GOLF / RICH TOSCHES : Wi Maintains Sunny Outlook, Even After Loss in U.S. Amateur

If you want to round up a truckload of pessimists, a golf course is a good place to start. No other single group of people seems to expect disaster so regularly, dwell on the horrible things that do happen and then grouse about how much worse things likely will be tomorrow.

A year ago, on his way to No. 1 on the PGA earnings list and the best golfing year of his life, Corey Pavin of Camarillo moaned his way through an interview, telling tales of woe about his swing, a swing that according to Pavin was a cross between a man trying to whack a pit bull off his leg with a stick and a guy with involuntary muscle twitches. Pavin went on to earn nearly a million dollars, all the while trying to convince everyone that any day he might well start putting his ball completely off the green and out of bounds.

And then you encounter Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks. He seems to be having a good time on the golf course.

He smiles while he is playing. A smile in golf is akin to a howling crescendo of laughter from a pack of coal miners as they are lowered a mile into the earth at the start of a day.

And if that’s not bad enough, Wi talks about things getting better in the future, which is very un-golf like. A typical golfer believes that if tomorrow isn’t going to be a flash of hell on Earth it is only because he can’t play tomorrow.

Wi believes the perfect swing, the perfect putting stroke and a score of 63 are just around the corner.

During the weekend, Wi was ousted from the U.S. Amateur championships at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. He had been playing superbly and had even built a 3-up lead in the third round of match play. But then he faltered, his swing changed slightly, his putting stroke left him and he was overhauled by John Harris of Edina, Minn.

The average golfer at this point falls into a deep funk, a scowling, muttering cloud of dust inside which he hides and convinces himself that his best playing days are a distant memory and that his career will be a nightmare of shanks, duck hooks, slices and golf balls hopelessly buried in the sand of a thousand traps.

Charlie Wi handed out all of the golf balls in his bag to kids surrounding the green. He signed autographs for them. He joked with them.

“I had a good week,� Wi said. “I could have played better and I could have gone much further in the tournament, all the way to the finals, I believe. But it didn’t happen. Maybe next year, though.�

It was not the first time this summer Wi had a chance to turn pessimistic. He led optometrist Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys by a score of 3-up during the quarterfinals of the California Amateur championship at Pebble Beach in June, but he let that one get away too.

He had won the prestigious state amateur two years earlier, only two weeks after graduating from Westlake High. But against Steinberg his aggressiveness wavered and he was overtaken in the closing holes.

“In both the California and the U.S. Amateurs I was hitting the ball so well and putting so well and playing so well,� Wi said. “But in both of them I got a big lead and let it get away from me. I think both times I got lackadaisical. I backed off.�

Wi returned to his parents’ home Sunday, packed his bags, loaded them into the trunk of his car and headed early Monday morning for Reno, where he is a Nevada junior this year and expected to be the team’s top golfer.

“I was preseason All-American last year but didn’t make the team at the end of the year,� he said. “This year I want to (make the team). And I’d also like to make the Academic All-American team.�

Wi is studying for a degree in education.

Most golfers could learn something from Wi.

“All in all,� Wi said, “I was pleased with my summer. And next summer will be even better.�

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Add Pavin: When Craig Stadler’s 12-foot putt hung on the lip of the cup Sunday on the 72nd hole of the World Series of Golf in Akron, Ohio, Pavin likely had dollar signs rolling in his eyes.

Pavin was in second place, a stroke behind Stadler. The winner would earn $252,000. The second-place purse was $151,200.

The putt hung on the edge of the cup for two full seconds.

Then it fell.

The $151,200, however, lifted Pavin into seventh place on the 1992 PGA money list with $715,800.

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Golden: Bob Burns of Valencia captured the week’s Golden State Tour event at his home course, the Valencia Country Club, on Monday. Burns shot a 3-under-par 69 for a three-stroke victory over Mark Singer of Los Angeles.

Burns earned $1,000 for the win.

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Upcoming: The 18th Golf and Tennis Classic at Braemar, co-sponsored by the chambers of commerce of the Mid San Fernando Valley and Studio City, will be held Sept. 21.

The golf tournament will be played in a scramble format starting at noon.

Information: 818-989-0300.