Fun is the name of the game for Sharks golf team

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers ARMED AND DANGEROUS- Channel Islands Sharks team members, from left, J.T. Kohut and Darren Humphrey of Simi Valley, Rick Garboski, a Westlake Village resident, and team captain Wayne Merich of Moorpark will help lead their squad into this weekend's National Golf League tournament at Sterling Hills Golf Club in Camarillo. The event is fan-friendly, with music and food. The late Rodney Dangerfield would've loved to play a round of golf with the Channel Islands Sharks.

Dangerfield, who played the Al Czervik character who pulled a stereo out of his golf bag and blasted Kenny Loggins in the 1980 film "Caddyshack," would fit right in with the Sharks, a team playing in the fanfriendly National Golf League.

Founded in 2005 by Bob Aube, the National Golf League specializes in having the fans get up close to the action. During tournaments, fans are encouraged to walk the fairways with the players, cheer for the home team, jeer for the visiting team and have some drinks. All of this takes place with music being blasted in the background.

The league is played in a team format similar to the Ryder Cup. The regular season consists of 18 teams, six divisional tournaments and the NGL Championship.

Each team hosts a 27hole Division Tournament with all six teams participating in each event. Each team enters three two-player teams for each round.

Round one consists of nine holes of four-ball (best ball); round two consists of nine holes of foursomes (alternate shot); and round three consists of nine holes of scramble play.

"I thought the league was a lot of fun right from the start," Sharks golfer and Simi Valley resident Darren Humphrey said.

"What I liked the most was that this league takes what is usually an individual sport and makes it a team sport. I have always felt that some people have a stuffy view of golf, and I think this league caters more to the fans. As far as the fans being up close and personal, it was never that much of a distraction."

Chris Zambri, the head men's golf coach at USC as well as a Sharks golfer, agreed with his teammate.

"It's not like we are a bunch of famous people," said Zambri, a Camarillo resident. "We need a way to get people to come out and watch us play live instead of watching us on television. Sure, some of us were a little leery at first of what the league would be like, but it didn't take long for us to enjoy it."

Another thing the Sharks seem to enjoy doing is winning. In just its first year of existence, the Sharks won the NGL championship. The Sharks won the Southern Division by eight points over the second place Sacramento Eagles.

"When our team was put together, it was put together to win," Humphrey said. "All of our players not only had experience, they had experience winning."

The man responsible for building the team was Wayne Merich, who serves as the team's captain.

"I was actually just about to play less golf to concentrate more on my insurance business when Sharks owner Bob Dawson called me up," Merich said. "He told me that he thought there was nobody better to run the team. I thought about it for a little while, and then I decided that, yeah, I was the right man for the job."

Merich began to make phone calls to golfers he knew in the area, men like Darren Angel, who was the first person he called.

"I wanted to get players on this team with winning experience," Merich said. "People would come up to me during the tryout process and tell me they had a one handicap and this and that. Then I would ask them, 'How come I haven't heard of you?' If I hadn't heard of you, there was no chance of you making the team."

Over the next couple weeks, Merich assembled a team loaded with local talent. Besides Merich, who played professionally from 1993 to 2000, the team featured Steve Pate, who was previously the winner of six PGA Tour events, including the 1992 Buick Invitational of California.

Other golfers that contributed to the Sharks capturing the championship last year where Zambri, Angel, Humphrey, Rick Garboski, Steve Holmes, Roy Moon, J.T. Kohut, Mark Singer and the team's 2006 MVP, Brian Helton.

"I think this year, in order to repeat our championship, we just need to keep doing what we've been doing," said Kohut, a Simi Valley resident. "Our team is stacked. Most teams have three or four players that are good, but I feel our team has eight players that are just as good as anyone else's top four. And I think that is where we have an edge." The team will begin its 2007 season with a match at the Sharks' home course of Sterling Hills Golf Club in Camarillo on Saturday.

Although this weekend's tournament begins at noon, the Sharks are encouraging fans to show up at 2 p.m., when they'll be able to watch the team in its final scramble match, enjoy a barbecue and have a chance to win a drawing that will give them the opportunity to win $1,000,000 if they can get a holeinone on the 165yard ninth hole.

The Ventura County Junior Golf Association will also be holding a putting contest.

"It's like a big party with golf," Merich said. "I think the thing that sets us apart from PGA Tour events is the activity of the fans.

"At a PGA Tour event it seems that you are always trying to look over somebody's shoulder to get a glimpse of one of your favorite golfers. In this league, you can literally walk the course with the players. To me there is just no comparison."