(6/21 — FINAL MATCH)
On the longest day of the year and one of the hottest (for the third consecutive day, the heat soared over the century mark), 18-year-old Nick Delio of Valencia won the California Amateur Championship, 7 & 5, over 15-year-old Austin Roberts of Carmichael in the 36-hole championship match.
• Roberts showed up wearing a bright red shirt. “Tiger Red?” I asked him. “Nope,” he replied. “It’s the only clean one I have left.”
• In retrospect, the first hole of the morning may have been a “reverse omen.” Yesterday in his quarterfinal match, Roberts pulled his tee shot into the treeline left of the first hole, went on to lose the hole with a bogey, but then rallied to defeat James Erkenbeck, 3 & 2, to reach the semifinals. This morning, Delio pulled his first tee shot into the treeline, went on to lost the hole with a bogey but went on to win the match.
• This was one of the fastest final matches in recent memory, as the players took just 2:50 for first 18 holes and kept up that pace in the afternoon despite the 100+degree heat. Roberts, who lives in Carmichael in the Sacramento delta, shrugged off the heat all week, saying, “It’s hotter where I live.” Delio was also matter of fact about the temperatures, noting, “Everyone gets the same conditions.”
• About 100 spectators, many of them Lakeside members, followed the afternoon portion of the match. Among the crowd was 1984 California Amateur runner-up Mark Phillips with his son, former SCGA Board of Directors member Bob Jones, former SCGA Executive Director Tom Morgan, and current USGA President Jim Vernon. Jones, Morgan and Vernon are Lakeside members and Phillips is a former member.
• Delio closed both of his morning nines with a flourish, hitting a 3 iron shot to within 18 inches of the flagstick on the 240-yard ninth hole and then landing a 54-degree wedge shot two feet from the flagstick on the 422-yard 18th hole, both of which he drained for birdies.
• CSUN coach Jim Bracken was full of praise for Delio and predicted nothing but better things ahead. “This was his normal game,” said Bracken. “He’s got a great work ethic and he’s a great student (3.3 grade point average).” Delio was the Big West freshman of the year, winning the University of Santa Clara tournament with a 13-under-par 54-hole total.
Asked to name the best former Matadors, Bracken singled out former PGA Tour player Bob Burns and former California Amateur champions Jeff Sanday (1995) and Tim Hogarth (1999). “Nick has a chance to be on top of that list if he continues to improve,” said Bracken, “and I think he’s got a great chance to do so.”
• When Delio tees it up in the 109th SCGA Amateur Championship July 18-20 at Saticoy CC, he will attempt to become the first golfer since Johnny Dawson in 1942 to win both titles in the same year. Next year, Delio will try to become the first golfer since Dr. Frank “Bud” Taylor in 1954-55 to win back-to-back California Amateur titles.
• Continuing the Northern California-Southern California rotation, the 2009 California Amateur will be played June 22-27 at Lake Merced GC in Daly City and the 2010 tournament will be played June 21-26 at Rancho Santa Fe GC and La Jolla CC.
(6/20 — QUARTERFINALS AND SEMIFINALS)
No Blog today; too darn hot!
(6/19 — SECOND MATCH PLAY ROUND)
• No, Toto, we’re definitely not in Pebble Beach, not with temperatures in the 90s all week and threatening to crack the century mark tomorrow (when the semifinals are scheduled for the afternoon). Fortunately, Lakeside’s tree-line fairways provide some relief but tomorrow’s semifinalists and Saturday’s championship contestants will have to battle the elements, as well as the golf course and each other.
• Although these things tend to run in cycles, this is a “youth movement” year. For starters, 15 of the 32 match play contestants are teenagers and that trend has carried into the quarterfinals, where five of the eight are teenagers and two are collegians in their early 20s. Scott McGihon, at age 40, is the lone mid-amateur.
Last year, three mid-amateurs made the quarters (including 51-year-old Casey Boyns) and one of those, 46-year-old John McClure, advanced to the semifinals. Four of last year’s quarterfinalists were teenagers; eventual runner-up Joe Greiner was the only 20-year-old to make it as far as the quarters.
In 2006, six of the eight quarterfinalists were mid-amateurs, although the tournament was eventually won by Jordan Nasser, a USC student. In 2005, four of the quarterfinalists were mid-amateurs, three were collegians and one, Joseph Bramlett, was a high school junior. Bramlett eventually lost to 46-year-old Don DuBois in the championship match.
• Six of the eight quarterfinalists this year are from Southern California and just two are from the north. However, because Austin Roberts and Ryan Hallisey are on opposite sides of the bracket, there’s still a possibility of an all-north final. Last year, five SCGA members made the finals and four of them made it an all-SCGA semifinal.
• The 15-year-old Roberts is bidding to become the California Amateur’s youngest winner. Mac Hunter was 16 when he defeated Bob Roos, 2 up, in 1972.
(6/18 — FIRST MATCH PLAY ROUND)
• One might reasonably expect that the 90+degree heat and thick rough at Lakeside Golf Club would have taken its toll first on the two oldest golfers in the 32-man match play field but such was not the case.
Jeff Burda of Modesto, who at age 55 would be the oldest winner by several years, posted two birdies and 10 pars en route to routing 24-year-old Brett Vidoch of Chico, 7 & 6. Burda faces 18-year-old Valencia CC member Nick Delio in the second round; Delio outlasted Erik Jarvey of Palmdale, 3 & 1, today and is right at home at Lakeside; his 66 during Monday's stroke play round was the low round at Lakeside.
The other veteran, 40-year-old Scott McGihon of Bermuda Dunes, a former three-time SCGA Amateur champion who shared medalist honors yesterday, birdied four of his eight back-nine holes to turn back high-school senior Martin Trainer of Palo Alto, 2 & 1. McGihon — one of five golfers to win three or more SCGA Amateurs — was a quarterfinalist in the 200 California Amateur a year after he won the Trans-Mississippi Mid-Amateur.
• Heading into Thursday's second round of match play, the SCGA has 10 players in the Round of 16 while the NCGA has six. Defending champion Josh Anderson of Murrieta and all three medalists advanced from the first round.
(6/17 — STROKE PLAY)
For the first time in 97 years, the California Amateur Championship is being played outside the Monterey Peninsula. No ocean waves this week, no cold, clammy fog, no 17-Mile Drive (and its steadily rising tariff). Instead, the Los Angeles River trickles past Lakeside, temperatures are pushing the century mark and northerners are learning the vicissitudes of the 134 Freeway.
Lakeside and Oakmont have won rave reviews from many in the starting field of 156 for the course conditions and the way that club members have embraced the championship. Lakeside has quite a history with the California Amateur: three members — Johnny Dawson (1942), Roger Kelly (1937-38) and Bruce McCormick (1944-45) — are among the list of past champions. In fact, McCormick was a member at both Lakeside and Oakmont.
Veteran observers of the California Amateur have been struck by the vast number of new players who teed it up in this year’s championship. Among those not to make match play this year were 1999 California Amateur champion Tim Hogarth and 2005 titleholder Don DuBois. Three members of the victorious North team in the Roger Lapham Challenge Cup made the match-play field, while just two members of the SCGA team finished in the low 32 scores.
“Youth” is the byword for the 32-man match play field:
• There are 15 teenagers among the field of 32 (the youngest is 15-year-old Austin Roberts of Carmichael)
• Another dozen are in their 20s; four of those are age 20
• Just two are in their 30s and only one — former three-time SCGA Amateur champion Scott McGihon is 40
• Jeff Burda, the reigning NCGA Senior Amateur champion, at age 55 is the oldest golfer in the field and one of the oldest to qualify for match play in recent memory
• Of the tri-medalists, the combined ages of Matt Hoffenberg and Alex Kim (36) are less than McGihon’s age of 40
The match-play field has 17 from Southern California and 15 from Northern California — 17.5 might be closer since Erik Flores was a member of UCLA’s NCAA Division I championship team.
Defending champion Josh Anderson of Murrieta made match play as did former champions Steve Woods (1994) and Jordan Nasser (2006). Anderson is bidding to become the first back-to-back champion since Dr. Frank “Bud” Taylor in 1954-55. Should any of the three win, they would become the first two-time champion since Casey Boyns in 1989 and 1993.
Five of Wednesday’s first-round matches are south vs. south, four are north vs. north and seven are north vs. south. Among the intriguing matches are:
• Grant Rappleye, 18, of Elk Grove vs. Steve Woods, 36, of Cupertino
Should Woods win, the 14-year span between titles would easily top the current record of 10 set by Eli Bariteau (1948, 1958). Woods defeated Ed Cuff, Jr. to win the 1994 title; Cuff had upset Tiger Woods (no relation to Steve) in the semis that year.
• McGihon vs. 17-year-old Martin Trainer of Palo Alto
McGihon should feel right at home; he’s the high school golf coach at La Quinta High School.
• Ryan Hallisey of Granite Bay vs. Brian Edick of Valencia
Hallisey is the defending NCGA Amateur champion. Edick has been runner-up in the last three SCGA Amateurs.
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