Wright Sees the Pros of Woods’ Exit as Amateur

Chad Wright paid close attention Tuesday when Tigers Woods officially announced he would turn pro.

Wright again devoted his attention to the televised news conference Wednesday so he could hear the words right from Woods’ mouth.

Then, Wright breathed a sigh of relief.

“Now that he’s gone, I might be able to win a tournament,” Wright said.

Woods, who last Sunday became the first golfer to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles, has been a nemesis of Wright, a 1993 Buena High graduate and USC senior-to-be, throughout his amateur career.

“I must have played him 15 times a year since I was 11,” said Wright, 21.

Wright finished second to Woods in the 1993 Southern Section championships and lost to him during match play of the U.S. Junior Amateur later that year.

In 1994 Wright entered the Southern California Amateur for the first time and finished a respectable 10th; Woods smashed a long-standing tournament record.

In last week’s U.S. Amateur, Wright had the third-best score after stroke play with rounds of 72 and 68; Woods had 69 and 67.

Asked to recount the number of times he finished ahead of Woods, Wright could think of only two.

“He’s tough,” Wright said. “He’s the best I ever played with.”

Wright is no slouch himself. He has advanced to match play in the last two U.S. Amateurs. He finished fifth in the 1995 NCAA individual tournament (Woods won) and fourth in the 1996 Southern California Amateur (Woods didn’t play).

“I was surprised to hear [the announcement] but I think it was the right decision,” Wright said. “I don’t see what else he could do as an amateur.”

Camarillo’s Jerry Chang, who played the last two years with Woods at Stanford, agreed.

“The [U.S. Amateur] win was what made the decision,” said Chang, a 1991 Westlake High graduate who recently graduated from Stanford. “Unless you play competitive amateur golf you don’t really know how hard it is to win that. To win three in a row is amazing. When he did that he had accomplished all there was to accomplish as an amateur.”

Chang said he discussed the pros and cons of turning pro with Woods just before school got out in the spring.

“Coming back to college was definitely an option for him,” Chang said. “He had a good time there. He liked the atmosphere where he could just be a college kid without pressures.”

Chang said playing with Woods influenced his own decision to forgo a career in professional golf, opting instead to pursue a sports-management position.

“Talking to Tiger, I got the feeling that that lifestyle doesn’t appeal to me,” Chang said. “That’s not something I want to struggle with.”

Perhaps it was the number of times he finished behind Woods, however, that ultimately led to Chang’s decision.

“It’s humbling when you play with somebody like Tiger,” he said. “You try to measure yourself as a golfer and it’s a very humbling experience. Having Tiger around you were kind of playing for second all the time. It turns you away from wanting to turn pro.”

Wright, however, is not discouraged by his record against Woods. He plans to turn pro after next summer’s U.S. Amateur.

But first he is curious about how the upcoming college golf season will shape up without Woods, who won eight of 13 tournaments he entered for Stanford last season.

“It definitely drops [Stanford] down a bit,” he said. “They just aren’t as deep now.

“It will also be interesting to see if college golf still gets the media attention it has the past two years. There’s not really any marquee names anymore.”

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Linda Pearson of Glendale, medalist at the 1994 women’s State Amateur championship, heads a list of five area golfers who have qualified for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, to be held Sept. 24-29 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

Pearson was second with a 77 on the par-72 San Diego Country Club course in Monday’s qualifier.

The women’s Mid-Amateur is open to golfers over age 25 who have a handicap index of 9.4 or lower.

Sylvia Kim of Simi Valley (78), Linda Olsen of Granada Hills (79), Jody Duclos of Moorpark (81) and Betty Pfahler of Llano (83) also qualified.

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Greens fees, tee times and course conditions are among the topics that will be discussed in the Los Angeles County Department of Recreation and Parks quarterly public meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday at El Cariso Golf Course in Sylmar.

The department has been holding open forums at courses throughout the county for the last two years. The public is welcome to discuss any issues pertaining to the operation of the county’s 19 courses.

County courses in the Valley region include El Cariso and Knollwood, in Granada Hills.

County golf director Larry Lee said the meetings have been productive.

“They are very worthwhile,” he said. “People are often surprised at the department’s problems.

“The main issue of concern always seems to be [greens] fees and whether they will be raised.”

Representatives from both area courses, as well as from Altadena and Eaton Canyon in Pasadena, will be in attendance to field questions.