Columnist Victoria Sun: Caring coach helps Bonanza’s Monteiro secure a scholarship

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

Victoria Sun is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Her golf column appears Wednesday. Reach her at 259-4078 or victoria@vegas.com

Once local teaching pro Jim Bullard saw Bonanza High School senior Autumn Monteiro swing a golf club a few times, he knew she had a lot of talent.

The tough part was convincing Monteiro to do something with it.

"I never lie to my students," Bullard said. "If someone has talent, I will tell them only if I mean it.

"I told her she had some ability if she just dug it out and worked hard at it."

At first, Monteiro was adverse to working on her golf game.

She started playing golf when she was 6 and it was clear then that her older sister, Christina, was more gifted. So Autumn played not only golf, but soccer and softball as well.

While Christina, two-and-a-half years older, spent hours practicing golf, Autumn estimates that she would practice maybe two or three times a month. When she did get out to the driving range, it would be to socialize and have a good time, not to improve.

That changed two years ago.

Bullard started coaching Christina when she was 14 years old and helped her land a full scholarship to the University of Arizona, where she is now a junior.

Seeing how successful Christina was finally made Autumn want to get better.

"I looked up to my sister," Autumn said. "We competed on the course, but nobody ever pressured me to do well.

"I was more motivated to practice and better my game because I saw what golf was doing for her, how she was getting recognition because of golf. So I started wanting to improve for my own satisfaction."

First, she quit the softball team after one season. Then she decided that although she had worked with other coaches, she wanted Bullard to be her only coach.

In two years, Bullard helped Autumn improve her fundamentals and mental toughness. Next fall she will be attending the University of Hawaii on a full golf scholarship.

"He totally turned it around," Autumn says of Bullard. "It used to be I wasn't focused at all.

"I used to go out there and just knocked the ball around for fun. I didn't really care to be better. He's helped me so much."

Last fall, Monteiro placed 11th at the 4A State Championship and represented Southern Nevada in the Girls America Cup held in Las Vegas.

Now she practices at least five times a week from the time school ends until it gets dark.

"The people at Canyon Gate usually get mad because the kids are the last ones back with the carts," she said with a laugh.

But Bullard is most proud of the fact that Monteiro has maintained a 3.75 GPA.

"The first thing I'm proud of her for is that she's a great student in school," Bullard said. "That's always the first thing, school.

"And I'm proud of her that she's got the tenacity to work hard at her game. I'm real proud that she got her scholarship."

* SENIOR CLASSIC UPDATE: Defending champion Vicente Fernandez has committed to playing in the Las Vegas Senior Classic, which will be held April 17-23 at the TPC Summerlin. Tournament manager Charlie Baron said that the $1.4 million event has received commitments from eight of the top 11 players on the money list last year. Allen Doyle, Larry Nelson, Dana Quigley, Bruce Summerhays, John Mahaffey, Jim Thorpe, Bob Duval, Bob Murphy and Lanny Watkins are some of the early entrants.

* ACES: Twelve-year-old Zach Swarts holed out with a 5-iron on the eighth hole of the Cloud Nine Short Course at Angel Park Golf Club from 135 yards. Swarts posted the hole in one last Monday during a round of a Southern Nevada Junior Golf Association tournament. Last Sunday, Patrick Hurley had an ace on the fourth hole of the same course from 91 yards.

* STRIP GETS A NEW GOLF COURSE: Walters Golf, a Las Vegas-based golf course development and management company, has announced that its new course located on Las Vegas Boulevard adjacent to the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino will be called the Bali Hai Golf Club. Bali Hai will be a 7,040-yard par-72 golf course with a background reminiscent of the South Pacific. It is currently under construction on 140 acres of land.