Tuesday, Aug. 04, 2009

Agostini On Golf: Adversity toughened up this CSUS golfer

For those who think you grow your game quietly shot by shot, Atwater's Teddy Schrier begs to disagree.

He started the final round of the NCAA Division II Golf Championship two months ago as an uncertainty, a Cal State Stanislaus freshman who flashed radical ups and downs, sometimes on the same hole.

At the end of that day, however, Schrier had emerged as another kind of player — more confident, more committed and, yes, more productive. He shot a 1-under-par 70, tying for the day's best at Loomis Trail in suburban Seattle, and powered the Warriors to a solid tie for sixth.

"That round taught me more mentally than any other round I've had," said Schrier, 19.

Perhaps it was because he rebounded from two opening bogeys — both from the fairway with a pitching wedge in his hand — and a double bogey at the 10th. Maybe he was most satisfied by finding his misplaced putting stroke after three difficult days on the greens and rounds of 80, 76 and 81.

Sometimes in golf, you win by not falling into the game's emotional traps. Schrier didn't, and his progress is illustrated by his performance since that week in the Northwest.

His victory at the Modesto City was a start, but he reached a new level by qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, the world's most important amateur golf tournament. Schrier, shortening Brookside Country Club's linksy layout with his long tee shots, recorded a 70 and 66, running away from the sectional qualifying field by three strokes.

"I played with him at Brookside the week before and he told me, 'This course fits my eye,' " Stanislaus coach John Cook said. "You can tell he's stepping up."

Schrier's reward is a trip to Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla., for the Amateur on Aug. 24-30. He joins good friend Sam Smith, the Turlock High graduate on his way to USC, during what should be a sweat-soaked week.

The twosome has competed together many times at junior tournaments as well as high school matches while Schrier attended Buhach Colony. They share another bond — Smith lost his first-round match at the Amateur last year 2-and-1 to Western Washington's Jake Koppenberg, the same player who edged Schrier for medalist honors last spring at Stanislaus' Hanny Invitational.

"Definitely weird," Schrier said. "I don't know how we can get even."

Playing well at Tulsa will help.

• THE SHAG BAG — Expect private clubs to be more full-service oriented during these tough economic times. Case in point: More than 600 packed Spring Creek CC's driving range last weekend in Ripon for "Rhythm on the Range," a concert featuring The White Album Ensemble, a Beatles cover band. The concert is expected to become an annual summer-time event. ...Former Cal State Stanislaus All-American Mike Bender, one of the nation's top teaching pros, helped to launch a new instruction series on thegolfchannel.com. The Florida-based pro remembered how he stabilized the game of Zach Johnson, arguably his top pupil, the week Johnson won the 2007 Masters. ...

Local golf fans can pull for two players with local ties at next week's PGA Championship. Mitch Lowe, teaching pro at Del Rio CC, and Beyer High graduate Eric Lippert, assistant pro at Del Monte in Monterey, both will tee it up at Hazeltine near Minneapolis. They will join 18 club pros from across the country at the final major of 2009. Lowe, 42, and Lippert, 34, also are the only qualifiers from the Northern California PGA. Both advanced at the PGA Professional National Championship last month in New Mexico. Lippert tied for fourth while Lowe tied for 16th and birdied the second hole of a nationally televised playoff for one of the final six berths. ...

The American Junior Golf Association will make its second straight appearance in Stockton for a tournament sponsored by the Stockton Sports Commission. It will be Aug. 24-27 at The Reserve at Spanos Park. Visit ajga.org.

• HOLES-IN-ONE — Modesto's Donna Tomlinson, a six-time club champion at Spring Creek Country Club, didn't like the way she was hitting the ball. A few lessons later, she scored her seventh and eighth holes-in-one, the last two within a two-week span: A 7-iron into the cup on the fly at Discovery Bay's 108-yard second, and a 5-iron ace at Spring Creek's 113-yard 12th. "I can tell the difference now with my irons," Tomlinson said. ... Tracy Bull, Modesto, 207-yard ninth at Dryden Park, 5-iron. ... Jim Guenther, Modesto, 178-yard ninth at Dryden, 5-iron. ... Pete Narayan, Modesto, 157-yard 14th at Jack Tone Golf, Ripon, 4-hybrid. ... Lloyd Van Dyken, Ripon, 111-yard 13th at Jack Tone, 9-iron.

Bee staff writer Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.