Van Orman moves to LI and wings PGA

Welcome to Long Island. That's what Bill Van Orman heard a few times after he won the MasterCard Long Island PGA championship at Glen Head Country Club Thursday. Not that he really needed it. In his first year as teaching pro at the Meadow Brook Club after 20 years in Westchester (including the past six at Winged Foot), Van Orman looks to be already settled in.

"I'm renting a place right at the course. It's very convenient, it's about a 300-yard walk to work in the morning," he said. "Uphill in the morning, downhill in the afternoon."

That helps, given it has been only five months since his second hip replacement surgery. That came at the end of a seven-year struggle with injuries and operations, which, in turn, made him surprised he played so well. He edged Garden City Golf Club head pro Bob Rittberger, one of the Island's best players, in a well played match that went 22 holes.

"It was just Billy's day," Rittberger said. Van Orman defeated what might be considered an all-Long Island lineup on the way to the final: Sean Farren, Len Bush, Darrell Kestner and Mark Mielke.

Van Orman grew up in Alabama and Connecticut and graduated from the University of Alabama. He had played on Long Island "about a million times" before this year, but never at Meadow Brook, which he describes as "fantastic."

"The idea of coming to Meadow Brook was to get a change of scenery and get back to competitive form," he said. "It's kind of unexpected to have success this soon."

Black rated No. 1

Bethpage Black placed first in Golfweek's list of Top 50 Municipal Courses in the country, one spot ahead of Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, site of this year's U.S. Amateur. Bethpage Red was 17 and Montauk Downs was 33 in the rankings published Friday.