Golf / Shav Glick : Queen Mary Open Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger

The 15th annual Queen Mary Open, which made its debut for $10,000 at Long Beach’s El Dorado Park in 1972, has grown. It will be played this year over two courses for a purse of $75,000.

The 72-hole tournament, carrying a first prize of $12,000, will start Thursday at Lakewood Country Club and the Skylinks Municipal course. Players will alternate courses the first two days, then play the final 36 holes at Lakewood.

A record field of 262 professionals and 32 amateurs, headed by two-time defending champion Ernie Gonzalez of La Jolla, is entered in the charity event.

Gonzalez, a left-hander, shot a 14-under-par 274 each of the last two years. In 1984, he won by a stroke over Bob Tway, winner of last week’s PGA Championship, and Don Levin. Last year, Gonzalez had to work overtime, defeating Mike Miles and Ted Lehmann on the first extra hole of a playoff.

Many promising players--notably Mark O’Meara, Tony Sills, Scott Simpson, Steve Pate and Fred Couples--have made their professional debuts in the Queen Mary, and this year will be no exception. Rob Geiberger, whose father Al is best remembered for the record 59 he shot at the Memphis tournament in 1977, is leaving the amateur ranks after having played for USC.

An increase in the purse from $60,000 last year was made possible by an increase in entries. It also created the need for two pro-ams. One, for $3,000, will be held Tuesday and another, for $7,500, will be played Wednesday.

Southland favorites include Mark Blakely of Temple City, the Northern California Open winner; Jim Woodward of Wood Ranch, the newly crowned State Open champion who also won the Southern California Open; Bill Lytle of Hemet and Mark Carey of Lakeside, first and second on the Golden State tour money list; Brad Greer of Huntington Beach, 1985 State Open champion; Wayne Case of Wood Ranch, winner of the Santa Barbara Open, and Dave Hobby of Santa Ana, former Southern California Amateur winner.

Carito Villaroman, 17, of the Philippines, heads an impressive group of amateur entries. Villaroman, a sophomore at Weber State in Ogden, Utah, recently won his third Junior World championship. He shot a 15-under-par 273 and won by 13 strokes at Torrey Pines.

Golf Notes

Mitch Voges shot 142, two under par, and defeated George Hunter by 18 shots for the Wood Ranch GC championship. Voges was also medalist in qualifying at Las Posas CC for the U.S. Amateur. C. W. Johnson and Bill McCauley were Wood Ranch low gross and low net first-flight winners, respectively. . . . The Orange Show executive course in San Bernardino has closed to make way for an auto center. . . . The 28th annual Pioneer Pass celebrity charity tournament, where they play nine holes in 27 miles between Yucca Valley and Baldwin Lake, before finishing at Blue Skies CC for 18 more holes, will be played Sept. 27-28. . . . Cary Middlecoff, winner of the 1949 and 1956 U.S. Opens and 1955 Masters, will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame Oct. 25 in Pinehurst, N.C. . . . The No. 2 course at Pinehurst, long rated one of the best in the United States, will be the site of the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 1989.

The La Mode du Golf SoCal PGA stroke play tournament will be played Monday at Mesa Verde CC. It will also serve as a qualifying round for the PGA Club Professional tournament with 101 players going for 17 spots in the national at La Quinta Oct. 2-5. Frank Beard is defending champion. . . . Jeff Leonard shot 73-72-70-74--289 and beat Richard Greenwood by four strokes for the El Caballero CC championship. Danny Basulto defeated Herb Brown by a shot for the El Cab seniors’ title. . . . Al Zink, 66, a retired boat dealer from Marina del Rey, moved to San Diego County where he won the Fallbrook CC club crown.

The Rams might not make it to the Super Bowl this season, but their leader, Georgia Frontiere, will be going--to the Super Bowl of Golf. She was a member of the winning fivesome in the National Football League Alumni’s local chapter tournament at Oakmont CC. Her teammates, who will play together in the final March 21 at Mesa, Ariz., include Ram executive Jack Faulkner, former running back Dick Bass, Stuart Brien and Steve Novak. . . . Golfers contributed $3,940 to the L.A. junior program from a hole-in-one contest on municipal courses last month. . . . The juniors also received $40,000 from Toyota for its part in sponsoring the SoCal PGA tournament at Wood Ranch GC.

It was inevitable: After seeing the financial bonanza generated by the men’s senior tour, the women are about to embark on one of their own. To be declared a senior, a woman need be only 39, which automatically makes JoAnne Carner, Kathy Whitworth, Donna Caponi and Jane Bla- lock eligible for the first event, to be held Feb. 12-15 at Rancho Mirage CC. The tournament will include a two-day pro-am, followed by a two-day best-ball tournament with proceeds going to the senior citizens of Coachella Valley. Tournament director is Jan Ferraris, a former LPGA tour player. . . . Tom Beck of Redding shot two holes in one in the same round at Riverview CC in Redding. He aced the 208-yard third with a 4-iron shot, then hit an 8-iron shot into the cup on the 138-yard 17th. He finished at par 72.

Mac O’Grady may be the bad man in PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman’s mind, but Joe Rosenfeld, 75, has some kind memories of O’Grady--then Phil McGleno--when he was Rosenfeld’s caddie. Rosenfeld, a former Rancho Park Men’s Club president, recalls:

“Phil McGleno was my caddie every Saturday and Sunday when he was 14-15-16 years old at Rancho. One weekend I had a 9 a.m. starting time and was waiting for Mac to show up and I was ready to hire another caddie because he was running late. We let another foursome go ahead in order to give Mac a little more time to show.

“About 9:10 he came running, huffing and puffing all out of breath, as he picked up my bag. His story was that he overslept and when he tried to find some breakfast, all the food was already eaten by his 10 brothers and sisters. He said he was very hungry. I told him when we got to the 12th hole, the food stop, he could fill up. On arriving at the food shack, I told the girl on duty to give him whatever he wanted. Phil proceeded to eat six hot dogs and two Cokes, which were 35 cents for the dogs and 15 cents each for the Cokes.

“Mac was always a perfect gentleman and great caddie. He always called me Mr. Rosenfeld and still does to this day. In my opinion, he is a very nice person and deserves all the glory he gets and the money that goes with it.”