Golf: Whitehill now atop Southern California golf’s big mountain.

Richard Dunn

One of Southern California’s best golf professional jobs also goes

to one of the youngest.

In the case of Clint Whitehill, who began his reign Tuesday as Big

Canyon Country Club’s new head pro, there were humble beginnings before

landing one of the Southern California Golf Association’s plum gigs.

At Lake Shastina Golf Resort in Northern California, where Whitehill

grew up, he scrambled anywhere and everywhere to earn driving-range

privileges and break into the club golf business.

“I’d pick up golf balls, so I could get time on the range, then I

worked my way up into the cart barn and eventually into the golf shop,”

Whitehill said Wednesday, his second day as head pro at Big Canyon, after

being hired three weeks ago to replace local legend Kelly Manos, now at

The Club at Morningside in Rancho Mirage.

Whitehill, who attended USC but did not play golf for the Trojans,

served the past two years as head pro at The SCGA Members’ Club in

Murrieta, the position that ultimately helped open the door at Big

Canyon.

In golf’s highly competitive industry of the club pro world, it

usually takes one big break in your career to crack the market as a head

professional.

For Whitehill, that happened when the SCGA, the largest amateur golf

association in America, built its own golf course and hired him.

“Wow, I was really honored,” said Whitehill, now 31. “That’s the break

you need, to get that first head pro job.”

Big Canyon, the most exclusive private club in Orange County, also

hired Manos as head pro when he was under 35.

Manos was 30 when he was hired at Big Canyon as a first assistant

under Bob Lovejoy in February 1995. Manos took over for Lovejoy as head

pro in May 1999. Lovejoy, now the club’s director of golf, was about 41

when he was ticketed as Big Canyon’s head pro in 1985.

Whitehill, a Class-A member of the PGA of America, was a first

assistant at Pauma Valley Country Club near Escondido for 2 1/2 years,

before arriving at the new SCGA Members’ Club.

Prior to Pauma Valley, Whitehill operated as the golf shop manager at

Lake San Marcos Country Club.

“I pretty much worked around golf my whole life,” said Whitehill, who

worked in the bag room and driving range at Los Angeles Country Club when

he was a USC student.

“I don’t have a famous playing resume. I didn’t play any NCAA events

or win any notable tournaments ... I wasn’t much of a player at USC. I

was more of a scholar. I was part of the USC golf team in a very small

way. I got to practice with the team.”

Whitehill, who graduated from USC in 1992, said he feels fortunate to

be in Southern California and working at Big Canyon. “It’s a pretty

recognizable name,” Whitehill said. “I love Newport Beach and the whole

area. It was a neat opportunity that opened up when Kelly left.”

Although Whitehill isn’t known for his playing prowess, he indicated

two thumbs up about playing in this summer’s Jones Cup (tentatively

scheduled for July 27). “I’ll dust off my clubs,” he said.

Speaking of young, hot golf pros, Mesa Verde Country Club’s Jeremy

Clevenger is volunteering for a second straight year as tournament

chairman for the Southern California PGA Metropolitan Chapter.

Clevenger, perhaps the next Tom Sargent, is also a member of Metro

Chapter’s board of a dozen pros.

Clevenger, the 2000 SCPGA Assistant Professional of the Year, and

Geoff Cochrane are two of head pro Sargent’s best in the shop and on the

golf course.

In Monday’s SCPGA Metro Chapter Pro-Scratch event at the par-70

Friendly Hills Country Club in Whittier, a better ball of partners with a

club pro and low-handicap amateur, Santa Ana Country Club’s Mike Reehl

and Chris Veitch finished second with a 4-under 66.

Hillcrest pro Ron Skayhan and Tony Behrstock shot 64 and won the

event, directed by Clevenger.

Reehl and Veitch were second along with Virginia Country Club’s Trevor

Baker (pro) and David Cameron.

The event served as a qualifier for the SCPGA Pro-Scratch Sectional

Championships May 21 at Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena.

The top seven pro-am teams in Monday’s field, which included

sixth-place finishers Clevenger and amateur Dave Irwin, qualified for the

championships.

Other local qualifiers included Craig Kaminski (pro) and John Adachi

of Pelican Hill Golf Club (tied for fourth at 3-under 67) and Corona del

Mar resident Tom Schauppner of the Long Beach Training Center. Schauppner

teamed with amateur Ian McDonald with a 68 and a tie for sixth with

Clevenger and Irwin.

Clevenger said the next Metro Chapter event is April 9 at Tijeras

Creek.

One of these days, Clevenger, I predict, will be SCPGA section

president.

Mesa Verde Country Club, which has big plans this summer, will once

again host LPGA Tour star Muffin Spencer-Devlin’s Mental Health Golf

Classic.

The sixth annual event, which raises funds to enhance the supportive

housing program for Orange County’s mentally ill, will be played Monday

and is presented by the Newport Beach-based organization Helping Our

Mentally Ill Experience Success (HOMES, Inc.).

Spencer-Devlin, who won three times on the LPGA Tour in the 1980s, is

a mental health advocate and will be on hand to offer encouragement to

amateur golfers. Supporters include many local doctors and pharmaceutical

company executives. Details: (949) 851-2766.

Mesa Verde and the SCPGA Foundation will host the 23rd annual Girls

Junior America’s Cup Team Matches Aug. 6-9.

The event brings together players representing 18 junior golf

associations from the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The format will have four players competing for each team but only the

three lowest scores count.

“This is a great opportunity for the juniors to test themselves

against the golf course and history,” said Sargent, the 1998 PGA of

America Golf Professional of the Year.

“Mesa Verde Country Club has hosted (six) LPGA Tour events, as well as

the USGA Junior Girls Championship (in 1993), and it is a true champions

golf course. It will be very similar to what the competitors will face in

college.”

Mesa Verde hosted the LPGA Kemper Open from 1979-81 and the LPGA

Uniden Invitational from 1984-86.

In the fall, Mesa Verde will begin construction on a $7 million

clubhouse remodeling project.

Quote of the Week, from Toshiba Senior Classic Tournament Director

Jeff Purser, who has been lobbying to the Senior PGA Tour for a later

date in March for his event: “In my four years here, every day in March

seems to be better.”

Richard Dunn’s golf column appears every Thursday.