GOLF / RICH TOSCHES : Price Made Tour Life a Dead Issue Early

Lisa Price of Ventura, a teaching pro at Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club, had just completed her first practice round for the LPGA Championship at Bethesda Country Club outside Washington, D.C., last week. Now, she sat on the clubhouse terrace with a cold drink, gazing out over the lush landscape.

And the first thing she saw was the crowded practice range. Dozens of women were pounding range ball after range ball into the late-afternoon air, seeking to correct swing flaws or create a machine-like rhythm in their swings by relentlessly hammering away at golf balls.

As Price, a talented golfer, sipped the drink, she knew instantly why these women were on the LPGA Tour while she spent her days teaching people with wretched golf swings how to get from tee to green without maiming anyone.

“The difference between me and the top women golfers is experience, dedication to the game and mental toughness,” said Price, who missed the 36-hole cut in the prestigious event.

“I don’t know if I could ever have that mental toughness that it takes, that dedication to play golf or hit golf balls for hours every day.”

Price was a walk-on member of the Cal State Fullerton women’s team after picking up the game just a few years earlier while in the Army. After graduation, she turned pro and settled in with a golf job she liked: teaching. She qualified for the LPGA Championship by winning the Western Regional Teaching Division tournament in Arizona in the spring.

And she does not regret for a minute not dedicating her life more fully to golf. She is married to Len Price, also a pro at Ojai Valley, and they have an 18-month-old daughter, Laura. All of which makes tour life seem a bit hollow.

“I am not envious at all of the tour life,” she said. “I just know it’s not for me. I long ago settled that issue in my mind.”

Price played well early in the opening round of the $1-million tournament. She was even-par through 13 holes. But then things began to unravel and she soared to 8-over-par over the final six holes, including a triple bogey on No. 18. On Friday she shot an 81 and missed the cut by 10 strokes.

But others missed the cut too, including LPGA stars Hollis Stacy and Juli Inkster.

And for one moment Thursday, on the par-3, 168-yard eighth hole, Price got a thrill she will never forget. Her tee shot came within an inch of going into the cup, and hundreds of fans ringing the green let out a roar.

“It gave me a big chill,” Price said. “I’m glad I played. It was exciting just to be a part of it. It made me feel special.”

Pacific Coast Amateur: Valley-area players did not fare well in the first two rounds of the Pacific Coast Amateur Championships at Eugene (Ore.) Country Club on Wednesday.

Paul Stankowski of Oxnard, the runner-up in the Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur last month, had rounds of 72 and 74 and was at 146, six strokes behind leader Terry Miskell. Charlie Wi of Thousand Oaks, the state amateur champion, was at 151 and Mitch Voges of Simi Valley was at 152.

The three local players survived the 36-hole cut, which was 153. The tournament concludes Friday.

Incoming: Bud Tenerani of Valencia, an avid golfer and a spokesman for Valencia Country Club, noted an item in this space last week about gunshots apparently being fired at golfers in the recent Ventura city championships.

That, he said, is nothing. Try dropping a delicate chip shot onto a green with a Cessna landing on your head.

That, Tenerani said, is really distracting.

Ten years ago, while playing a solo round at Hansen Dam Golf Course in Pacoima, Tenerani found himself just off the first green in the late afternoon. He had a short chip and had positioned his clubhead behind the ball when the shadow of what he thought was a large bird blanketed the green.

It was a single-engine plane whose engine had died. The pilot, searching for a place to ditch his aircraft, had spotted the golf course. The plane glided silently toward the green. And Tenerani.

“Of course, I had no problem spotting him,” Tenerani said. “I’ve always had this habit of looking up.”

After the plane passed over him at an estimated altitude of 35 feet, it hit the fairway behind Tenerani. The plane was slightly damaged, but the pilot was unhurt.

“The eerie part was that there was no sound at all,” Tenerani said. “Do these things have horns? They should.”

Or at the very least, pilots in the menacingly busy skies above Los Angeles should be instructed in the proper use of the word, “Fore!”

Benefit: The Make a Wish Foundation of Los Angeles will hold a golf fund-raiser on Aug. 16 at the Woodley Lakes Golf Club in Van Nuys. The scramble-format tournament is open to the first 25 foursomes that register.

Information: 344-3426.