Hogarth Doesn’t Blink, Keeps His Focus in Eye of Tiger

Tim Hogarth of Van Nuys heads a group of six area golfers who have qualified for the world’s largest “Tiger hunt”--also known as the U.S. Amateur Championship--scheduled starting Monday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Cornelius, Ore.

Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys, Lawrence O’Neil of Camarillo, Darren Angel of Granada Hills, Chad Wright of Ventura and 1991 champion Mitch Voges of Simi Valley also will be trying to prevent Tiger Woods, the Stanford junior-to-be, from becoming the first golfer in the 96-year history of the U.S. Amateur to win a third consecutive title.

Even golf legend Bobby Jones, who holds the career record with five U.S. Amateur titles between 1924-1930, did not win three in a row.

This year’s field also includes the youngest player ever to qualify--James Oh of Lakewood (no relation to Ted Oh) who is 14 years 4 months old. Jones was 14 years 5 months for his first U.S. Amateur.

Hogarth is going for his own triple.

He has won two major amateur tournaments this summer--the Los Angeles City Championship and the U.S. Publinks championship--and said he’s looking forward to the opportunity to become the first golfer to win the Publinks and the U.S. Amateur in the same year.

“You aren’t going to hear me say I’m going to double,” Hogarth said. “The U.S. Am is a very difficult tournament to win. There is a different atmosphere and the field is so much stronger. But I’m playing well.”

Steinberg scorched North Ranch Country Club during his qualifying round Aug. 5, shooting a two-day total of five-under par 139. He also has top 10 finishes in the Pacific Coast Amateur and the Southern California Amateur in the past month. Steinberg will be playing in his 10th U.S. Amateur.

“I am going up there to win,” Steinberg said. “My goal in the U.S. Amateur has always been to make match play. But this is the first one I can think of where I’m going to try and win. I’m very confident in my game right now.”

The 312-player field is cut to 64 after stroke-play rounds on Monday and Tuesday. The final 64 are matched up in a single-elimination match-play bracket with a 36-hole final Sunday.

Voges, who has been working on opening a golf club-making shop, is in the final year of a five-year exemption for winning in 1991. He said he hasn’t had much time to play lately and doesn’t have high hopes for himself.

“Other than a two-day member-guest tournament in March, I haven’t played a competitive tournament all year,” Voges said. “For most guys this tournament ends their summer tournament swing and here I am just getting started.

“Unfortunately golf has taken a woeful back seat in my life. But fortunately I am playing much better than I should be for the amount of practice I get in.”

None of the six local players admit to having played either of the two courses at Pumpkin Ridge, but Voges saw them during construction.

“Whoever wins is going to be a good player,” he said. “The courses are beautiful, but very, very difficult.”

This year’s tournament will be the first U.S. Amateur (thanks in large part to Tiger Woods) to be carried on network television. NBC will show the final two rounds of match play Saturday and Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.

“I’m sure [Tiger Woods’ presence] has something to do with that,” Steinberg said. “But that’s OK. He’s been good for amateur golf.”

ESPN, which has broadcast the event for the last several years, will have a preview show Tuesday at 4 p.m. and will broadcast the first three rounds of match play Wednesday at 1 p.m., Thursday at noon and Friday at 1 p.m.

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Fans of the Westlake High team may have recognized the last names on top of the leaderboard of the North Ranch Country Club championship after last Sunday’s final round. Those who follow UCLA golf also may have found the last names--Fulgentis and DiTullio--familiar.

But it wasn’t former Westlake standouts Ross Fulgentis and Brandon DiTullio who finished first and second in the club championship. It was their fathers--Jim Fulgentis and Jerry DiTullio.

Jim Fulgentis, a former mini-tour professional in Florida, shot rounds of 77, 70 and 76 for a total of 223 to beat DiTullio (71-82-73--226) by three strokes.

Ross Fulgentis, who helped Westlake win the 1996 SCGA high school title, will join Brandon DiTullio, a 1995 graduate of Westlake, on the UCLA golf team in September.