Players Enjoy Their Times With Woods

There was a time when Tiger Woods was highly accessible. One only had to go to a Western High golf match to catch the growing phenom.

When he moved on to Stanford, it became more difficult, mostly because he rarely played locally.

The main exception came last spring when the Pacific 10 championship was held at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach.

The three-day event was free and open to the public.

Since turning professional, about the only way to get close to Woods is with a sizable endorsement contract in hand or being paired with him in a pro-am.

The latter recently happened to Roger Mohrhoff, 58, a member of Newport Beach Country Club. He played a round with Woods in the pro-am at the Walt Disney World Classic Oct. 17-20 at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Mohrhoff saw Woods shoot a 66 on his way to winning the tournament.

That was Woods’ seventh PGA Tour event since turning professional. He has won two, finishing third twice, fifth once and 11th once.

“We spent five hours with him and 4,000 people,” Mohrhoff said. “It was kind of cool.”

John Daley, who used to draw some of the biggest galleries on tour, also was in the tournament and had maybe 35 followers, Mohrhoff said.

Woods hit several impressive shots on the Lake Buena Vista course, but perhaps the most memorable hole was a 563-yard par five. Woods played it with a driver, then a four iron that he hit to within about 30 feet of the hole. Woods made the putt for an eagle.

“He walked up knowing he drained it the second he hit it,” Mohrhoff said. “He turned around and we did a low five. That was kind of cool.”

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More Tiger tales: Bill Cunerty, Saddleback College football and golf coach, remembers playing two groups in back of Woods at the U.S. Amateur qualifying at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills.

“He had had four hours sleep after flying back from the Western Amateur in Benton Harbor, Mich., and he shot 65-67,” Cunerty said. “I was two groups behind him and his gallery had about 500 people in it. We had about three.”

Cunerty also has seen a few changes in the golf landscape because of Woods.

“He’s showing young athletes that this is not a sport that you have to wait until your 50th birthday to pick up,” he said. “I’m seeing on my teams better and better athletes.”

Saddleback has its football meeting at 1 p.m. every weekday in the classrooms behind the Saddleback driving range. Several football players, including the linemen, come early to hit a few golf balls.

“It would have been fun to coach [Woods] in football,” Cunerty said, “because I think he would have had the same attitude. I love guys who can smile at you and tear your heart out when you’re competing against them.”

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Your name here: When Anaheim Dad Miller recently opened its revamped seventh hole, it began an offer that allows a player to become part of the course’s history.

The first player to make a hole-in-one gets his or her name on a wooden plaque that will be placed at the hole. The lucky person also gets a similar plaque to take home.

The hole used to be a 227-yard par three from the back tees, but a new green was built and the hole is now 178 yards from the back tees.

The plaque will become the second monument on the course. There already is one on the 11th hole commemorating an historical event.

It was on that hole, which plays near 100 yards, that Harold George “Dad” Miller, at age 94, became the oldest person in the country to make a hole in one.

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Tidland wrap: Chris Tidland’s first year on the Nike Tour won’t be one he’ll recall too fondly.

Tidland, the former All-American from Oklahoma State who also was a standout at Valencia High, won $20,211 to finish 84th on the money list.

He entered 26 tournaments, making nine cuts and had a scoring average of 71.63.

The Orange County Golf Notebook runs monthly during the school year. Readers are encouraged to suggest items. Call (714) 966-5904, fax 966-5663 or e-mail Martin.Beck@latimes.com