Kung Invited to Play in LPGA Major
USC freshman Candie Kung, a former Fountain Valley High standout, has been granted a sponsor’s exemption into the Nabisco Championship, a major championship on the LPGA Tour.
Kung, the 1999 American Junior Golf Assn. player of the year, is one of five amateurs invited to play in the tournament March 23-26 at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Duke sophomore Beth Bauer, the low amateur in the Nabisco last year, also will play.
The other exemptions went to Jimin Kang, a high school senior from Washington who was runner-up in the 1999 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, and 13-year-old twins Aree and Naree Wonglukiet, who have combined to win seven of the last 10 national junior tournaments they have entered.
“I just want to go out there and have some fun,” Kung said. “That’s all.”
Kung, who played in the U.S. Women’s Open last year as a qualifier, also has been invited to play in a Futures Tour event this weekend at Quail Ranch Golf Club in Moreno Valley.
Currently ranked No. 5 in the Sagarin College rankings, Kung has finished second, 12th, fifth, third, second and 13th in six tournaments for USC this season. She says her only goal at the Nabisco is to finish in the top 20, which will get her an exemption for next year.
THE SHOW WILL GO ON
The Sunday washout and cold, wet weather Saturday may have dampened the attendance at the Toshiba Senior Classic, but not the spirits of tournament director Jeff Purser.
Purser said attendance was down about 35,000 from last year, and he hopes to make up for the disappointing finish by getting some bigger names in the field for next year.
“It was horribly disappointing,” Purser said of the rainout. “Especially here in Southern California. But we promise a bigger and better show for next year. We want to make sure that one year does not ruin a tournament.”
The Senior Classic was the first senior tour event shortened by rain since the 1998 Kroger Senior Classic in Ohio. Last season’s first major, the Tradition in Scottsdale, Ariz., was cut to 36 holes when the second and fourth rounds were canceled by snow.
SWEET REVENGE
Allen Doyle not only got his first victory of the year last weekend in the rain-shortened Senior Classic, he also atoned for a disappointment from a year ago.
Doyle, a second-year senior tour pro, was one of Gary McCord’s victims in a four-way playoff last year.
“I say there’s a fine line between winning and not winning,” Doyle said. “Sometimes it wasn’t meant to be. If you can walk away from the course knowing that you played pretty darn good, then that’s all you can do.”
Doyle seems to have a knack for playing well at Newport Beach Country Club. In five competitive rounds there, he has broken 70 each time. Last year he shot 68-68-68 and this year he shot 69-67.
NOTEWORTHY
Booth spaces are available for Golf Fest 2000, an interactive golf expo at the San Diego Sports Arena July 28-30. Information: (619) 280-5200 . . . April 26 is the entry deadline for both the U.S. Open and the California Amateur Championship.