NOTES: THURSTON SHOOTS 70 TO CAPTURE BOYS' DIVISION.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

Kyle Thurston entered the third and final round of the Optimist International Golf Championship in prime position, out of the spotlight but not out of contention.

Thurston, a 13-year-old Moorpark resident, came from five shots back in the final round, shooting a 2-under-par 70 to win the boys' 12-13 division of the tournament on July 20 at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

``I knew I had a chance, because I had done it before, come back from five shots down to win,'' said Thurston, who plays out of the Sunset Hills Country Club in Thousand Oaks. ``I knew what I had to do to win, and I did it.''

After two rounds, Randy Lowry of Spring, Texas, led the tournament by two shots over Trent Leon of Dallas. Thurston was tied for third, five strokes behind.

``I knew there was going to be a lot of pressure and nervousness in that last group, but I was in the second-to-last group so I didn't feel so much pressure,'' Thurston said. ``I just wanted to shoot a solid score, maybe even par, because I wasn't really thinking about chasing down the leaders.''

Thurston stood at even par through 11 holes in the final round, then made his move. Finishing on the front nine, he birdied Nos. 3 and 5, fell back with a bogey on No. 6, then rallied with birdies on Nos. 7 and 8 before finishing with a bogey.

``I just had a really solid putting stroke and short game,'' Thurston said. ``All week I had been hitting the ball solid, especially with the long irons, and I was hitting the ball as well as I have in a long time. It was my short game that really held me up well in the last round.''

Meanwhile, Lowry and Leon were struggling. Lowry shot 76 and Leon shot 74 to tie for second, one shot behind Thurston, who wasn't sure of his fate until the tournament concluded.

``There really weren't any big scoreboards around so you could see what everybody else was doing, but I knew I was real close,'' Thurston said. ``I knew a lot of pressure was going to be on those guys.

``I didn't see them come in. I was in the scorer's tent, and when I heard I was just really excited.''

Opportunity calls: Krystal Shearer figured she had missed her chance at playing in the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.

Shearer, a 17-year-old senior at Alemany High, finished 17th in a sectional qualifying tournament at Mesa Verde Golf Course in Costa Mesa on July 19. The top 16 in the field received automatic berths to the Women's Amateur, leaving Shearer as the first alternate, but not for long.

``They called me (Friday) morning and told me somebody withdrew, and since I was first alternate I could come play if I wanted to,'' Shearer said. ``I said, `Yeah! Are you kidding?' ''

So Shearer will travel to North Carolina to take part in the Women's Amateur from Aug. 9-12, but she came close to not even being first alternate. In the sectional, Shearer was forced into a three-way playoff for 17th place.

``I was really hungry, so I didn't want (the playoff) to last very long,'' Shearer said. ``I hit a good drive, and I knew I wanted to leave it below the hole, but it ended up about 20 feet below. Then I went and knocked it in from 20 feet for birdie, and all these people started cheering and yelling and I kind of felt like Tiger Woods for a second.''

So did the victory celebration include Woods' traditional fist-pumping on the green?

``Yeah actually I did,'' Shearer said with a laugh. ``I didn't mean to do it, but I kind of got caught up in the moment.''

On the rise: The success of junior golfers such as Shearer and Thurston is part of an overall explosion of junior golf in the past five years, according to a study by the National Golf Foundation.

The foundation reported that more than 1.8 million juniors (ages 12-17) golf in the United States on a competitive basis, and that junior participation has grown at a rate of 17.4 percent per year since 1995, while overall adult golf participation has increased by 2.2 percent per year.

The study finds that juniors now represent eight percent of all golfers in the U.S.

Golf is an expensive sport to play, however, which might be holding back an even greater growth rate. The foundation reports that the average junior golfer spends $285 on equipment each year.

Women's City champs: Dona Kogan of Sepulveda shot 77-79-156 for a net 144 to win the first flight of the Los Angeles City Women's Championship held at Encino and Balboa. Donna Witkowski of Antelope Valley (95-96-191/141) won the third flight.

Barbara Stephan of Mission Hills had the second-best score of the competition, shooting 81-75-156 behind City champion Alice Harcourt of Pala Mesa (75-74-149).

Other top area finishers included first-flight runner-up Carla Loomis of Hansen Dam (83-78-161/145), second-flight runner-up Lory Oberg of Sepulveda (82-91-173/141) and third-flight runner-up Ruth Gilsenan of Woodley Lakes (100-99-191/141).

State Open: Former Cal State Northridge star Jeff Sanday placed third in the 81st State Open, shooting 10-under-par 64-71-70-65-270 at Coyote Hills GC in Fullerton. Todd Fischer of Pleasanton shot 68-67-65-65-265 to win the event by four strokes.

Kyle Kovacs of Sherman Oaks (seventh at 277), Rick Garbowski of Newbury Park (279) and Doug Garwood of Pasadena (289) all made the cut.

Other area participants in the 132-man field included Scholl Canyon head pro Ted Eleftheriou, Patrick Cantwell and amateur Bob Moore of North Hollywood, and Ernie Lee of Pasadena.

Then-amateur Jason Gore of Valencia was the area's most recent State Open champion, winning in 1997.

The tournament, held in the Palm Springs area the past 11 years, was in Orange County for this year only and will move next year to a permanent site at the PGA of Southern Californa Golf Club at Oak Valley.

Lucky day: A hole-in-one is remarkable enough. Two in one round is extraordinary.

Neil Bartholomew, a 3-handicapper, did just that Sunday, acing two holes in the same round of the Harold Krause Memorial Tournament at Heritage Country Club in Charlton, Mass.

Using an 8-iron, he scored his first career ace on the 165-yard 13th hole. Three holes and less than an hour later, he grabbed his second with a 7-iron on the 175-yard 16th hole.

``I don't know if I'll ever come down from this,'' Bartholomew, 42, told the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass. ``I've had shots inside of 2 inches, shots hanging on the hole. I've been very close a lot of times, so many times that I thought it would never happen.''

On the 13th hole, his shot landed 2 feet in front of the hole, took two hops and rolled in.

Instead of pocketing the ball for posterity's sake, he continued to play it.

On the 16th, the shot landed and rolled toward the hole.

``It looked like it was just hanging on the edge,'' Bartholomew said. ``After a second or two delay, it fell in. We just went crazy.''

After the second hole-in-one, he took the ball out of play.

He won a set of clubs for the first ace, and $250 in merchandise from a local pro shop for the second.

Even with the two aces, however, Bartholomew didn't win the tournament. His play didn't make up for that of his three teammates, said Shane Bacigalupo, a member of that team and one of the tournament organizers.

Richie Powers, a co-owner of the course who has worked there since 1964, estimated that five or six holes-in-one are made at the course each year.

As far as two aces in one round were concerned, Powers said: ``I know we never had it happen here before.''

Staff Writer Dave Shelburne and the Associated Press contributed.

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Photo

PHOTO Krystal Shearer, a senior at Alemany High, will compete in the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in North Carolina from Aug. 9-12.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer