ROUGHS READY FOR LPGA AT WOOD RANCH LINKS ARE IN SYNC FOR LPGA TOURNEY.

Byline: Sylvia L. Oliande Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - Mother Nature has not been kind to the Wood Ranch Golf Club, as it prepares for the start of the Ladies Professional Golf Association championship tournament.

The club, which was chosen from among three in Southern California to host the prestigious competition, has spent more than $100,000 on landscaping and clubhouse improvements, getting the 15-year-old course into camera-ready shape. But the hot, dry winter made it difficult for the landscaping to take hold.

``Mother Nature is not helping us,'' said general manager David Foster. ``It didn't rain for months until we had that little bit a few weeks ago. Now the course (landscaping) has exploded through a lot of hard work and a little bit of rain.'' But, he said, the tables may turn again as weather spotters are predicting rain this week.

``That's not good news,'' he said, gazing over 120 acres of manicured emerald green grass. ``But they'll play. Unless it's flooding, they'll play.''

Throughout the city, restaurants and hotels are bracing for a crush of visitors while the Police Department is adding manpower to handle the crowds.

The City Council approved spending about $100,000 to lure the tournament away from its previous home at the Oakmont Country Club in Glendale and to beat back a challenge from Valencia Country Club. The city also agreed to allow parking on the streets around the golf course.

Mayor Bill Davis said the tournament will go a long way toward erasing the image the city earned in April 1992, when a jury in the Simi Valley Courthouse acquitted four Los Angeles policemen in the beating of African-American motorist Rodney King.

Davis, who was hospitalized last week with a collapsed lung, said he hopes to play a few practice rounds at the tournament on Tuesday.

``My doctor said to take a swing of my golf club and if it doesn't hurt, I can do it, as long as I walk slowly and take it easy,'' he said. ``It's a chance of a lifetime.''

American Golf, which owns and manages Wood Ranch, started making improvements last summer, shortly after the announcement that the club had been chosen to host the tournament for the next three years.

Foster said the course beat out Valencia and Oakmont because it's a top- notch course, Simi Valley officials were supportive and club members wanted it.

``There's a prestige and notoriety that comes with this,'' Foster said. ``They're proud of their course, and people are going to see it.''

In fact, the tournament is expected to draw 25,000 to 35,000 spectators, and the Golf Channel will televise play on the back nine holes next Friday through Sunday.

Club members said although they will lose access to their course for a week, beginning today, the national attention will be worth it.

Richard Hutchings, a member since the club opened, said this is the best thing to happen to Wood Ranch in a long time.

``I live on the course, so I'm going to sit in my back yard, drinking margaritas, and watch it,'' he said, from his seat in a golf cart.

``You don't often get to see the caliber (of) golfers that you'll see here,'' he added. ``This is a challenging course, so it'll be interesting what they do with it.''

Officials estimate that 97 of the top 100 LPGA players will be at the tournament - including Catrin Nilsmark, who won the Los Angeles tourney last year, and Nancy Scranton, who won the LPGA tournament in Florida last week.

There will be a total of 132 players on the course over the three days, playing for a $750,000 prize. Professionals already committed to the tournament number 130, and two other players will be selected during a qualifying game on Monday.

The event will continue on Tuesday with practice rounds and a party at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The pro-am competition, with teams consisting of one professional and four amateurs, will be Wednesday and Thursday.

And the professional tournament itself will be held on Friday through Sunday.

LPGA tournament official Angus MacKenzie, part of the advance team, was the general manager at Wood Ranch the first decade it was open, so he knows the course well.

MacKenzie said it's a huge effort to get ready for a tournament like this - ``it's not just a bunch of people playing golf.'' He said the Wood Ranch staff has been very supportive, meeting every need, fulfilling every wish and solving every problem.

``We're off to a good start,'' he said. ``The weather is the only thing that we know nothing of, so that can be a problem.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1) The scoreboard is in place at Wood Ranch Golf Club - waiting to be filled in with the names of the leaders in this week's LPGA event.

(2 -- color -- ran in Simi edition) The flowers are in bloom at Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, where the LPGA plays a tournament this week.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News