Trip to State Might Suit Trio’s Tastes : Golf: Lunde, Wen, Pecjak were good in Insurance Youth Classic qualifier, but there were goodies all around.

POWAY â€”  Here’s betting that it has been a year or two since Bob Tway or Tom Kite were offered fresh home-made cookies, baked by the wife of the tournament director no less, after a victory in a tournament.

Ah, the innocence of junior golf.

As the 21 18-and-under juniors who competed in the Insurance Youth Golf Classic qualifier were coming off the Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club course Tuesday afternoon, they were greeted with offers of chewy peanut butter cookies.

After all, only three would advance to the state championship next month in Bakersfield and the confections certainly served as a sweet footnote for those who didn’t qualify.

The winners should have eaten some as well.

Bill Lunde, Andrew Wen and Ben Pecjak were the qualifiers. Yet when asked if they looked forward to testing their skills against some of the best golfers in the state, they acted as if they’d welcome a visit to the dentist drilled with equal enthusiasm.

“Not really, it’s the same game,� said Pecjak, a junior at Kearny High.

Said Wen, a junior at Rancho Buena Vista: “I’m just a little bit excited. I’d be more excited if I didn’t triple (bogey) the last hole.�

Lunde, who qualified for the second consecutive year, rounded out the trio. He wasn’t gushing over the prospect of his second trip to the state tournament.

“It’s not really that big a deal until you get into the final,� the Poway senior said.

Qualifiers from the state tournament advance to the national championship at Pinehurst in North Carolina. Last year, Lunde advanced to nationals but didn’t make the first cut.

Lunde was the top regional qualifier in the medalist scratch format Tuesday. He finished the difficult 6,615-yard course with a four-over-par 76. Wen was one shot back with a 77, and Pecjak shot a 78.

Wen was so underwhelmed by his feat that he said he might pass on the opportunity to play at Bakersfield’s Rio Bravo Country Club Aug. 3-4. There’s a local tournament, the America’s Junior Cup, that coincides with the Insurance Youth Classic.

“Yeah, I talked to Bill and he might not go (to Bakersfield) either,� Wen said.

Pecjak, seemed committed but bored by the thought of the five-hour drive to Bakersfield.

“You have to drive all the way up there,� he said. “How far is it? Five hours? And that’s if you go 100 miles per hour in a Lamborghini, right?�

If Lunde and Wen do bow out, that would open the door to alternate Lenny Hall (79) and Ronald Brizzie (82).

This was disappointing news to Tournament Director Roger McCollum, who theorized why the golfers would choose a local tournament, where they would compete against familiar opponents, over a state event with unfamiliar ones.

“I’m not sure they realize how big this tournament really is,� said McCollum, who ran this tournament for the second year in a row. “I don’t think they realize who some of the touring pros are that have won it before.�

Tway and Bobby Clampett are two such names.

The classic is the largest junior tournament in the nation and attracts more than 10,000 participants. The regional qualifier in Orange County generally has 40-60 competitors. San Diego’s draw of 21 is up from last year’s 13.

“We should get (as many as Orange),� McCollum said. “Part of the problem is it’s a tough course and it’s even tougher to walk. I may have to look into moving it somewhere not so hard.�

McCollum said that a four-year lapse from 1987 to 1990, when the tournament wasn’t held here, hurt the event.

“Since we didn’t have it locally those four year it lost its continuity,� he said. “It goes back to this being a new tournament for San Diego. But you have to learn to crawl before you can walk.�