Seeking Mesa crown

Athletics has always come fairly easily to Eric Vallely, a high school volleyball and basketball standout at Newport Harbor who went on to play volleyball at UCLA, where his father, John, played on NCAA championship teams under legendary basketball coach John Wooden in 1969 and 1970.

But despite the younger Vallely’s exposure to golf at an early age — his grandfather was an original member of the Newport Beach Country Club, then known as the Irvine Country Club — Vallely always figured pitches and putts were the athletic equivalent to the pocket protector.

“When I was a kid, golf was not cool,” said Vallely, now a plus-two handicap golfer (two under par) who is among the field in the championship flight of the 36th annual Costa Mesa City Golf Championship, today and Sunday at the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club.

Vallely, a 32-year-old Costa Mesa resident, has since won a few titles on the golf course, including 2007 Newport Beach Country Club men’s champion. But the Costa Mesa tournament, whose list of champions include PGA Tour competitors Mark O’Meara and Scott Simpson, is one title he still covets.

“I came close a few years ago [finishing tied for 13th in the 2005 event], but I had a train wreck on the back nine on the last day,” said Vallely, whose golf career highlights also include making the final stage of qualifying for the U.S. Open in 2004. “So, I’ll be out there grinding, whether I’m playing good or bad. To win would be great. I really need to limit the bogeys and get as many birdies as I can to give myself a chance.”

Vallely said he finally gave golf a chance as his collegiate volleyball career was winding down.

“I had all the [golf] fundamentals, because I was pretty much forced to take lessons as a kid,” he said. “As I was pretty much getting burned out on volleyball [at UCLA], golf just took me. I was grabbed by it and I’ve pretty much been hooked ever since.”

Vallely mixes golf with a passion for surfing and the latter is often easier to squeeze into his busy schedule, which sometimes puts golf on the back burner.

“It’s a lot easier to go out and surf for 45 minutes than it is to play a round of golf,” said Vallely, who is an accomplished longboarder. He won the longboard division at the 2007 Newport Classic and just last month captured the longboard crown at a prestigious contest in Malibu.

A lack of steady time on the golf course led Vallely to sit out the Costa Mesa tournament the last two years. But he is excited to take part again this year, despite lingering trepidation about a lack of preparation with his game.

“Every year, good local players turn out for this event, and it even draws some who come from a little distance away,” Vallely said. “Winning this tournament would hold some recognition and it’s a good chance to test your skills against a good field of players.”

Vallely also said the Mesa Linda and Los Lagos courses offer a strong chance to score, though Tournament Director Sean Collins typically selects some supremely challenging pin placements.

“On some of these holes, it’s almost impossible to shoot for the flag,” Vallely said. “And, if you’re on the high side of the cup, you could be four feet away and still three-putt.”

Putting, and the short game in general, remain the most challenging part of the game for Vallely, who at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, can routinely rip drives in excess of 300 yards.

“I don’t play everyday, so it’s hard to have that touch around the green when you don’t have that feel that comes with playing more often than I do,” he said.

Vallely, who partners with his father in a motivational speaking venture in which John, doing well after a recent battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, delivers his perspective on some of Wooden’s renowned Pyramid of Success, and said he could use those principles a little better himself when approaching the mental side of golf.

“I’m probably guilty of violating a few of [Wooden’s] principles out on the course,” Vallely said. “I try to keep an even keel, but sometimes the competitor in me starts taking over and I get caught in the moment. Golf is a four-letter word for a reason. If I’m not doing my best out there, I’m not happy.”

The tournament, with a field of approximately 320 competing in various flights, begins today at 6 a.m.

Golfers begin teeing off at 6 a.m. Sunday, with the group atop the championship flight leaderboard to tee off between 11:30 a.m. and 12:10 p.m.

Former champions expected to compete include Jim George (1973), Mike Carpenter (2001), Doug Martinez (2005) and defending champion Chris Hirahatake, who defeated Will Tipton (2008 Big Canyon Country Club men’s champion) in a playoff last year.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].