Paulson Earns Another Trip on the PGA Tour

In professional golf, there is a slim margin between the skills of a journeyman and those of a man who can afford to journey anywhere he wants.

Dennis Paulson, a Costa Mesa High graduate in his 14th year as a pro, knows the landscape well. To be successful, he says, you must believe you will be.

“It’s all confidence and perception,” Paulson said. “That’s all golf really is. You can fake yourself into thinking you’re better than you are, talk yourself right into it.

“You can talk yourself right out of it too.”

Paulson is bullish about his game these days, for good reason: he will be playing on the PGA Tour in 1999. Paulson has two years’ experience on golf’s highest level, finishing 125th and 158th on the money list in 1994 and ’95.

Only the top 125 retain their tour exemption for the next year, so in 1996 Paulson, who lives in Vista, was forced to return to mini-tour events, mostly in Southern California, to make a living.

He took a step up in 1997, playing on the Nike Tour and finishing 25th on the money list. This season, he won his first Nike Tour event--the Huntsville Open in April--and finished sixth on the money list at $145,065 to win one of 15 PGA Tour exemptions for next year.

This time Paulson plans to make himself at home on the tour.

The shoulder problems that hindered his game in 1994 and ’95 have been solved and he’s ready to challenge all comers.

“I think the biggest problem that a lot of guys have on the Nike Tour is they think they are going to a place where they’ve got to beat all these guys,” Paulson said. “They need to realize that good golf is good golf and not worry about, ‘God almighty, I’m on the PGA Tour. I’m playing against Greg Norman or Tiger Woods or whoever else.’

“If you have a stroke average of 70.01 or 70, you are going to make a lot of money.”

Paulson, second on the tour in driving distance (283 yards) to Davis Love III in 1994, has set lofty goals. He wants to move up the point standings for the Ryder and Presidents cups. “Not that I will necessarily make one of the teams,” said Paulson, 36, “but if you do well on those lists, it takes care of everything.

“I don’t want to go out and make 28 out of 29 cuts with my best finish being 25th place. The object is try to win golf tournaments and the only way you can do that is to be in the top 10.

“You can’t win a golf tournament if you are not somewhere in that hunt.”

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The TearDrop Tour, a mini-tour with big plans to increase its profile, is holding its West Coast championship Nov. 10-12 at Cypress Golf Club.

Most of the players in the 144-player tournament won’t have familiar names--yet. But Tommy Tolles, Stewart Cink and Clarence Rose among others started their careers on the tour that TearDrop bought and renamed last year.

TearDrop started running the western part of the tour in April and the West Coast championship will be the 26th event since then. Next year, TearDrop, a golf equipment company, plans to hold 20-25 tournaments with at least $100,000 purses, about six of them in the West. The tour hopes to become a main feeder to the Nike and PGA Tours, said national tournament director Dara O’Neill. It’s also trying to get more television coverage beyond the one Eastern event picked up by The Golf Channel.

Admission is free at next week’s 54-hole tournament, which will have a purse of at least $95,000 with $15,000 going to the winner. Many of the players will use the event to remain sharp for the final round of PGA Tour qualifying school Nov. 18-23 at PGA West and La Quinta Resort.

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The opening of the Aliso Viejo Resort and Golf Club has been pushed back to February from December because the course owners want to make sure it’s ready.

Eighteen of the 27 fairways have been sodded and 18 greens have been seeded, said Greg Currens, vice president of AMHC Corp. in Newport Beach, which is partners with Club Corp. on the course.

A head professional--Jeff Whitt of Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio--has been hired and will start this month. Prices for greens fees haven’t been announced but Currens said it will be in the range of Strawberry Farms ($85-$125) and Oak Creek ($85-$120).

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Hackers take heart: Mayoma Pendergast of Tustin started playing golf regularly in 1997--dropping from a 42 to a 12 handicap--and already has made two holes in one.

Pendergast, the wife of a retired Army colonel, made her first ace in October 1997--with a seven-wood on the 155-yard seventh hole at El Toro Marine Memorial--and her second this September--with an eight-iron on the 115-yard 16th at Casta del Sol.

Pendergast has taken some kidding at the El Toro course, where she also works part time.

“There are guys here who have been playing 60 years and don’t have any holes in one,” she said. “So I take a lot of grief for that. I’ve been telling them lately that I’ve been paying for the second one. The golf gods take and they give. I guess it’s the nature of the game.”

Both of Pendergast’s aces were witnessed by Bonny Hinea of Mission Viejo. And Hinea also watched Ron Watkins of Lake Forest make his first hole in one in November 1997 on the 176-yard 15th at El Toro.

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Another shot: Ben Garner, a former El Toro High standout who recently turned professional, made a double eagle during a practice round on the 574-yard par-five 11th at Dove Canyon last month.

Garner hit a three-wood from 272 yards into the hole. The shot was witnessed by Dove Canyon member Rich Levin.

“I usually go for it but I usually make more bogeys trying than double eagles,” Garner said, deadpan.

A three-time South Coast League individual champion, Garner turned professional after playing in the U.S. Amateur this summer. After graduating from El Toro in 1994, he played one season at Washington before transferring to Louisiana State. He played part of one season at LSU but left after tearing a ligament in his elbow.

He is playing mini-tour events--including next week’s TearDrop Tour Championship--and plans to play in the 1999 PGA Tour qualifying tournament.

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Beck and Kresal can be reached with comments or suggestions at (714) 966-5904, fax 966-5663 or e-mail martin.beck@latimes.com or steve.kresal@latimes.com.