Crowds Will Tail the Tiger : Golf: Woods’ presence could draw 2,000 to North Ranch for Southwestern Intercollegiate Invitational.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE â€”  Sixteen of the nation’s top NCAA men’s golf teams open play today in the Southwestern Intercollegiate Invitational at North Ranch Country Club.

Few of the folks who turn up to watch will care. Most will be interested in one particular guy.

Tiger Woods, the ballyhooed freshman phenomenon from Stanford, is entered in the tournament and is making his first appearance in a Valley-area event. Tournament organizers are expecting as many as 2,000 spectators to attend as a result.

Admission is free.

Woods, who won the 1994 U.S. Amateur Championship a few weeks after graduating from Anaheim Western High, entered Stanford last fall and promptly won his first collegiate tournament. Woods also won an unprecedented three U.S. Junior Amateur titles.

Stanford, the defending NCAA champion, won the Southwestern team title last spring. Four of the team’s top five players returned for 1994-95. The addition of Woods makes the Cardinal a favorite to repeat.

Southwestern tournament chairman C.W. Johnson said Woods’ presence has generated interview requests from publications in Japan and Germany.

Teams entered are Arizona, Arizona State, Brigham Young, Cal, Colorado, Fresno State, Houston, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Stanford, UCLA and USC.

The event begins today with an exhibition round in a pro-am-style format at noon.

The 54-hole stroke-play tournament starts Monday morning at 7:30.

The field will play 36 holes Monday and 18 holes beginning at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday. The four lowest scores on each five-man team count toward the overall team score.

Several PGA Tour luminaries have competed in the event since its inception in 1979, including Fred Couples, John Daly, Andrew Magee, Duffy Waldorf, Corey Pavin, Billy Mayfair, Dan Forsman and Phil Mickelson.

Past winners include Forsman, Pavin, Mayfair, Willie Wood and Sam Randolph.

Todd Dempsey of Arizona State is the defending individual champion. Dempsey, one of the nation’s top players, was a member of the Walker Cup team last year.

Charlie Wi of North Hills, who played at Westlake High, is a senior at Cal. Wi won the State Amateur Championship five years ago.

Steve Woods of San Jose State, the defending State Amateur champion, also will play. Chad Wright, a Buena High graduate, plays for USC.

Arizona State has won the Southwestern team title four times. North Ranch was the site of the 1988 NCAA championship, which was won by UCLA. It is one of USC’s home courses.