Golf

Senior Fallston golfer Stephen Bennett sparks the defending District VII champions with a laid-back approach that keeps his teammates laughing when they aren't lining up a putt or preparing a tough shot. He won the Harford County individual championship with a 72, shot an 81 to help the Cougars capture the district title and carries a 5-handicap. Bennett joined the Fallston team for the second half of the season last fall after his family moved to the Fallston area from Ireland. What does it mean to be a top golfer on the District VII champions?

Kay Lynn Wolfe stands on the practice range of a golf course, watching her shot arc gracefully and land a couple of hundred feet away."All right!" she says to herself, waving her golf club in the air, a satisfied expression on her face. Then, businesslike, she lines up the next shot.At 30, Ms. Wolfe is learning the game of golf -- not just for sport, but for business. A certified public accountant, Ms. Wolfe decided she needed to be able to play the next time a business contact sponsored a golf tournament or outing.

Joe Vennari, a former state amateur golf champion who was a salesman for Ryan Homes in Martinsburg, W.Va., died of heart failure Sunday at his residence there. He was 38, and formerly lived in Catonsville and Columbia. Born in Baltimore and raised on Garden Ridge Road in Catonsville, he attended St. Mark Parochial School. As an Atholton High School junior, he won the state high school golf championship, known as the Junior Boys' Amateur, in 1981 -- the year he also captured the Middle Atlantic PGA Junior Golf Championship.

County Executive John G. Gary was grilled last night by residents who live near the proposed Fort Smallwood golf course about how the new housing developments, and where the golf course would be built, would affect the area.About 180 residents from the nearby Chandler Point, Water Oak Point and Poplar Ridge areas attended the meeting. Some questioned what would happen to Tar Cove Park if the 18-hole golf course was moved across Fort Smallwood Road."If we do not get a golf course over there, what are we going to get?"

Liberty High will be teeing off a new golf program this fall.The school will become the second in Carroll County history -- Westminster being the other -- to boast its own golf program when the team first competes this fall.Until last year, the county had a combined team open to golfers from the other four public schools. Strong interest at Liberty prompted the school to form its own team."Kids starting coming to me wanting to form a golf team so we went to Bob Henard [Liberty athletic director]

SCHEDULE PGA Tour World Golf Championships: Algarve World Cup Site -- Vilamoura, Portugal Schedule -- Thursday-Sunday Course -- Victoria Club de Golf (7,174 yards, par 72) Purse -- $4 million. Winners split $1.4 million. TV -- ESPN (Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m-11 a.m., re-air 1 p.m.-3 p.m.); ABC (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.-7 p.m. tape delay; Sunday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m., tape delay). Format -- 72-hole tournament consisting of two rounds of four-ball stroke play and two rounds of foursome stroke play, with teams of two players representing 24 countries.

As another golf season comes to a close and cooler temperatures approach, many golfers are faced with the decision of whether to hang up their clubs until spring. But for most avid golfers, the thought of not hitting the links for the entire winter is unacceptable. Mike Golder, 38, of Annapolis, manages to hit the greens even when the temperatures dip. He goes to Goodyear Golf Club in Danville, Va., where the winter temperatures are warmer than in the Baltimore area. Golder doesn't mind the almost six-hour drive to the course because he's also from the area, which is southwest of Richmond.

A Glen Burnie woman told county police that she was raped Saturday night near the Dwight D. Eisenhower Golf Course in Crownsville.The 29-year-old woman, who was treated at Anne Arundel General Hospital, told police she accepted a ride about 10: 30 p.m. from a man driving a two-door, charcoal gray Pontiac Grand Am. She told police that the man offered her a ride from Old Mill Road, just south of Northway Shopping Center, to Annapolis.The woman told police that the man drove south on Route 178 past the golf course then turned onto a secondary road, where the rape occurred.

An Ellicott City firm has offered to spare the Columbia Association the anguish of developing a new public golf course at the former Allview Golf Course.All the association has to do is hand over the land, nearly 200 acres.Rainmaker Associates on Monday sent a letter to all nine ColumbiaCouncil members and association President Padraic Kennedy outlining the offer -- to build the golf course in exchange for title to the land. Letters also went to the Rouse Co., which owns a parcel needed for the course, and County Executive Charles I. Ecker.

Sophomore Matt Philie, in his second season on varsity, was the top golfer for Glenelg, which captured county, district and state crowns this fall. Philie, who has a 3.5 handicap, picked up golf when he was 6, playing with his father, Mike. After shooting a 72 to lead the Gladiators to the district title, he fired a 78 on the first day and an 80 on the second in state play. Along with golf, Philie plays ice hockey and lacrosse. He maintains a 4.0 grade point average, and his favorite subjects are science and U.S. history.