Redmond Sophomore Is Natural On Golf Course

For some, golf is an obsession. For Jeff D'Amico, a Redmond High School sophomore, it's a fix that gets him from baseball season to basketball season.

``It messes things up more if I hit a bucket of balls at the driving range because you try to make everything so perfect,'' D'Amico said.

D'Amico is a natural, someone who can put his clubs away for eight months, pick them up again at the end of the summer, and after a few practice rounds, play like he does nothing else.

Until this week, with a little help from a pair of not-so-challenging courses, D'Amico was shooting scratch golf. His 70.5 per-round average, forged at Carnation and Wayne golf courses, led the KingCo Conference. He was stumped Monday by Sahalee, where he double-bogeyed three consecutive holes and finished with a 10-over-par 82. That raised his average to 74.3.

He was still the medalist as the Mustangs beat Woodinville by one stroke. D'Amico shot a 38 on the first nine before faltering on the course's east nine. Redmond, which lost to Woodinville last year in a Crown Division playoff, improved to 2-1 and remained in contention for a division title. Coach Pat Magdall said one of the season's biggest tests will come next week when Redmond plays undefeated Inglemoor.

The Mustangs' future is cast. Their varsity is all underclassmen. J.D. Huleen, whose would-be-medalist score of 77 didn't count against Woodinville because he was late for the match, is a sophomore, as are Kelly Smith, Brian Wilk and D'Amico. Justin Johnson is a freshman. Mike Wehrman, Josh Boulange and Alex Jarrett are juniors. Wehrman, Boulange, Huleen and D'Amico have shown they can shoot in the 70s.

``Lately it's been Jeff who has been hot,'' Boulange said. ``We all have that capability. If it ever comes together we'll be a very good team.''

D'Amico is perhaps the most promising player on the team. At age 15, he is already 6 feet tall and seems to possess an unflappable temperament for the game. His drives all travel a mile, and the longest putts don't shake him.

A day after being manhandled by his home course, D'Amico returned to Sahalee and, in front of a small gallery, mastered the course.

His first tee shot on the east nine looked like it was hit by Jose Canseco. It swayed slightly, bending with the dogleg. If the fairway had a sweet spot, D'Amico found it.

``Wow!'' said one of his witnesses, a member of the Redmond girls' golf team which played behind D'Amico's foursome.

It was on the first three holes of the east nine that D'Amico shot a six-over par Monday. Yesterday, he parred all three, missing two birdie putts by a few inches. He finished with a nine-hole score of 38, a six-stroke improvement from the day before.

D'Amico grew up on Sahalee. Sort of. His house is off the sixth green, but his parents weren't members. D'Amico played most of his golf at Bellevue Municipal. Maybe that explains his attentiveness to the course.

If he couldn't find his divot, he'd find someone else's to repair the holes he made in the fairway. He was usually the first one in his foursome to reach the green and always the first to repair his ball mark. He's also the first one to man the pin, or to congratulate a teammate on a shot.

``Good chip Jim . . . good putt Justin . . . nice drive Josh . . .''

And that was only one hole.

While watching D'Amico play, it's difficult to imagine that golf was just a hobby until last year. His No. 1 sport is baseball, his No. 1 team the Los Angeles Dodgers. After that it's basketball.

``At Evergreen (Junior High) he was totally known for basketball and baseball,'' said Nicole Jacobsen, a member of the Redmond girls' golf team who qualified for the state tournament last season.

D'Amico is continuing the basketball-golf connection at Redmond. All-state guard Jeff Dick, now at Western Washington, also played golf at Redmond. This year the basketball team is represented by D'Amico, Huleen and Boulange. The D'Amico name is more familiar on the court. Jeff's older brother, J.T., helped the Mustangs win consecutive state championships in 1988 and '89.

``Jeff is the type of athlete who can take on golf and still play basketball and baseball,'' Magdall said. ``Golf comes naturally to him. He just takes a good swing and hits the ball.''

The D'Amico brothers got golf clubs for Christmas almost 10 years ago. Jeff took to the sport especially well, and developed a swing on his own by watching others. He was never coached, nor has he ever taken a lesson. He said he watches a lot of golf on television. He likes Greg Norman because he hits with power.

``I always hit the ball as hard as I can,'' D'Amico said.

D'Amico would play when the family was on vacation, or when baseball season was over. But he said he didn't take it seriously until last summer because he devoted so much time to baseball.

His father, Tom D'Amico, played in the Dodgers' farm system and made it to Class AAA. J.T., who graduated from Redmond in '89, plays for the UCLA baseball team. For most of this summer, Jeff played shortstop for a Mickey Mantle team, of which Tom D'Amico was an assistant coach. Jeff didn't touch a golf club the whole time.

D'Amico admits he and golfers like Boulange and Huleen might score lower if they played golf all year. Nonetheless, D'Amico's goal is to qualify for state and finish among the top 10.

``I think of myself as a baseball player,'' D'Amico said. ``I grew up around it. What I do with golf depends on baseball. If I get hurt, I always have golf. Golf is definitely the most frustrating sport I play.

``I think of golf and baseball as completely different. Except that I hit the ball as hard as I can just to see how far I can hit it. I guess I have an aggressive approach to both games.''