Robert Gautney: Strong local presence expected at golf's SoCal 4-Ball Championship
| Tuesday, Oct 14 2008 09:20 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 02:17 PM
There are only a handful of tournaments remaining on the Southern California Golf Association's 2008 schedule. One of those tournaments is the SCGA 4-Ball Championship that will be played Nov. 10-11 on The River Course at The Alisal in Solvang.
There have been two qualifying tournaments so far with two more to be contested on Oct. 21-22, but while no Bakersfield teams qualified in those two events, there will definitely be some local flavor at the championship.
Bryan Hogan and Tyler Hurst are the defending champions of the tournament, having won in 2007 at Industry Hills, and Hogan's father Dan and his longtime playing partner Dale Keene won the tournament in 1999 in San Diego.
Winners receive a 10-year exemption into the finals, so the Keene/Hogan duo will still not have to qualify as will the younger Hogan and Hurst.
John Balfanz and D.J. Fernando tried their hand at qualifying last week at Brookside GC in Pasadena, but could only muster a 1-under 71 to finish equal 17th from a field of 42 teams. It took a 2-under 69 to qualify for one of the 11 spots.
There are a few local teams that will compete on Oct. 21 at Rustic Canyon in hopes of joining the two former champions in the championship field.
CHAMPIONS DINNER POSTPONED UNTIL NOV. 11
The bi-annual Kern County Dinner of Champions that was scheduled for Tuesday Oct. 28, has been postponed until Nov. 11.
George Culver, who is a Los Angeles Dodgers system pitching coach and who created the event back in 2000, can't make the previously scheduled date.
"The Dodgers decided to schedule some organizational meetings for October 25, 26 and 27," says Culver of his dilemma. "I won't even be able to play in the tournament, which is was really looking forward to. Rather than just canceling the dinner, it was decided that a two-week postponement would be all right with most everyone associated with the dinner and the Kern County Firemen's Hall was available, so I'm happy that we can have it again."
The dinner is for former and current Kern County Amateur Champions who receive a blue champions blazer like the green jacket in The Masters. Special awards are given for contributions to Kern County golf and the Sports Authority/Michelob Light Player of the Year award will be given.
Anyone interested in going to the dinner should contact Culver at 873-1067 or at 706-3775 or via e-mail at baseballgeo@bak.rr.com.
SIGN-UPS CONTINUE FOR KC AMATEUR
Nine more players signed up from last Tuesday through yesterday for the 58th Kern County Men's Amateur Championship, which brings the total to a somewhat confusing 27 so far.
What, 27 players for the KC Amateur after only 17 played two weeks ago at the RiverLakes Amateur. What's the deal?
Hopefully there will be a rash of last-minute entries next week before the Oct. 25-26 tournament.
Entry is $100 and includes two rounds of play at Haggerty-North Kern on Saturday the 25th and the final round on Sunday at Foss-Kern River on the 26th. It also includes range balls both days and prizes.
The defending champion is Justin Pitts who carded rounds of 67 and 68 for a 135-total, which was 7-under par. The 135 and 7-under equaled the 1966 records of Arnold Kirschenmann. Additionally, current Cal Berkeley player Stephen Hale shot a record 5-under 65 in the opening round, the only player to have ever shot below 66 in the history of the event!
Anyone interested in participating should call the NK pro shop at 399-0347 before next Wednesday at 5 p.m.
BALLESTEROS HAS BRAIN TUMOR
Last week, it was announced that two-time Masters Champion Seve Ballesteros had collapsed and was taken to a hospital, but no further information was announced.
Well, yesterday, it was announced the Ballesteros has a brain tumor and will undergo treatment, which could be any and everything from chemotherapy to surgery.
I'm sure all of you are just as astonished by this news as I am. When I first got into playing a lot of golf, it was Ballesteros who was the flamboyant Spaniard who won the Masters a couple of times along with a couple of British Opens.
Here's to a quick and full recovery Seve.
HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS GOLF
It appears Frontier has become the favorite in local high school girls golf, supplanting long time powers Garces in the SEYL and Stockdale and Centennial in the SWYL.
Frontier leads the SWYL and has been having the most consistently low scores in league mini-tournaments. Now let's see if the Titans can continue their play as the league season ends and the girls get going in the post league events. It should be fun to watch!
ONE-MAN SCRAMBLE FINALS TODAY AT TIERRA REJADA
The One-Man Scramble Regional Championship at Tierra Rejada will be today and the players who qualified in the local qualifying at Sycamore Canyon golf course will be competing.
It is not known how many of the 12 players who earned the right to play in the regionals at Sycamore will be playing today, but if the results from previous regional events are any indication, the players will have to shoot low to win.
One player, Matt Vickers from Paradise Valley GC, has won two of the six regionals, having won at Coyote Creek with a 16-under 56 and at Silverado with a 12-under 60.
In case you are not familiar with the One-Man Scramble, players get two mulligans on every hole to try and improve their position/score.
Results of the tournament, including the qualifiers from Sycamore Canyon, will be in next week's column.
Tee to Green appears weekly at Bakersfield.com. You can reach Gautney at rgautney@bak.rr.com.
