Golfers aim high

By Stacey DeFever, On-Line Forty-Niner

Wednesday, September 16, 1998

Bob Livingstone has high expectations for the Long Beach State men's golf team. The team has a lot of experience working for them-they lost only one player from last year.

Livingstone said he believes that returning player John Mallinger is a good candidate for Big West Conference Player of the Year.

New to this year's team is Kevin Wurtz, who actually played for The Beach two years ago before he left for a mission in Buenos Aires. Currently, Wurtz is third in the team's qualifying rounds.

Brian Gonzales is also new to the golf team. Gonzales played for Long Beach City College last year.

Livingstone has been trying to recruit Gonzales since he graduated from high school in 1997, but because of Title Nine, he had been unsuccessful until this year.

Title Nine states that the composition of the athletic department must have an equal number of participating male athletes to female athletes.

The third new team member is Perry Dickey, who was recruited from UCLA.

"Last year we had what I'd call 'bad Oreo tournaments' which is where we'd have two bad rounds with one good one in the middle," Livingstone said.

Livingstone said he predicts that the team will make it to the playoffs if they are able to turn the bad rounds into mediocre or better.

In addition to bringing back Mallinger and the three new recruits, the team also returns seniors Sean Brocklebank and Steve Yanagisawa, juniors Jason Beach and Steve Mena and sophomore Brian Merrick.

The nine members are currently playing in qualifying rounds. The top five qualifiers will travel and play in the tournaments and the four best scores will be recorded.

The first tournament is the Pacific Invitational, which will be held on Sept. 21 and 22 at the Saddle Creek Golf Club in Copperopolis, Calif.