DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9711020277

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA

                                            LENGTH:   69 lines

GOLF REPORT

One of the area's unique events of the season takes place Nov. 7-9, the BB&T Portsmouth Fall Golf Classic at Sleepy Hole. The two-person team competition is open to both professionals and amateurs. There can be only one pro per team, and he must be affiliated with the PGA.

Here's how it works: Friday's format is Chapman Better Ball, in which both players tee off, then play their partner's tee shot before choosing one ball to play into the hole.

On Saturday, the game is better ball, in which contestants play their own ball into the hole, after which the team selects the better score.

Sunday is straight stroke play, with the team with the lowest cumulative score winning. At the same time, Saturday and Sunday's rounds will stand as the competition for this year's Portsmouth Amateur Championship.

The team fee is $300, and includes range balls, carts, a dinner Friday and a cookout/awards banquet Sunday afternoon. Once registered, participants will be allowed to play practice rounds at Sleepy Hole for the price of a cart ($15), beginning Tuesday.

There are 12 categories of prize money, ranging from $1,200 to $300. For more information, call Sleepy Hole at 538-4100. There are spots still available. 18 Holes of Christmas deadline is November 7

Monday is the deadline to register for ``The 18 Holes of Christmas'' tournament and banquet, which takes place on Nov. 7 at Kingsmill's Woods Course in Williamsburg. The idea sprang from a new inspirational book of the same title by Veronica Karaman, who is well-known locally as an expert instructor, now self-styled minister. She now works at Kingsmill and says she hopes to spread the gospel through golf.

The book, ``represents a rare moment of fulfillment in my life,'' Karaman said. ``It is the first time that the writer, minister, golfer and model in me have come together in one tangible expression of 33 years of golf and life experience.''

For more information about the tournament, banquet and book, call 436-4637. The cost to enter the four-person scramble is $85 and includes greens fees, carts, prizes, a copy of the book and the banquet. Tap-ins...

Bob Rotella, the former University of Virginia director of sports psychology and guru to pro stars Tom Kite, Davis Love III, Pat Bradley and Brad Faxon, has written a new book. In ``The Golf of Your Dreams,'' Rotella reveals why, despite the billions of dollars they have spent on new clubs, balls, lessons, average American golf skills are stagnant and their performance lackluster year after year. (Could lack of practice have something to do with it? Or too many `Captain's Choice' formats?) The book costs $22 and is scheduled to hit the bookstores on Nov. 7. . . Honey Bee members made a lasting impression at the recent American Golf National Scramble championships held on two courses in Las Vegas, Painted Desert and Wild Horse. Larry Bolin and partner Jim Stephenson won the Byron Nelson, or third, flight. Larry's brother Randy Bolin and George McDonald won the second, or Sam Snead, flight. They are the first Honey Bee members ever to do so well. And the competition wasn't punk, either. Teams from 43 golf clubs, most of them affiliated with American golf, competed. . . Golfers in Hampton Roads are about to reap big benefits from American Golf's increased involvement in the area. It's something called a Mega-Membership. The cost is $250, but you receive $10 off the rack rate at all three American courses, no matter when you play. At Ocean View, for example, weekday rounds cost $19 between noon and 4 p.m. Mega-members would pay $9, including cart. Also included in the membership price is a handicap service. Memberships are available at all three American Golf properties - Honey Bee, Ocean View and Chesapeake GC.

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