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Published on 08/25/1999 All articles from this issue

Los Altos golfer scores at U.S. Amateur Championship

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By Glen Putman

Special to the Town Crier

Based on his success at last week's United States Amateur Golf Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Charlie Woerner of Los Altos ranks among the top eight amateur players in the nation.

Woerner, 22, reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, which was won by Tennessee's David Gossett last Sunday.

From a field that started out with almost 8,000 golfers trying to qualify, Woerner beat long odds to become one of the last eight players standing after a grueling two-week elimination process. That's pretty impressive considering 1997 champion Matt Kuchar and 1998 runner-up Tom McKnight didn't even make the stroke play cut to get into the match play competition.

"I was very focused," Woerner said. "I wanted to win very badly. I felt calm and composed. The U.S. Amateur is the biggest championship an amateur player can play in. It's the biggest thing in golf I've done so far."

The 1995 graduate of St. Francis High was eliminated Friday when he lost his match, 2 and 1, to Hunter Haas. At the 17th hole, surrounded by Carmel Bay, Haas coaxed a 90-foot putt to within two feet and tapped in for the winning par 3, while Woerner had a 3-putt bogie from about the same distance.

Woerner is a fifth-year marketing major at USC, which lured him with a full scholarship. He will graduate next May and plans to work on his game. And, because quarterfinal finishers automatically qualify for the following year, Woerner will play in the 2000 U.S. Amateur at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey.

In the fall of 2000, Woerner said he plans to turn pro.

During the week, Woerner proved to be a tough competitor in the match play format, often getting out of trouble from the five-inch rough of the demanding 6,828-yard Pebble Beach course to win a hole.

"The best thing I learned was that I can play with anybody in the world. At Pebble Beach I didn't play the kind of golf I know I'm capable of playing," said Woerner, who started playing golf at Shoreline and Palo Alto Municipal when he was 9. He worked at both Los Altos Country Club and Stanford Golf Club during high school and won the CIF golf championship in 1993.

Just getting into the U.S. Amateur Championship, founded in 1895, was a great accomplishment. Some 7,920 players from all over the United States and many foreign countries tried to become one of the 312 golfers who qualified for two days of stroke play at Pebble and Spyglass Hill. The field was then reduced to the lowest 64 scorers, who went on to match play. Woerner won his first match Wednesday and both his second and third matches Thursday to make it to the quarterfinals.

It was a family affair for the Woerners, with an entourage that included his mom and dad, Pattie and Fred, his sister Kristina and brother Jason.

Outside the immediate family, his biggest fan was fiancee Jenny McConica, a fellow USC student.

The family lodging arrangements were almost as challenging as the devilishly slick greens of Pebble Beach. Since Woerner did not qualify for the event until Aug. 2 at Sharon Heights Country Club, the family did not have much time to book hotel space on the Monterey Peninsula during the height of tourist season.

"We had to pack up and move to a different hotel every day," Pattie said.

Father Fred, who played in both the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur during his college days at the University of Georgia, described the experience as "stressful."

Well, Fred can now relax. Father and son will have a game or two before the younger Woerner trades in his Taylor Made clubs for textbooks. Even as a 6-handicapper, dad will get a couple of strokes a side.

Putman is a Los Altos freelance writer.