Robert Gautney: Haggerty-North Kern to host KC 4-Ball this weekend
| Wednesday, Jun 24 2009 11:13 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Jun 24 2009 11:13 PM
The 20th Kern County 4-Ball Championship will be contested this weekend at the Haggerty-North Kern golf course and even though the field size has been depleted since the tournaments hey day of the late 1990s and early part of this century, it's still a nice win for our local elite amateurs.
The KC 4-Ball is unique in that it's a two-player team event, but both players really need to be playing well for a chance to win. Winning totals have been anywhere from the record low of 123 (21-under) to the highest winning score of 132 (10-under).
This year around 30 teams will participate in the two-day tournament that is also part of the Sports Authority/Michelob Ultra Player of the Year Series. Players that have the ambition to win the Player of the Year award can pick up valuable points in this team event.
Last year, current Fresno State golfer Bryan Hogan teamed with former CSUB player Tyler Hurst to win by one stroke over Scott Anderson and Jason Johnson. The Hogan/Hurst duo shot an 11-under 61 in the opening round and the backed that up with a 9-under 63 for the second lowest total ever, a 20-under 124. They needed every stroke as Anderson and Johnson carved out their own 61 in the final round and coupled with their 64 in the opening round left them at 19-under 125.
The 61s were third and fourth 61s in the history of the event. Ironically, Anderson and Johnson were part of one of the other 61s when they won the tournament in 2007 with a final round 61 to go with their opening 64.
The other 61 was by the team of Steve Christophel and Rick Thomson in the opening round of 2004, but they actually finished second that year to Dale Keene and Dan Hogan.
The only better scores than those four 61s are the records of Jeff Sande and Marty Trahan, who shot a final-round 12-under 60 in 1992 and the opening round 13-under 59 by Scott Underhill and Chris Zumbro in 1993.
Underhill and Zumbro own the tournament record of 21-under 123, with the Hogan/Hurst team next with their 124 last year. Anderson and Johnson shot a 125 in winning in 2007 while Keene and Hogan won with a 126 in 2004.
There have been eight 62s shot, but surprisingly only half of those teams won in those years.
The Keene and Hogan tandem have won the event a record six times, the first time in 1995 and the last in 2005. In fact, the Keene/Hogan team is the only team to win the event back-to-back and they did it twice, once in the 1995-96 years and again in 2004-05.
Five players have won the tournament twice: the Underhill/Zumbro duo won in 1990 and 1993, the Trahan/Sande tandem won in 1992 and 1994 and Anderson. Anderson won with two partners -- Johnson in 2007 and Matt Picanso in 2003.
In the 19 years there have only been two playoffs. The first year in 1990, Underhill and Zumbro won over Steve Carlyle and Tom Davis, and in 2001 Christophel and Mike Plate, both CSUB golfers at the time, beat Keene and Hogan.
While the number of participants may have been dwindling over the years, the quality of play hasn't and you can expect the same in the 20th edition this weekend.
Balfanz misses out on State Am match-play in playoff
John Balfanz shot a really nice 2-over 146 in the stroke play qualifying for the California State Amateur on Monday and Tuesday at Lake Merced GC in Daly City.
The only problem for Balfanz was that eight other players also shot 146 and there were only two of the 32 match-play spots left after 30 guys shot 145 or better.
Balfanz lost out on a trip to match-play in a playoff as Keven Lozares of Mountain View earned a spot on the second hole and Logan Goettsch of Fresno grabbed the last spot on the fourth hole.
Balfanz was actually equal 15th after his opening round of 1-under 71, but his 3-over 75 in the second round left him in the playoff.
Defending champion Nick Delio of Valencia was co-medalist and won his first round match on Wednesday to move into the round of 16.
Shain continues fine play in NorCal
Frontier High sophomore Meghan Shain continues to have a fine early summer as she advanced into the semifinals of the Northern California Junior PGA Match-Play Championships at Spring Creek Golf and Country Club in Ripon.
Shain actually was runner-up in the Girls' 12-14 age flight qualifying to San Francisco's Alexandria Wong, but with their low scores of 77 and 75, the two girls were moved up into the Championship Flight for match-play.
Shain and Wong were then drawn for the opening round and Shain beat Wong 5 and 3.
In the second round, Shain had to face Brenna Nelson of Monte Sereno, who was the medalist of the qualifying with a 73. After falling behind by four holes, Shain fought back to tie the match on the 18th hole and then beat Nelson with a par on the first extra hole.
Shain finally lost in the semi-finals to Hannah Sue of San Jose 2-up and Sue went on to win the tournament with a 1-up win over Taylor Camany of Salinas.
Chip shots
* Three local high school players will attempt to qualify for the U.S. Junior Amateur next week. Manav Shah of Centennial will play in the Sectional at Mission Viejo CC on June 29 while Garces High's Gunner Kirschenmann and MJ Morin will play in the June 30 Sectional at Goose Creek GC in Oxnard.
* U.S. Open 2009 -- what did you think? I definitely didn't like the tournament ending on a Monday. It's supposed to end on Father's Day with me on the couch watching it! At any rate, it didn't quite match last year's for excitement, but I was glad to see Phil Mickelson and David Duval in the mix. Here's to hoping the British Open weather cooperates next month.
Tee to Green appears weekly at Bakersfield.com/sports. You can reach Gautney at: rgautney@bak.rr.com.
