PGA Senior Tournament Might Be Headed to Valencia

The PGA Tour might be coming back to Valencia.

Dan Hernandez, head pro at Valencia Country Club, has been negotiating to land the SBC Senior Classic for 2001.

“I’m working on it,” Hernandez said. “I’ve been talking to them, but we don’t have a contract.

“I heard they were looking for another venue so I went on a little fishing trip. I got on the phone and called them, but I’m sure they would have found their way up here on their own.”

A source familiar with the negotiations said, “It looks like it’s going to happen.”

The SBC Senior Classic has been played the last five years at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, first as the Ralphs Senior Classic and the last two years as the Pacific Bell Senior Classic.

The tournament, which started as the Security Pacific Senior Classic at Rancho Park Golf Club in Los Angeles in 1960, is scheduled for Oct. 23-29 at Wilshire.

“There’s been no decision yet [about a change of venue],” said tournament director Laurie Peterson of the City of Hope, one of the tournament’s beneficiaries.

“Our only contract is with Wilshire. But we always look at our alternatives. We have every year since the tournament’s inception.”

Although the players enjoy playing the classic Wilshire course, it’s no secret that the PGA Tour is unhappy with the logistics of putting on a tournament there. There is little on-site parking and driving to and from the course in rush-hour traffic is a nightmare.

The PGA Tour has been looking at Valencia since the 1998 Nissan Open was held there because its regular venue, Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, was playing host to the U.S. Senior Open that summer. Riviera members didn’t want to give up their course twice in one year.

There were no traffic problems during the Nissan at Valencia, which is located off Interstate 5. There is ample parking nearby at Six Flags Magic Mountain and College of the Canyons, and fans were whisked to the course in minutes by shuttle.

“Both tours are under the same umbrella, so they know the type of experience the players and fans had when the Nissan was here,” Hernandez said. “They know Valencia is a great course for a tournament.”

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Mayor Richard Riordan and other dignitaries were on hand Tuesday for the opening of the Tregnan Golf Academy at Coolidge, a learning facility for youngsters in Griffith Park.

The 10-acre facility, which includes a 1,500-square-foot learning center with classrooms and audio-visual equipment, will be maintained by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.

The Urban Youth Golf Program will provide the instructors and curriculum.

The facility includes a 15-stall practice range, two putting and chipping areas, practice bunkers and three par-three holes.

The academy is a memorial to Marty Tregnan, who was the heart and soul of public golf in Los Angeles for nearly 50 years.

Tregnan, who died at 79 in 1997, was president emeritus of the Los Angeles Municipal Golf Assn., president of the Griffith Park Men’s Golf Club and a representative on the Department of Parks and Recreation’s golf advisory committee.

Tregnan was with the Griffith Park club for 50 of its 65 years and served as president 18 times since first holding the office in 1971.

“He wanted to make sure golf was kept affordable, that it was available to all classes and races, and to keep public control of public property,” said Craig Kessler, president of the Southern California Public Links Golf Assn. and a member of the L.A. Golf Advisory Committee.

Tregnan’s work dated to the 1950s, when he lobbied the men’s golf clubs of some city courses to remove “Caucasians-only” clauses.

For information about the Tregnan Golf Academy, call Manager Randy Kelley at (213) 485-4853.

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Tim Hogarth of Northridge opens defense of his California Amateur Championship on Monday at the Bayonet and Blackhorse Golf Club in Seaside.

For the first time since 1919, the tournament will not be played on the Pebble Beach Golf Links because it hosted the U.S. Open last month.

Hogarth tees off at 7:50 a.m. on the Blackhorse Course in a foursome that includes Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys, the four-time Southern California Amateur champion.

The last player to repeat as state amateur champion was Dr. Frank Taylor, who won in 1954 and ’55.

Scott Bashin of Northridge and Mike Applegate of Lancaster are playing in a group that tees off at 8:50 a.m. on the Blackhorse Course, where Alex Kuyumajian of Thousand Oaks starts at 9:10 a.m.

On the Bayonet Course, Scott Fulkerson of Simi Valley and Keith Kinsel of Glendale tee off at 7:10 a.m., Chris Etue of Chatsworth starts at 7:30 a.m., Tim Wren of Oxnard goes off at 8:10 a.m., Bob Freshette tees off at 8:20 a.m. and Ian Medlock of Westlake Village begins at 8:30 a.m.

Kyle Dowden, a sophomore at Camarillo High, was added to the field as an alternate and tees off at 8:40 a.m. on the Bayonet Course.

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Kuyumajian and Travis Matye of Palmdale, teammates last season at College of the Canyons, qualified for match play this week in the 75th U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship on the Great Blue Course at Heron Bay in Portland, Ore.

Kuyumajian shot 74-76--150 and Matye was at 77-75--152.

However, both lost in the first round of match play.

J.J. Wall of San Antonio, Texas, ousted Matye, 1 up, and Andrew Sanders of Merritt Island, Fla., eliminated Kuyumajian, 4 and 3.

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Anne Lee of Northridge bogied the last three holes, but her three-over-par 73 Monday at Redlands Country Club was good enough to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship on Aug. 7-12 at Waverly Country Club in Portland, Ore.

Lee played at Notre Dame High and recently completed her freshman year at Arizona.

Alicia Um of Van Nuys, who plays for UCLA, qualified at 75 and Linda Ishii of Westlake Village, a recent graduate of USC, made it at 77.

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Tommy Barber of Notre Dame High, who signed with Long Beach State, has changed his mind and enrolled at Canyons, the defending state junior college champion.

Barber was The Times’ Valley player of the year and Mission League champion.

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Sara Jones of Valencia defeated Ally Fergurson of Seaside, 3 and 1, on Thursday to reach the final of the Helen Lenglen Flight in the California Junior Girls’ State Championship at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach.