Holing the last putt, one of golf's singular challenges, remains one of the game's special rewards.
The Rojas sisters from Turlock capped their special week just like that, draining their final putts Saturday at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. Nearly 90 students from The First Tee of Modesto cheered for both as their heroes walked off Pebble's famed 18th green.
That neither Kathleen nor Esther Rojas and their respective pros made the cut for Sunday's last round hardly mattered. More important was the unforgettable experience, teeing it up with the stars of the Champions Tour at one of golf's most prestigious addresses, that counted for lifelong memories.
"It passed my expectations," said Kathleen, 16, a Turlock Christian junior.
"Everyone was so nice and welcoming. There was no pressure," said Esther, 14, a TC freshman.
And both finished like champions.
The sisters played in back-to-back groups as they wrapped up Saturday. First, it was Kathleen making birdie at the par-3 17th with a nifty 7-iron shot to within three feet. One hole later, she rolled home an 11-footer for par and shook hands with partner Wayne Levi, the former 12-time PGA Tour winner on the mend from double-bypass surgery.
"I was terrible that day until the First Tee kids came out on about the 11th or 12th," Kathleen said. "Something clicked and I started to hit good shots. It seemed like everyone exploded up there when I hit that 7-iron at 17."
Esther, not to be upstaged, followed with her own show. She drove into the ocean at the 18th, took her drop and recovered with a 3-wood and a 6-iron to about 17 feet for a potential hard-way par. Though she didn't know how her team stood (she and pro Michael Allen eventually missed the cut by three strokes), she convinced herself that she needed that closing putt.
"I wanted to make that putt bad," Esther said. "It was a big relief to see it go in."
Whether or not the putts dropped, the Rojases enjoyed a memorable week. Esther was a celebrity of sorts after her painting of Pebble Beach's seventh green was stamped on every tournament ticket.
"Fuzzy Zoeller kissed me on the head when he found out I had drawn the ticket," she said.
Meanwhile, Kathleen no doubt will tell her children someday how she met the zany comedian and golf nut Bill Murray. She introduced herself earlier in the week during the pairings dinner.
"He said 'Do people call you 'Cookie?' " Kathleen said. "I wondered, 'Cookie?' "
"They should call you 'Cookie,' " Murray emphasized.
Murray, a diehard baseball fan, connected Kathleen with Cookie Rojas, the former all-star infielder for the Philadelphia Phillies whose heyday took place about 25 years before Kathleen was born.
If the girls were too young to grasp that bit of baseball history, they understood the following — they stayed near Pebble Beach at the same guest cottage Tiger Woods called home in 2000 while he won the U.S. Open by 15 strokes.
Just in case that wasn't enough, they took home shirts, jackets, $250 credit cards from Pebble Beach Company and a $50 gift certificate from Wal-Mart.
Not a bad payback for joining The First Tee.
• BENDER — Mike Bender, Cal State Stanislaus' only two-time individual NCAA Division III golf champion (1979-'80) and the leader of three straight team titles, has been named the National Teacher of the Year by the PGA of America. No golf instructor in this country can earn a higher honor.
"This is very special because it means that my peers — the professionals who have the same passion for teaching that I have — respect what I have been able to accomplish in helping golfers play better and enjoy the game more," said Bender, the director of the Mike Bender Academy at Lake Mary, Fla.
Bender has taught everyone from amateurs to 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson and four-time LPGA Tour winner Seon Hwa Lee. He started his teaching career after he completed three years on the PGA Tour and has been stationed at Timacuan Golf Club in Lake Mary since 1991.
• HOLE-IN-ONE — Walter Carter, Modesto, 173-yard 10th at Dryden Park, 7-wood.
Bee staff writer Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.
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