Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Main Street

Mary Ann Cook

Los Gatan is breaking into bigtime golf scene

GOLF GREAT: For those of us who keep an eye on golf, here's a new name to look for on the leader board. (And learn how to pronounce.) It's Matt Viguerie, a '90 grad of Los Gatos High. Matt has just putted his age to win the San Juan Open at Farmington, N.M.

He won top prize of $10,000 by sinking a 25-foot putt and beating out three others who had tied for a playoff. This sensational finish is his first big win since turning professional three years ago, though he captured first place and won $2,000 in the Heart Invitational in Stockton last year.

Matt has a degree in professional golf management and marketing from New Mexico State. He has also qualified to become a PGA Class A professional, a prestigious category, especially at his age. It's the equivalent of a master's degree in golf, according to his father, Michael, president of Micro-Bionics.

This fall Matt will attend the PGA Tour Qualifying School to see if he can make the cut to compete in the PGA or Nike tour. The competition is stiff: 1,000 hopefuls will vie for 15 places on the PGA tour and 25 on the Nike tour.

Matt has been playing golf since he was 6 or 7, has played competitively since he was 12 and won several events during his California Junior Golf days. His mother, Bev, a designer for Martino's in Los Gatos, says, "We never had to worry about where Matt was during his teenage years. We knew where he was!"

A pro golfer needs to accrue sponsors in order to live during his apprentice years when checks are small or nonexistent, and Matt was able to raise $30,000. One of his sponsors is Cliff Bar, an energy snack.

GARDEN ARTISTS: Jump Start is a new auxiliary that raises money for Next Door, Solutions to Domestic Violence. Their recent garden/party art show raised $4,500. Local artists who exhibited at the fundraiser included Ned and Marian Gault of Monte Sereno and Genie Even of Los Gatos.

Ned creates glass-blown art objects, Marian is a watercolorist and calligrapher and Genie is a watercolorist who says, "I like the feel of a pencil or brush in my hand as I follow the contour of a subject and discover its rhythm." Auxiliary members wore white ribbons to denote children with special needs and purple ribbons representing domestic violence. Interested in joining Jump Start? Call Susan Wytyshyn at 446-2527.

HIGH FLYER: Here's a switch from the usual art display. Los Gatos artist Dolly Cahill Johnson's work will be part of a two-person exhibit at the Olive Hyde Art Gallery in Fremont from July 29 to Aug. 30. This exhibit will feature Johnson's fine-art kites, along with the paintings of Marguerite Olson Fletcher of Palo Alto.

Johnson fashions her kites the same way she does her paintings, using layers of watercolor, airbrush, colored pencil and soft pastel to develop flying crafts of color, texture and whimsy. The kites are mounted on a bamboo or acrylic rod frame. An opening reception for the show, titled "Beyond the Landscape," will be held Aug. 7 from 7 to 9 p.m.

IMMERSION: Al Arruiza at the Instituto Falcon for Spanish immersion in Guanajuato, Mexico, for the month of July, lives with a Mexican family. Al, retired from IBM, has his own consulting program called American Accent, where he helps non-natives sound more native. He's approaching businesses and adult schools to sponsor classes for those who want to lose their accents.

OUTSTANDING: Kjartan (Karty) Armann and Arniel Aze Zanardi received the highest award given Rotarians at award ceremonies recently at Chateau La Cresta. The two were recognized as Outstanding Rotarians of the Year for service above self, not only for the past 12 months but during all their years in Rotary.

Combined the two have served 70 years. Los Gatos Rotary Club boasts 106 members who gave more than $30,000 to local charities last year.

MOTHER-DAUGHTER TEAM: Jessica and Paula Alder of the Main Street Smith Alder clothing and jewelry store will walk 75 miles to raise money for cancer research this fall. The walk is Oct. 23-25 and goes from Santa Barbara to Malibu, the equivalent of three marathons in three days. The Alders are asking for pledges from the local community. They're at the store at 140 W. Main St., or call 395-9199.

NOTED POTTER: A well-known potter from Iran, Babak Daleki, is in town and living with Mahaz Tankamani. Daleki is here on an artist exchange visa and working at a studio in Sunnyvale. To see his work, you can call 395-5501.

REUNION: Saratoga Grammar School will hold its third annual reunion/picnic Aug. 1 in Wildwood Park for anyone who attended or taught at the Oak Street School. Bring a picnic lunch. Drinks are provided, and the cost is $10. Tours of the school begin at 10 a.m., and the picnic begins at noon. Call Patti Reschar at 356-8660 or Dorothy Stamper at 867-3752 for reservations.

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