CALIFORNIA GOLF TOUR IS STILL GOLDEN.

Byline: Dave Shelburne Daily News Staff Writer

Golden State Golf Tour founder Doug Ives is finding increasing reason to feel proud of his product.

One of Ives' mini-tour graduates - former North Ranch Country Club teaching pro Tom Lehman - was named PGA Tour Player of the Year for 1996 and moved up this year, briefly, to No. 1 in the world rankings.

Another ex-Golden Stater, Paul Stankowski from Oxnard, is contending for a berth on the U.S. Ryder Cup team after winning his first PGA Tour event last year and staying within three strokes of the lead through three rounds of last month's U.S. Open.

Ives, who created the Golden State Tour in 1983 and has seen it grow from seven professional events annually to 130 this year, is pleased with the graduate work. But he's not totally surprised.

``The talent really is here, but the jobs aren't,'' he said of the situation facing players who labor on his tour and other stops in golf's minor leagues, sharpening their games in hope of someday earning that hard-to-get PGA Tour card.

Golfers on the dozens of mini-tours throughout the U.S. - from Ives' California-based Golden State organization to the east-coast Mid-Atlantic Tour to southern-based Hooters Tour - are acutely aware of the job scarcity at the top of their profession.

The National Football League opens each season with roster space for 1,350 players. Baseball's American and National leagues start with a combined 700 players annually, the NHL with 520, the NBA 348 and Major League Soccer 200. But less than 160 players tee off in any tournament on the PGA Tour, which remains the most-exclusive club in American major-league sports.

To have a chance for full-time employment there, golfers have only two options. They must either retain existing eligibility by finishing among the top 125 money-winners annually or through various exemptions based on PGA Tour wins. Or they must earn (or re-earn) eligibility by virtue of a top-35 finish in the grueling PGA Tour qualifying school or by finishing among the top 15 money-winners on the PGA Tour-supported Nike Tour - the Triple-A of minor-league golf.

Many of those who don't - an increasing number of quality players on the way up or down - wind up playing on tours like the Golden State. There, they prepare to step up to the Nike or make another try at the three-stage, 252-hole Q School, which last year had a less than five-percent graduation rate from the 1,153 applicants who each paid $3,000 for the opportunity.

Clearly, a PGA Tour card is a tough ticket and getting tougher.

``It's scary to think who we might have playing on the mini-tours,'' Ives said of the talent being squeezed out of the PGA Tour each year.

At the same time, Ives said there isn't much difference between the top players on the mini-tours and those performing in The Show. Recent upward mobility just from his own tour supports that contention.

Reigning British Open champion Lehman and the surging Stankowski are hardly the only Golden Staters to thrive on The PGA Tour.

Jim Furyk, Jay Don Blake, Scott McCarron, Steve Pate, Paul Goydos and Valencia resident Duffy Waldorf - all winners on PGA Tour - honed their games on Ives' tour before earning their PGA Tour cards.

Obviously, not many can make that kind of jump, but enough do to keep the dream alive for thousands of golfers who use this route to improve their game and their chances.

``It's all preparation,'' former Golden State Tour regular Paul Holtby said of the mindset of the PGA Tour aspirants.

``The more you compete, the stronger you will be, and this is a very good training ground. It's very, very competitive. There's a lot of talent, and the talent is very deep.''

Holtby, who played full-time on the Golden State Tour in 1991 and '92 before taking a job at Tarzana's Braemar Country Club, estimates 70 percent of the Golden State players are in it to advance their professional playing careers, even though prize money pales by PGA Tour standards.

Mike Sugar, last year's Golden State money-leader, totaled just under $40,000. Bruce Lietzke, who finished 150th in PGA Tour earnings, won $122,000 in '96.

On Ives' tour, which has had sponsors on occasion but has been sponsorless for 80 percent of its tournaments, he provides the organization while the players essentially pay themselves. The combined entry fees at each Golden State tournament - minus green fees and $10 per player for expenses - provides the purse, which is paid out to the top 33-38 percent of the field.

Ryan Welborn, the current Golden State money leader, had earned $25,627 in 38 events through June 16. Factor in expenses, even with all matches within driving distance, and it's a hard way to make a living even for the best on this tour.

``It's a very good training ground,'' Holtby said, ``but you're not going to make a living at it.''

Reigning U.S. Public Links champion Tim Hogarth discovered that fact while thriving competitively on the Golden State tour a few years back. He won five times before calling it quits for a full-time job and eventually regaining his amateur status.

Former Saugus High School golfer Brad Gallagher, who has won nearly 20 events on the Golden State Tour, isn't quite ready to give up the dream he has been chasing so far through eight failed trips to PGA Tour qualifying school.

``I think if you really want it bad enough,'' he said, ``you've got to fight through the bad times and realize if you can get your game together three weeks a year (at qualifying school), you can be doing what you want to do.''

The hopes of players like Gallagher as well as well as the overwhelming success story of a Lehman are the reason Ives' tour has not just endured but grown by an average of 18 tournaments a year since the Golden State was born out of an offhand question asked three decades ago.

Ives was a sportswriter covering the Lakers for the Long Beach Press-Telegram in 1967 when his editor wondered aloud one day if anyone would be interested in covering golf.

Ives had never played golf at the time, but he reasoned working days might be easier than working nights and volunteered. He soon became acquainted with various Long Beach golfers, including El Dorado GC teaching professional Monty Blodgett, and when the Queen Mary was brought to Long Beach in 1971, Ives suggested Blodgett celebrate the occasion with a golf tournament.

Blodgett agreed and Ives eventually wound up helping organize that tournament, followed by others. By 1983 Ives was running 15 tournaments for the city, so successfully his friends were telling him he should quit his newspaper job and do the golf full-time - which he did, 25 years to the day after he started at the Press-Telegram.

Last year, Ives' Golden State Tour ran January through December, putting on 164 professional tournaments, including 66 senior pro events, as well as 78 amateur tournaments - where golfers play for merchandise script rather than cash.

It hasn't always been smooth. The players would like larger purses. Ives would like sponsorship to retain his flagship Queen Mary Open, a guaranteed $100,000 event, which was in danger of being lost to the tour after this year's play because of cost.

``When I started,'' Ives said, ``I felt there was a need, but in those days the quality wasn't near what it is now. Now, my top guys are PGA Tour quality. Now, we're a training ground for the PGA Tour.''

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Photo, Box

Photo: (color) Former Golden State Tour golfer Tom Lehman is one of several who have graduated to the PGA Tour.Lehman was Player of the Year in 1996.

Associated Press

Box: GOLDEN STATE ALUMNI