his home course; his U.S. Amateur trophy is displayed in the clubhouse.

USC Coach Kurt Schuette isn’t concerned about Woods’ familiarity with the course. After all, he’s only one Cardinal and the team competition is paramount.

“You can count on Tiger playing well anywhere he goes,” Schuette said. “We expect him to shoot some low numbers, but we’ve shown we can make some birdies and put up some numbers too. What we are lacking is consistency.”

The Trojans, ranked 11th in the nation in the latest Rolex collegiate golf poll, will have tough competition. Defending champion Arizona State is ranked third and Arizona eighth. Stanford is 18th and Oregon State 22nd.

Traditionally a strong conference for golf, the Pac-10 had five teams finish among the top 10 of the NCAA Championships last year--Stanford (No. 2), Arizona State (4), USC (5), California (6) and Arizona (10).

Woods, playing in his first Orange County competition since graduating from Western High, is the obvious favorite to win the individual title, but several could give him a battle. Arizona’s Ted Purdy, Arizona State’s Darren Angel and Joey Snyder, USC’s Brian Hull and Stanford’s Joel Kribel are all ranked among the top 25 in the nation.

The competition is 72 holes, 36 today. The first tee times in today’s morning round are at 8 a.m. Woods is expected to tee off at 9:30. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s first tee times are at 7:30 a.m. The entrance to Big Canyon is on San Joaquin Hills Rd., adjacent to Fashion Island. Admission is free.