Robert Gautney: Barnes undercuts Kirschenmann's Kern Am record
| Wednesday, Oct 14 2009 08:28 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Oct 14 2009 08:28 PM
It took 43 years, but someone finally played 36 holes in the Men's Kern County Amateur Championship in more strokes under par than the legendary Arnold Kirschenmann.
Back in 1966, Kirschenmann shot 66-69 at Foss-Kern River and Haggerty-North Kern which established the scoring records of 135 and 7-under. That record was finally equalled in both 2007 and 2008 as Justin Pitts and Bhavik Patel each shot 7-under and 135.
But this past weekend, former BC and North High golfer Josh Barnes shot 8-under-par to win the 73rd annual event. Although Barnes' total of 136 is not a scoring record, the 8-under sets the new mark in relation to par.
In fact, it took all of those strokes for Barnes to win as runner-up Matt Picanso shot 7-under.
"It feels great," said Barnes after winning the championship. "I knew I had to shoot a low number to win and today I played pretty good. I didn't know how I stood coming down the stretch, but I needed everyone of those putts to drop."
Barnes birdied the par-5 18th at North Kern to finish at 8-under, two groups ahead of Picanso. Picanso, a former BC standout, needed to eagle the 18th to tie and his chip narrowly missed, leaving him a short birdie putt to finish alone in second, one shot ahead of Scott Anderson.
Barnes' final round of 6-under 66 also equaled the final-round scoring mark set last year by Brady Baguio, who fired his 66 at Foss-Kern River, but is the lowest score in relation to par in the final round (Baguio was 4-under).
It was the fifth 66 in the history of the event and was just one shot from Stephen Hale's all-time lowest round of 65, although Hale's round was 5-under at KR. In relation to par, D.J. Fernando shot 6-under 66 in the opening round in 2002 which was the only round at 6-under before Barnes' final round effort this weekend.
In all, nine players shot under par for the tournament, which was the most ever!
While Barnes was beaming with the KC Am title, Anderson was crowned the 2009 Sports Authority/Michelob Ultra Player of the year. Anderson had a virtual lock on the title coming into the tournament, but put an emphatic exclamation point to the 2009 season as he finished third with consecutive 69s.
"I've wanted to win this thing for a few years now," said Anderson. "I finally played well enough in all of the tournaments to earn enough points to win."
Anderson finished second in the Arvin City Amateur in April, then teamed with Mark Pavletich to finish seventh in the KC 4-Ball in June. In July, Anderson was equal third in the Bakersfield City Amateur and then was fourth in the Taft City Amateur in August,
In September, Anderson finished second on his home course in the RiverLakes Amateur Championship before capping his winning run this past weekend. For his efforts, Anderson receives the annual bronze winner's trophy, a gift certificate from The Sports Authority and the perpetual trophy will once again reside at RiverLakes for the next 12 months as last year's winner Patel also called RiverLakes home.
After Anderson in the KC Am was Stockdale High's Pete Fernandez, Jr, and Ron Kilmer who each shot 5-under 139, first round leader Scott LaBare who carded 140 and Jeff Campbell, Nick Vallejo and Centennial High's Manav Shah.
The final order in the player of the year after Anderson was Kilmer, Vallejo, Patel, Barnes, LaBare, Campbell, Danny Hoff, Picanso and Micheal Gideon.
The top five receive gift certificates from Sports Authority while those sixth through 10th received a dozen golf balls from Advance Beverage (Michelob Ultra).
HALE WINS RAIN-SHORTENED MACKENZIE
Four of Bakersfield's best amateur players were unable to play in the KC Am this past weekend because they were playing for their respective universities in the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in Berkeley.
Cal's Stephen Hale shot 68 and 64 to finish at 10-under 132 after the opening day's play of 36 holes. The final round was washed out leaving Hale as the tournament winner by a single stroke over Johan Carlsson from San Diego State.
Fresno State golfers Bhavik Patel, Grant Doverspike and Bryan Hogan finished 8th, 13th and 57th, respectively. Patel, from BHS, shot 71-66, while Stockdale grad Doverspike shot 67-71. Hogan struggled to 73-76, but helped the Bulldogs to a runner-up finish in the team competition.
Fresno State's Micheal Gideon, who was second in the Bakersfield City Amateur in July, was 16th for FSU at 139 which included a 65 in the opening round which put him in the lead.
Hope girls chosen for Classic
The 51st Bob Hope Classic has chosen its "Classic Girls" for the 2010 tournament.
Colie Cullen, 22, from Coto De Caza, Heather Hastings-Gorski, 27, from Palm Springs and Kelsey Peterson, 22, from Huntington Beach, have been chosen as the girls that will wear "Bob", "Hope" and "Classic" on their golf shirts during the event.
The gals were chosen from hundreds of applicants and serve as ambassadors and help with promotions and special events.
The tournament is also seeking young women to serve as Classic Ambassadors. Candidates must be 21 years old, well-spoken, with great customer-service type skills and involved in their community.
Candidates should call Abby Savich-Massey at 760-346-8184, ext. 222 by Friday, Nov. 6.
CHIP SHOTS
* The North Kern/Buena Vista Men's Club will hold it's monthly tournament at BV this Sunday. It's a two-player, par-point event. Call 398-9720 to sign-up at BV or 399-0347 to sign-up at NK.
* Six local tandems will attempt to qualify for the SCGA 4-Ball Championship in qualifying tournaments over the next week and a half. Results will be in this column as they are received.
* This column gives condolences to the Baguio family for the loss of Susan Baguio last week. Brady Baguio, Susan's son, now a professional, has been a big focal point for feature items in this column through the years. Susan lost a battle with cancer. It was good to see Brady and his father Martin at the KC Am this weekend and on behalf of the golfing community, our prayers are with the Baguio family.
Tee to Green appears weekly at Bakersfield.com/sports. You can reach Gautney at: rgautney@bak.rr.com
