Robert Gautney: Bellows can join elite group at Kern County Women's Amateur
| Wednesday, Sep 02 2009 11:24 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Sep 02 2009 11:40 PM
Meggan Bellows will try to defend her title in the 73rd Kern County Women's Amateur Golf Championship next week and in the process will try to become the 15th player to win more than once and the 13th player to win back-to-back.
Bellows, a member of the Cal State University Bakersfield women's golf team by way of Centennial High, won last year's tournament with a score of 160. She shot 85 at Foss-Kern River then fired a fine 75 at Sundale CC in the final round to win by four shots over Suzanne Clarksean, who was also looking for her first title.
The last player to accomplish the back-to-back feat was Jeanette Cleveland when she won three in a row from 1999-2001. Since, there have been a string of first time winners that included the likes of Allison Martin in 2002, Emily Longcrier in 2004 and Brittany Goehring in 2005.
Martin would most assuredly have won more if she had participated. She shot a 36 hole tournament record of 147 with rounds of 76 and 71 and won by a record 18 shots in her only appearance.
Bellows will have her CSUB teammates in the field to deal with along with 2007 winner Stevie Luckett and 2006 winner Cyndi Walla. It appears that the Bakersfield College women's golf team members will not be playing as they have a tournament before and after the KC Am and that would make for six straight days of competitive golf!
This year's tournament will be played at Haggerty-North Kern next Wednesday with the final round at Rio Bravo CC on Thursday.The awards luncheon will follow the final round at Rio Bravo.
Patel's run ends at US Am
Fresno State University sophomore and BHS graduate Bhavik Patel made a gallant run in the U.S. Men's Amateur at Southern Hills GC in Tulsa, OK, last week.
Patel earned a spot in match-play with a 145 total, which placed him equal 20th in the field of 312 players. He then won four matches to get into the semi-finals against Byeong-HunAn of South Korea.
Patel and An had a back and forth match with Patel actually took a 1-up lead on the 12th hole. But An showed why he is one of the best teenage players in the world when he won the next four holes and closed out the match 3 and 2. An then went on to win to become the youngest winner ever.
Patel beat Phillip Anderson from South Carolina in the quarter-finals to get his shot at AN with a spot in the Masters and the U.S. Open at stake. The semi-finalists receive exemptions into the two above mentioned PGA Tour events while the winner also gets a spot in next year's British Open.
Too bad that Patel didn't win just one more match because we could have been watching him play on TV again. As it was, it was the best effort by a local amateur ever in the U.S. Amateur and one that will certainly, as painful as it may be to Patel, be remembered forever.
RiverLakes Amateur
Entries for the RiverLakes Amateur Championship are still being taken through Thursday September 24 for the September 26-27 tournament.
The tournament will have a championship flight and at least one handicapped flight depending upon entries. The tournament is the fifth of the six Sports Authority/Michelob Ultra Player of the Year Series events in which players finishing in the top 10 in the championship flight earn points towards the 2009 Player of the Year title.
Call 587-5465 to get more information about the tournament. The defending champion is Bhavik Patel who shot a record 137 last year with a record 67 in the first round and a 70 in the final round.
Chip shots
* The BC women's golf team won the Central Coast Invitational in Ventura on Monday and Tuesday. The BC girls shot a score of 310 in the final round to go along with an opening 323 to win by 13 shots over runner-up Santa Barbara with Palomar third at 665. The final round also counted as a WSC match so BC beat Santa Barbara and Canyons who was third on the second day. Individually, BC's Katherine James tied with Palomar's Beth Sellers for tournament medalist with a 151 total while BC's Ellen Krause was medalist in the WSC portion with a 75.
Tee to Green appears weekly at Bakersfield.com/sports. You can reach Gautney at: rgautney@bak.rr.com.
