Klein Knows Way Around the Course at Oakmont

Notre Dame High graduate Emilee Klein has to be considered an early favorite for the LPGA Tour’s Los Angeles Women’s Championship next month, despite a field that includes 16 of the top 21 LPGA Tour money winners from 1996.

The event will be held at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale where Klein’s parents, Bobby and Randee, have been members since 1990. She has played the course regularly ever since.

“It is a fabulous course,” Emilee Klein said in a conference call at Oakmont on Tuesday. “It makes you think about your game. You have to use your head and you have to use every club in your bag.”

The LPGA Tour visited Oakmont from 1985 through 1987 and it was consistently rated as one of the toughest courses on tour. When Jan Stephenson won the 1985 event with a score of two-over par 290, it was the highest winning score on tour that year. The next two tournaments were both won with scores of two under par.

Klein shot a four-under par 68 at Oakmont as recently as Christmas.

The $650,000 tournament, scheduled for Feb. 14-16, includes two-time U.S. Open champion Annika Sorenstam and Dottie Pepper, a four-time winner in 1996. Also entered is 1996’s fourth-leading money winner Liselotte Neumann.

But expect Klein, who won twice in 1996 and finished ninth on the money list, to be near the top of the leader board.

“With Oakmont, there is some advantage to knowing the course,” she said.

Follow the leader: Eric Carpenter, a wide receiver from Valley College, has made a commitment to Cal State Northridge, Monarch interim Coach Gary Barlow said. Carpenter is the first player to follow Coach Jim Fenwick from Valley to Northridge.

Carpenter, 6 feet 1 and 190 pounds, caught 30 passes for 426 yards and two touchdowns last season at Valley. He was a Times’ All-Valley selection in 1994, his senior year at Granada Hills High.

Four junior college players have committed to Northridge since Fenwick was hired. The others are linebacker Andre Garcia from Sacramento City College, defensive back Angelo Garza from Laney College and defensive back Kenny Knoop of Glendale College.

In the clear: Pepperdine has won a second appeal to restore the freshman eligibility of Kelvin Gibbs, a 6-7 forward on the men’s basketball team.

Gibbs was declared academically ineligible by the NCAA clearinghouse, which ruled that Gibbs had to sit out the season and lose a year of eligibility.

Pepperdine lost its first appeal to overturn the decision.

Gibbs, who was contending for a starting spot before the season, will use a redshirt year and have four seasons remaining.

Arizona-bound: San Fernando High linebacker Alex Luna has committed to Arizona.

Luna, 6-1, 215 pounds, led the Tigers in tackles and was named to the All-City Section 4-A Division team. He committed after taking his recruiting trip over the weekend.

“Everything was great,” Luna said. “The people, the coaches, it’s where I want to be.”

Committed: Highland High linebacker Malachi Keddington has made a commitment to Northern Arizona. Keddington, who had 159 tackles, two interceptions and six fumble recoveries in leading the Bulldogs to the semifinals of the Southern Section playoffs, chose the Lumberjacks over St. Mary’s.

“The environment is great,” he said. “It’s a small town. There’s snow and fishing and they have a young, energetic, real enthusiastic coaching staff.”