Wren Brings Game Back Into Focus

The past year is kind of a blur for 19-year-old Oxnard resident Tim Wren, but he can see clearly now.

Two weeks ago, Wren made the switch from glasses to contact lenses and the results have been encouraging.

He shot an 80 the first time he played with the contact lenses, but since then he has fired 73, 74 and 72. The last two scores came Monday in the U.S. Amateur Sectional qualifying tournament at Valencia Country Club and were good enough to send the Santa Clara High graduate to the U.S. Amateur on Aug. 18-24 at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club in Lemont, Ill.

Wren, who will begin his sophomore season at Cal State Northridge at the end of the month, says the new optical equipment has made all the difference.

“They have helped my putting quite a bit,” he said. “I’m able to read the greens better and see the speed better. Plus, it was a big nuisance to wear glasses on the course.”

Eyesight aside, Wren has always had ability. He finished second in the Frontier League championships as a senior and broke through with a third-place finish in the Southern Section championships.

That finish earned him a scholarship to Northridge, where his stroke average of 76.8 made him the No. 1 golfer. But it was a bittersweet finish for Wren, who was not sure whether he would be playing golf at Northridge another year.

Because of gender-equity laws, men’s golf was among the sports at Northridge slated to be cut before the 1997-98 season started. It turned out that baseball, men’s volleyball, men’s soccer and men’s swimming were cut. Golf was spared.

“I was really nervous about that,” Wren said. “It’s sad that those programs got cut, but I’m really happy that we weren’t one of the ones.”

With that worry behind him, Wren can focus on golf. His mother says he practically lives at River Ridge Golf Course in Oxnard where he spends mornings working at the snack bar and afternoons practicing and playing.

“Sometimes I just go there to hang out with my friends,” Wren said. “I have a lot of fun with golf.”

Especially since he’s been playing so well lately.

He has tried to get into major amateur tournaments in the past but came up short in U.S. Junior qualifying and U.S. Public Links qualifying. But in his second attempt at the U.S. Amateur, he put his game together.

“I knew I had been hitting the ball well, but my putting was a little bit behind,” Wren said. “I figured I would have to stay around par to make it and I did on a very difficult course. The contacts contributed to that.”

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A youth movement in men’s golf, you say? Sure, if you look at the winners of this year’s three professional majors. Tiger Woods, 21, won the Masters. Ernie Els, 27, won the U.S. Open. Justin Leonard, 25, won the British Open.

But 57-year-old Al D’Amato of Simi Valley did his best last Monday to keep hope alive for the over-40 crowd on the amateur circuit.

D’Amato shot a two-round total of two-over-par 146 at Valencia Country Club to qualify for the U.S. Amateur, becoming one of the oldest players ever to qualify for the tournament.

Joining D’Amato among the qualifiers was 42-year-old James Camaione of Upland, who plays out of Crystalaire Country Club in Llano.

Wren and UC Santa Barbara junior Bryan Geiberger, 20, were the other two qualifiers.

The final qualifying rounds in Southern California are Monday at Glendora Country Club and at the Victoria Club in Riverside.

Notable local players looking to qualify at those sites include J.T. Kouht of Simi Valley, Chad Wright of Ventura, brothers Todd and Scott Golditch of Woodland Hills and SCGA amateur champion Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys.

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There’s nothing like a good golf story to go along with your hot dog and soda while watching a high school football game.

And Taft High is where you can get one, for it is there that Gail (Dennenberg) Toushin sits in the snack shack on Friday nights during football games.

Toushin, a teaching pro at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, is a former LPGA Tour player.

She once held the course record at Mission Hills Country Club after a hole in one catapulted her to a final-round 65 in the Nabisco Dinah Shore. Less than an hour later, Nancy Lopez came along and shot a 64 to claim the record and win the tournament.

“I couldn’t have lost the record to a nicer person,” Toushin said. “I might have had the record anyway if I had made putts on 17 and 18. But it still was the most exciting round of my life. It was just a perfect round of golf.”

Toushin played on the LPGA Tour from 1969 to 1986, but played sparingly after the death of her uncle and golf mentor Abe Weissman in 1977.

She won her only title at the 1974 Sears Women’s Classic in Port Lucie, Fla., and finished second several times.

Toushin has been teaching at El Caballero since 1977. These days, she balances teaching with working at Calib World Travel, specializing in golf holidays, and her family life with Chuck and their teenage children, Abbi and Corey.

And selling hot dogs and sodas. And maybe a good golf tale.

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Elkins Ranch Golf Course in Fillmore, long considered one of the premier public courses in Southern California, is undergoing a face lift.

The 361-yard, par-4 15th hole is playing to a temporary green which shortens the hole to less than 300 yards while the original green is remodeled.

The 116-yard, par-3 16th hole is completely closed. The 16th, which normally sits atop a hill behind the 15th green and 17th tee, is temporarily a 77-yard hole squeezed on to the 17th fairway.

The elevated tee for the 17th hole has been moved to fairway level, shortening the hole by about 50 yards, to accommodate the 16th hole.

Both temporary greens are sodded greens, according to pro shop assistant Dave Tucker, and will not disrupt the normal flow of play.

“We’re trying to make the course better than it is,” Tucker said. “The greens will be larger and will create different approach shots.”

The course has received a temporary slope rating of 115 from the USGA, down from 117 when playing the regular greens. Handicap posting is allowed.

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Green fees remain $23 on weekdays and $29 on weekends.

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Brad Faxon, Peter Jacobsen, Chi Chi Rodriguez and Gary Player will be in the eight-man field for the $500,000 EMC Golf Skills Challenge on Nov. 3 at Ojai Valley Inn and Spa.

The pros will be tested on driving, mid-irons, trouble shots, pitching, putting and bunker play. A fairway bunker has been added on the par-five ninth hole, about 100 yards from the green, for the competition.

Mark Greenslit, head pro at Ojai Valley, said organizers hope to land Corey Pavin and Al Geiberger because of local ties.