Golf: Driving toward a Paulson Father’s Day

Richard Dunn

With golf’s greatest championship opening today at Pebble Beach,

the parlance and emotions of the 100th U.S. Open surround the late Payne

Stewart, a spiritual member of the former Crosby Southern Pro-Am Hall of

Fame.

And, while all competitive eyes will focus on Tiger Woods, or anybody

else with marquee status on the PGA Tour, “37-year-old Californian”

Dennis Paulson will quietly try to win titles in back-to-back weekends

and inch closer to his goal of retirement.

The October 1999 death of Stewart in an airplane crash jolted thousands,

including those involved in the 1982 Crosby Southern (later the Taco Bell

Newport Classic Pro-Am, and, later, the Toshiba Senior Classic).

Ed Dougherty, now on the Senior PGA Tour, won that year’s Crosby Southern

by three strokes over Jim Booros and Larry Mize at Irvine Coast Country

Club (now Newport Beach Country Club).

But when the championship tees off today and guys start thinking about

birdies on one of the world’s most renowned golf courses, Paulson, the

Costa Mesa High product, will play in near obscurity, which is fine with

him.

Paulson, who won the Buick Classic Sunday in Harrison, N.Y., will

probably find the greens a little more bumpy than many of his competitors

with his 2 p.m. tee time today in the first round. But he doesn’t mind.

As we head into Father’s Day, Paulson’s mind is on the future with items

of interest closer to his heart.

“I want to be retired by (age 45) and watch my kids grow,” Paulson said

earlier this season. “I love my job ... but I only want to do this for as

long as I have to.

“If I win six tournaments in the next six years, you might never see me

again. It’s a living, it’s a job and I enjoy what I do, but it’s still a

job. I try to put the hours in when I’m not working -- you’ve got to

treat it like a job to improve.

“But I’d like to retire like anybody else. Wouldn’t you? ... if I don’t

have to play golf, then I’ll cut back and spend more time with my family.

I’d love to be a professional dad. That’s a lot greater than a

professional golfer.”

Paulson’s Buick Classic purse of $540,000 for his first PGA Tour win

lifted his 2000 earnings to a mere $774,289. In 15 events, he has made

the cut 10 times.

America first heard Paulson at the Masters, when the Santa Ana Country

Club member led after the first round at Augusta and, eventually,

finished tied for 14th (to take home $75,900).

But to win sets you apart. Guarantees your entry for the 2001 PGA Tour

campaign.

Regardless of how Paulson places at the turn-of-the-century U.S. Open,

you can’t help but root for the guy.His wife, Linda, and two baby boys,

the latest of whom was born May 14, are certainly his biggest fans.

According to Paulson’s mother, Lorna Lenk, he received 18 phone messages

in a two-hour period Sunday night, and, needless to say, doesn’t have a

lot of time to get back to all the well-wishers.

“It’s real exciting, anyhow,” Lenk said Wednesday at Paulson Golf Company

in Costa Mesa.

The 101st Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship June

23-25 at Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club features not only four local players,

but, in a bit of a stretch, has a connection to the Toshiba Senior

Classic.

Before Bing Crosby moved his famous clambake to Pebble Beach after World

War II, the Crosby National Pro-Am (now the AT&T;) was played at Rancho

Santa Fe from 1937 to 1942. Sam Snead won the first two events.

Crosby moved his family to Rancho Santa Fe in 1934, and, when he started

the pro-am, it attracted celebrities and top players as the course, built

in 1927, gained national fame.

Crosby and Newport Beach’s Marshall Duffield, the former USC quarterback

and neighbor of John Wayne, were good friends and golfing buddies.

Together, with Charley Hester, the Crosby Southern was founded in the

fall of 1974, with the first tournament in January 1975 at the current

site of the Toshiba Senior Classic and managed by the same charity (Hoag

Hospital).

John Wardrup of San Diego, a Corona del Mar High product and former

Newport Beach Country Club junior champion, is competing in the historic

SCGA Amateur as an exempt player because he won the 1999 California

Amateur match play.

Wardrup, 32, plays out of Torrey Pines Golf Club.

Mike Walker of Newport Beach, Chad Towersey of Newport Beach and Farrell

Hinkle of Costa Mesa, a Mesa Verde Country Club member, qualified for the

Southern California Amateur.

Walker shot 74 at Brookside Golf Course, Towersey fired a 75 at the SCGA

Members’ Club at Rancho California in Murrieta, and Hinkle carded a 74 in

the afternoon round at Murrieta last month.

Towersey, also a CdM High product, is the son of two-time defending Tea

Cup Classic champion Marianne Towersey.

Newport Beach Country Club assistant pro Dave Donellan shot a 64 Tuesday

with partner Chipper Cecil of Mission Hills to tie for first place in the

Southern California PGA Pro-Pro Series at Maderas Country Club in Poway.

Donellan and Cecil split $780. They tied San Diego pros Scott Mahlberg

(Stadium Golf Center) and Mike Jory (Balboa Golf Course). No card-off was

reported.

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.