Wolf Park Classic:

49er golfers pack it in early

Oct. 3, 1995.

It was a day that Cal State Long Beach's men's golf team will never forget.

The players awoke early Tuesday and arrived at the Tahoe, Nev. course at 8 a.m. to start the final round of the Wolf Pack Classic.

Only one problem.

The 49ers were never told that their tee time had been moved to 9:45 a.m. so that another team which had scheduled an earlier departing flight could play. So the 49ers were forced to wait nearly two hours, with nothing to do expect watch the wind turn unforgiving.

Then, when they finally started playing, things turned glum. The 49ers shot a 336 (the best four players' scores count) on the par 288 course on their way to a 17th place finish among 21 teams.

Agusta College won the tournament after a playoff with the College of Charleston.

"Basically, nobody played well,'' Coach Bob Livingstone said of the 49ers. "I'm not sure Long Beach State has ever played that poorly in a third round.''

Afterward, Livingstone said he will not allow the top two finishers of the tournament to automatically gain a spot in the next competition, the Herb Wimberly Coca Cola Classic Oct. 13-14 at Las Cruces, N.M.

A pre-tournament qualifying round will be held to see which five players go. So Livingstone is trying to shake things up, right? "Yeah,'' he said, "that's a good way to say it.''

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Wurzer's final round was especially strange. He was without one of his contact lenses because it ripped. Then, he couldn't wear the other one when it dried out.

He could have put on his glasses, even though he doesn't like wearing them while playing, but there was one slight problem.

The glasses were already packed for the trip home. The ride home was somber. ÔÔNobody talked very much,'' Livingstone said.

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The 49ers' complete schedule for next semester will likely be finalized by the middle of November. So far, three of the six tournaments have been confirmed. . . . CSULB did not make a good impression on many coaches who gathered in Nevada to watch the Wolf Pack Classic. "That (our performance) might have hurt our chances for tournaments next year,'' Livingstone said.