Cal’s Chun adapts to new role after years as the understudy
Walter Chun suspected he had moved into a strange, new world when he accepted the job to replace Steve Desimone as head coach of the Cal men’s golf team. Then, the next day, Chun confirmed his suspicions.
He attended an on-campus “retreat” for head coaches in late July, at Zellerbach Hall. All the coaches were asked to complete a questionnaire, which included this: How many years have you been in the position?
Chun, ever honest, wrote down, “15 hours.”
“I looked around the room, and there were so many coaches with white hair,” he said. “I’m the new kid on the block. I just listen to what all the other coaches have to say.”
His elevation marks a rare change atop this program. For the first time in nearly four decades, a head coach other than Desimone is leading Cal.
Chun, a longtime assistant at the school, will guide the Bears into their second tournament of the fall starting Friday in Scottsdale, Ariz. They finished eighth in the season-opening Gopher Invitational outside Minneapolis, Sept. 10-11.
Desimone retired in May after 37 years at the helm, including the past 12 with Chun as his trusty sidekick. Chun quickly discovered the difference between the No. 2 role and steering the ship.
“One of the best analogies is this: When I was assistant coach, I felt like a turtle,” Chun said. “If things got hectic, I could go in my shell and be protected . ... Now I feel like a duck, trying to stay afloat.”
Chun, 37, was the logical choice to succeed Desimone, in part because of his long history at the school (he played for Cal from 1997 through 2002). Chun also exudes quiet confidence and steady calm, two handy qualities in a head coach.
Desimone remains available to offer advice — he’s still leading the program’s fundraising efforts — but Chun faces a sizable short-term challenge on the course. Two of Cal’s top players, juniors KK Limbhasut and Sebastian Crampton, are redshirting this year to focus on academics.
That leaves sophomore Collin Morikawa as the anchor of a young, talented team, led by a coach without white hair.
Power of silence: Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully’s impending retirement prompted GolfDigest.com to repost a first-person column Scully wrote for the magazine in September 2012.
Scully worked the Masters on CBS for eight years (1975-82). Among the many anecdotal gems in his Golf Digest piece was this recounting of his ’75 call at Augusta National, a story speaking to Scully’s refreshing lack of ego.
“When Tom Weiskopf and Johnny Miller had putts on the last hole to tie Jack Nicklaus ,I said at the time, ‘So it comes down to this …’ and briefly outlined the scene as clearly as I could,” Scully wrote.
“At that point, I swiveled the microphone on my headset over my head, away from my mouth. I did that so I could resist the announcer’s temptation to say something else. There really is nothing to say at that point.
“The silence as Tom and Johnny prepared to putt was profound. Thousands of people encircled 18, yet I could hear birds chirping in the trees. Not a sound from the patrons, and it was that silence that was the star. It conveyed all the tension, expectance and suspense.
“To me, there is nothing more magical in golf than the nothing sound of silence.” Wi retires: Cal alum Charlie Wi has retired from tournament golf, after a 21-year pro career. Wi was a first-team All-American in his only season with the Bears (1995).
Wi, 44, won five times in Asia and once on the European Tour. But he went winless in 246 starts on the PGA Tour; he posted five runner-up finishes, including the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am behind Phil Mickelson.
Don’t feel bad for Wi — he earned nearly $10.3 million combined on the PGA and Web.com tours (and that doesn’t include his overseas winnings). He plans to become a teaching pro outside Los Angeles. Tour Championship on tap: Five players — Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott, Jason Day and Paul Casey — can win the season points title by taking this week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth also have a realistic chance at the season crown (and $10 million bonus), provided they win this event.