Bollini Has Woods on His Mind

What would a junior golf tournament be without a Tiger Woods comparison?

Apparently, not much of a golf tournament.

It was probably inevitable that someone would bring up Woods’ name this week at Torrey Pines, where the Junior World Golf Championships are being played. After all, Woods’ legend grew in La Jolla at the Junior World, which he won a record six times.

So who’s the next Tiger Woods? Wednesday it was Yorba Linda’s Nico Bollini, a blond-haired, blue-eyed 15-year-old known for his 280-yard drives and his white fishing cap.

“You know you’re looking at the next Woods, don’t you,” a parent ever-so-nonchalantly said after Bollini dropped a 15-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole of the South Course. “I don’t have any ties to the kid or anything. I’ve just seen this kid play a lot.”

Bollini, who will be a sophomore this fall at Servite High, followed his birdie by three-putting the par-three No. 8, his last hole of the day. The bogey bumped Bollini’s score to one-over 73.

After two rounds of the four-round event he is tied for ninth at one-under-par 143, five shots off the lead held by Taro Hiroi of Japan in the 15-17 age division. Ronald Won of Irvine is at 146.

Bollini was not overjoyed about being only five strokes off the lead in one of toughest and most prestigious junior events in the world. He was still sulking about the three-footer that lipped out on the eighth.

“That putt’s going to leave a bitter taste in my mouth all night,” he said. “I really wanted to come in with a 72 and put up a score close to the lead. I can’t miss putts like that, especially in the tournament I want the most.”

Why does Bollini want the Junior World so badly?

“I could be at Rolex [at Coto de Caza], but I chose this because I wanted to win it,” said Bollini, who lost in a playoff for the 13-14 age division title last year to Richard Moir of Australia. “It’s the field and the prestige. I know who the guys who have won here, Woods, Els, Price, Stadler, Pavin. I want them to put my name on the trophy too.”

Bollini is also aware of Torrey Pines’ history.

“It’s nice to play on a course where the pros play,” he said. “You know all the holes from watching them on TV.”

Now Bollini knows why the pros enjoy Torrey Pines so much.

“It’s the weather,” he said. “It’s perfect here. There’s nothing to bother you. It’s a nice layout and it’s on the ocean.”

Compared to Wilmington, N.C., site of U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying last week, almost anything would be an improvement.

“It was 100 degrees down there, just miserable,” he said.

But not miserable enough to keep Bollini from becoming one of three qualifiers out of a field of 85. Over 36 holes, Bollini shot three-under par.

Earlier this summer, Bollini, then 14, became the youngest player to win the Los Angeles City Junior Championship. Previously, Woods held that age record.

While many junior golfers might shy away from comparisons to Tiger Woods, Bollini seems to invite them. He was recently quoted in a local golf magazine as saying: “I’m more on the competitive side of Tiger. I want to beat him. My goals are very high right now.”

No, he wasn’t misquoted, and no, he didn’t mind the headline that read “Chasing Tiger.”

“I like it a lot when people talk about me and Tiger,” he said. “It’s a great compliment. I want to play against him. I don’t think of that stuff as pressure on me. I use it to give me momentum.”

Bollini doesn’t have Woods’ game, but he has that same aggressive attitude on the course. On No. 5, a long par four, Bollini drove into the left rough and faced an approach shot over a bunker to a pin tucked in the lower left corner of the green. Instead of playing conservatively and aiming for the center of the green, Bollini went for the pin. His wedge shot missed the green and landed in the rough.

“I played it that way because I was still angry about my last hole,” Bollini said. “You want to go for that pin.”

This time Bollini’s gamble didn’t cost him. He chipped to within 20 feet and sank his par putt.

“I needed to make that putt,” Bollini said. “If you want to win this tournament, you just can’t afford to lose any strokes to the field.”

Spoken like you know who.