Amateur event hits Lakeside

LAKESIDE GOLF CLUB — Though Lakeside Golf Club and Oakmont Country Club each have renowned histories that have spanned since World War I, both venues never stopped looking toward the future.

For the past year, the clubs, both established nearly 100 years ago, have moved ahead to position themselves to host a part of history vital to the legacy of golf in California.

Lakeside and Oakmont will play host to the 97th annual California Amateur Championship, which will be held June 16-21. It will mark the first time that the prestigious tournament will leave the Monterey Peninsula and begins an annual Northern California-Southern California site rotation.

“It’s a bit of a milestone with it being the first year in Southern California,” said Southern California Golf Assn. Executive Committee member Ed Holmes during the tournament’s media day Thursday at Lakeside Golf Club. “It’s a long haul to leave Pebble Beach, but the courses here are in great shape and ready to go.

“These two great clubs are great choices for this tournament.”

Oakmont Country Club General Manager Michael Hyler said the tournament will be a boon for the Glendale and Burbank communities.

“We are excited to be a part of this,” Hyler said. “The Glendale area is excited to be a part of the amateur, and it should be a couple of wonderful days.”

A field of 156 golfers — including two local residents — will partake in the tournament, which has been conducted each year since 1912 by the California Golf Assn. They will be divided over both courses for 36 holes of stroke play during the first two days. After the second round, the field will be reduced to the low 32 scores, with a playoff, if necessary, to be held at Lakeside on June 17.

In addition to the two stroke-play rounds, the annual North-South competition for the Roger Lapham Challenge Cup will be held concurrently. La Crescenta resident Brett Kanda and Glendale resident Keith Kinsel will compete on the six-man South team. The best five of six scores in each of the first two rounds count for the team total.

Lakeside will serve host to all matches beginning June 18. The second round of match play will be held June 19, with the quarterfinals and semifinals set to take place June 20 and the 36-hole championship round to occur June 21.

Oakmont hosted the LPGA Valley of the Stars Tournament Tour in 1999 that saw Catrin Nilsmark top favorite Annika Sorenstam on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff. The club has also hosted the Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship five times, in addition to being the site of the Pacific-10 Conference Men’s Golf Championship in 2003.

Lakeside, which is known for its celebrity attraction, has hosted the SCGA Amateur Championship five times.

Josh Anderson of Murrieta, who is a student at Pepperdine University, won the championship last year at Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach when he toppled Joe Greiner of Saugus, 4 and 3. Anderson will also join Kanda and Kinsel on the South team in the Challenge Cup.

Ken Venturi, Johnny Miller, Duffy Waldorf and Mark O’Meara are among some of the previous tournament winners. Jack F. Neville won the tournament a record five times (1912, 1913, 1919, 1922 and 1929).