BERGANIO FACES MORE PRESSURE.

Byline: GREG WILCOX / Golf

Three weeks after they stopped counting official money on the PGA Tour, his tee shots found the fairways and the putts started falling.

Finally, Sylmar resident David Berganio Jr., who started the professional golf season with visions of riches, found himself atop a leader board after 72 holes of play.

He finished a tournament far enough under par to almost equal his age. His reward? A return to school.

Last Friday, at the Rio Rico Resort in Rio Rico, Ariz., Berganio shot a 69, completing the second-stage PGA Tour/Nike Tour qualifying tournament four strokes in front with a 23-under par total of 265.

This scorecard becomes his admission slip to remedial hell, the tour's pressure-packed final qualifying tournament Dec. 3-8 at the Grenelefe Golf & Tennis Resort in Haines City, Fla.

Berganio offers a brutal assessment of his first year on tour.

``I only had one problem. I didn't make any putts,'' he said. ``There were only seven rounds where I putted well.''

This year, Berganio switched from a Ping model to a Scotty Cameron. So a week before the Rio Rico event he arranged a lesson with Cameron.

``He told me what kind of stroke and loft on the putter makes a good roll. I changed a couple of things and went with it,'' he said.

Golf is a numbers game and Berganio also received a math lesson from Cameron.

Berganio initiates his putting stroke with a slight forward press of the hands. The putter he had been using had three degrees of loft, but after the forward press it was reduced to minus-five degrees.

The result is like hammering a tee into the green.

``I was just hitting the ball right into the ground and it was popping up and just going where in the hell ever it wanted,'' Berganio said.

He changed his putter's loft and shortened the forward press, with some good results.

Berganio made 28 birdies and an eagle last week. Now he's one of 168 competitors seeking tour cards for 1998, which go to the low 35 players and ties.

He's among several San Fernando Valley area players in the tournament.

Also qualifying were former Pepperdine star Jason Gore of Valencia, Charlie Wi of Westlake Village and Chris Zambri of Camarillo.

Other area players in the field are David Bateman of Los Angeles, John Johnson of Ventura, Jon Levitt of South Pasadena, Chris M. Anderson of Covina, Jeff Brehaut of Vacaville, Steve Jurgensen of Newport Beach, Dan Bateman of Huntington Beach and Esteban Toledo of Costa Mesa.

The tournament roster is also littered with players who have had success on the regular tour but have since seen their games frizzle. Former tour players Jim Estes, Keith Fergus, Bob Gilder, Michael Campbell, Taylor Smith, Scott Verplank, Greg Twiggs and Brett Quigley are all trying to reclaim their playing privileges. Those that do not finish in the top 35 gain Nike Tour status for next year.

Berganio won his tour card this year by virtue of finishing fourth on the Nike money list in 1996.

This year he finished 155th in the big tour's cash count, earning $118,290. That put him No. 8 among tour rookies, but not high enough to avoid getting sent back to school. He does not consider the Nike Tour a viable fallback position.

``It' like losing your job,'' he said of falling off the exempt list. ``You just think about getting it back.''

Taking over the world: Seems like Greg Norman was really on to something a couple of years ago when he suggested a world tour.

The tour brass short-circuited that plan, then came up with its own concept this year. Now it has decided a team event will commence in 2000, joining three previously World Golf Championship events that start in 1999.

It's got a name, the World Cup Team, but details like a site and format will be worked out later. The template was on display last week in the form of the World Cup of Golf, which started in 1953.

Now with four events called World Golf Championship, and the blessing of the all powerful PGA Tour, will it be long before they hype an international grand slam to go along with a major championship grand slam? In addition to a team championship there will be a match-play title, one for stroke play and an invitational.

On to Australia: If you really want to see the President's Cup matches, which pit an American team against one made up of international players, it might be a good idea to start planning now. The matches will be Dec. 7-13 at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Australia.

The format is similar to the Ryder Cup matches and played on a biennial basis. Unlike the Ryder Cup, the U.S. has won the last two matches.

THIS WEEK

PGA TOUR

Skins Game

Dates/site: Saturday and Sunday at La Quinta.

Course: Rancho La Quinta Golf Club (7,087 yards, par 71).

Purse: $600,000 (Nos. 1-6, $20,000 each; Nos. 7-12, $30,000; Nos. 13-17, $40,000, No. 18, $100,000).

Television: ABC (Saturday, 1:30-4 p.m.; Sunday, 12:30-3 p.m.).

Last year: Fred Couples won for the second straight year, holing a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 15 for $240,000. Couples earned $280,000, Tom Watson $220,000, Tiger Woods $40,000, and John Daly failed to win a skin.

Notes: Couples, who planned to defend his title against Woods, Tom Lehman and Mark O'Meara, withdrew Wednesday to remain with his ailing father, Tom, who is being treated for leukemia in Seattle. David Duval will replace Couples, who had earlier withdrawn from last week's World Cup to stay with his father.

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BOX: THIS WEEK (see text)