BUDDING CAREER FOR BEER MAN.

Byline: DAVE SHELBURNE Golf

BeerMan became Champion Man last week with a performance that might rival anything he accomplished during his three-decade run as one of the best amateur golfers in Southern California.

Mark Johnson, playing his first full season as a professional on the 50- and-over Champions Tour, rolled in five birdies in the first round of the Toshiba Senior Classic, then showed he really was just getting started.

Seven more birdies and an eagle in round 2 gave him a tournament-best 63 and the outright lead going into the final round of the 54-hole event at Newport Beach Country Club. But Johnson - the former beer-truck driver who won a record 14 Southern California Golf Association amateur titles from 1972-97 - had yet to apply the exclamation mark.

That came Sunday, when his second eagle in his final four holes found the cup from the fairway, making the 50-year-old Helendale resident a winner in his 14th senior tour start.

``It was unbelievable,'' Johnson said after his final 89-yard wedge shot spun back into the cup to secure what turned out to be a four-shot victory for the man who is sponsored by the high desert beer distributorship that employed him for 25 years - 18 as a Budweiser truck driver.

``All the employees at H. Olson Distributing are a part of this,'' Johnson said. ``They deserve this as much as I do. They took a lot of extra loads for me and I won't forget them.''

Nor will he forget driving hundreds of miles and lifting thousands of pounds each time he worked his high desert loop.

``I'd deliver 600-1,000 cases a day, starting some days at 4:30 a.m.,'' said Johnson, who then would hit balls after work.

After five years of preparation, including playing time on the Canadian and Nationwide tours, Johnson got his initial Champions Tour opportunity with a 14th-place finish in that tour's 2003 Qualifying School. That earned him conditional status for 2004, beginning with his 50th birthday, May 22.

Johnson wound up needing to get in as a Monday qualifier in six of the nine Champions Tour events he played last year, when he earned a lifetime-best $134,261.

On Sunday, his $247,500 paycheck exceeded his 2004 tour total by more than double his earnings in his best year as a beer-truck driver.

His biggest senior tour paycheck before Toshiba was the $45,000 he won for winning the 2004 Q School. That 25-under-par performance also earned Johnson full playing privileges this year, which secured the opportunity for him to win in his second ``hometown'' tour start in as many weeks.

Johnson, the 1996 State Amateur champion and three-time SCGA Mid-Amateur champ, made his first California senior tour start in the March 11-13 SBC Classic at Valencia Country Club. There, his first-round 70 left him a shot off the lead while playing in front of family and friends who had bused in from the Barstow area.

Johnson had his fans whooping that day with a 15th-hole eagle and a long birdie putt on No. 18. Then, after tying for 41st at Valencia, he really got the Beer Man gallery going with his victory-clinching eagle at Newport Beach.

His first first-place tour paycheck was cause for reflection for the man made strong by nearly two decades of weight training consisting of lifting countless cases of beer.

``You know, $247,500 is a lot of money for a beer-truck driver,'' Johnson said. ``It would take 7-8 years for me to make that delivering beer.''

He said his Saturday round of 63 - a career tour-best that tied the tournament's second-round record - was sweeter for the fact it was his mother's birthday.

``It was nice to have a good round for her.'' Johnson said.

On Sunday, judging from the roars of ``Beer Man'' that followed his victory, it seemed Johnson had delivered a good round for the rest of his fans, as well.

--Names in the game: Grant Haney, former St. Francis of La Canada golf standout and son of 1973 USC honorable mention All-American Mike Haney, finished fourth in his first tournament of the season for Cal State Monterey Bay. Haney, who tied for 22nd in the NAIA national championships last season as a freshman, shot 74-70-74 in the March 6-8 Pt. Loma Invitational at Steel Canyon GC. ...

Royal High of Simi Valley senior Danny Hoffenberg had his streak of rounds in the 60s halted at four Saturday, but not before his 69 at par-72 Griffith Park Wilson gave him the first-round lead in the 54th annual Los Angeles City Junior Golf Championship. Hoffenberg led all area entries, tying for eighth at even-par 216 behind two-time champion Siwhan Kim, who had 18 birdies in a 13-under-par total of 203.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

KENNY PERRY

Box:

ON THE GREEN

BY DAVE SHELBURNE