Toledo’s Storybook Year Will Be One to Remember

It has been a great year for Esteban Toledo any way you look at it.

On the course, Toledo won enough money to clinch a spot on the PGA Tour for a third consecutive year. In March his wife, Colleen, gave birth to a daughter, Eden. Recently, the Toledos, including 9-year-old son Nicholas, moved into a bigger house in Irvine.

“I’ve been doing this for 15 years,” said Toledo, who played in every PGA Tour qualifying tournament from 1986 to 1997. “People have seen me on the bottom. Now that I’m on the top, it shows that all the hard work, the discipline that I’ve put in was worth it.”

Today at Tustin Ranch Golf Club, Toledo will bring that message to a group of 20 junior golfers. Toledo will be on the driving range at noon for a informal demonstration and then will play in a nine-hole “Beat the Pro” competition with the players from the course’s junior program.

Today also will mark Toledo’s return to practice after a three-week layoff. He’ll spend hours chipping and putting and running to get back into shape for his return to competition, Jan. 13 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. “Trust me,” Toledo said, “I’ll be ready to go.”

Toledo’s 1999 season was steady if not spectacular. His best finish was seventh place at the Buick Open in August in Grand Blanc, Mich. That earned him $80,000 and assured him a 2000 PGA Tour card.

“From then on,” Toledo said, “I just told my family, ‘I just want to enjoy myself,’ because I had been working so hard every week.”

He cruised the rest of the season, skipping four of the last 10 events, and finished 107th on the money list with $382,046. Those are impressive totals, especially for someone who taught himself the game by sneaking onto a range in his hometown of Mexicali.

In 2000, Toledo, 37, is hoping for a breakout season--he’s still shooting for his first PGA Tour victory. “Of course I’m thinking to win,” he said. “In the back of my mind, I know I can beat and play against anybody in the world.”

Success is sweet enough, but Toledo has some added incentive. In March, a book about his life, “Tin Cup Dreams: A Long Shot Makes It on the PGA Tour” by Michael D’Antonio, will hit the shelves.

“I have to play well,” Toledo said, “so people will buy it and read it.”

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Tustin Ranch is offering a free mental-game seminar Jan. 12. The seminar will be taught by Peter Welgan, a psychologist and sports medicine specialist. The purpose is to give players of all skill levels help in improving their games with Welgan’s psychological conditioning techniques.

Details: (714) 573-7029.

ACING THE TEST

John S. Williams, a former Saddleback College football player and track and field athlete, recorded his first hole in one this month during a fund-raiser for the Gaucho football team.

Williams, who’s on the South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees, used a seven-iron on the 147-yard, 17th hole at Dove Canyon Country Club.

Williams hadn’t played golf since 1988 before taking a class from Saddleback Coach Bill Cunerty in the fall semester.