GOLFING PHENOM: Here's a golfing phenom we may be hearing more about in coming years. He's Joseph Bramlett, 14, the youngest golfer to qualify for the USGA's U.S. Amateur Competition in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. He missed the cut, but not the honor.

The Saratogan won distinction this summer in Scotland at the golf mecca of St. Andrews, playing the Jubilee course. The U.S. team he was on won the World Junior Golf Tournament. He has captured two firsts on the International Junior Golf Tour.

"He gives 100 percent. His hard work pays off," says his father. Joseph's tournament play is mostly in the summer so as not to interfere with his schooling. He started hitting plastic balls at age 2, real balls at age 3. Early on, he played in scramble fashion with his father.

The young golfer plays with the Stanford Junior Team at the Stanford Golf Club (no affiliation with the university) and practices at the San Jose Country Club. He also works with two coaches: John Kennaday, the pro at Spring Valley who teaches at Santa Clara University; and Bill Johnson, the pro at La Rinconada.

"He's a better person than he is a good golfer," says his father. The attitude seems to keep the entire golfing mystique in perspective. Joseph will earn his college degree before looking toward a professional golfing career, his goal at the moment.

A 4.0 student, he is a freshman at St. Francis, and school is paramount. His parents are Debbie and Marlo Bramlett and he has a sister, Jessica, 12, and a brother, Jordan, 6. Marlo is a mechanical contractor and owns Aire Sheet Metal, a heating and air conditioning company in Redwood City.

He, too, is an avid golfer.

DESIGN RESPONSE: Design Response—the agency that supplies the furnishings for Bay Area agencies such as InnVision, YWCA Santa Clara Valley and the Children's Discovery Museum—is celebrating its 10th year. To commemorate the decade, a fundraiser was held last week.

The event, called Celebration of Community, was held at Achievekids in Palo Alto, with tours of the center, which Design Response renovated, included. The center serves youngsters with emotional and developmental problems. Saratogan Helen Carreker is the founder and board chairman of Design Response.

Speaking at the event were Joe Simitian, state assemblyman; Jayne Dies, executive director of Design Response; Tom Dreschler, school director of Achievekids; and Carreker.

"Shaping environments so that people and services can thrive" is the motto of Design Response. The idea is that if an environment looks welcoming, people feel welcomed. And, if the space is efficiently planned, needs can be met efficiently. Corporations and design professionals donate furnishings, materials and time to furthering the goals of Design Response.

Carreker was a designer herself and realized that the design and corporate world had excess furniture and materials that could be put to good use for nonprofits. Design Response can be contacted at PO Box 110337, Campbell, 95008 or at 408.871.0861.

WORLD PREMIERE: The premiere of Eating Dis Order, Eating Dat Order, written, directed, performed and produced by Saratogan Gary A. De Mattei, opens at Theatre on San Pedro Square Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. and continues through Nov. 9. Tickets are priced from $19 to $43 and are available at the box office (408.283.0200) or online at www.tosps.com.

Eating Dis Order is billed as a comedic journey through the trends and travails of the diet world. Portraying a variety of characters, De Mattei affords glimpses beneath the hat of Chef Bobo, a candidate for celebrity chefdom.

De Mattei co-founded the theater in '99 with Michael Smythe. The two transformed the 29 N. San Pedro address into a 199-seat theater, with plank floors, leather seats and bar service.

De Mattei has won Bay Area Theater Critics Best Actor Awards for his performances in Fiorello and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Eating Dis Order performs Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

BIG SUMMER: Saratogans Sylvia and Leonard Metz spent nearly a month visiting Paris, London and the British Isles. Shortly after their return they threw an engagement party for their son Jason Metz and his fiancée, Lisa Danziger.

The future bride's parents came from Albany, N.Y., and the groom's sister, Holly, flew in from New York City. Jason and his fiancée met at Curry College, Mass., when both were students there. The nuptials are set for August 2003 in Albany.

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