PEBBLE BEACH, CA (October 22, 2017) - Dragonfly GC of Fresno/Madera has its first NCGA Team Match crown.
The Dragonfly GC squad, winners of the Saturday’s Finals, capped a great season, defeating runner-up San Luis Obispo CC, 22-14, in Sunday’s finals at par-71 Poppy Hills Golf Course. Dragonfly would take an 8-4 lead and never looked back.
“It’s been a magical season,” captain Steve Neer said. “It’s just been one of those years.”
Making their finals debut, Dragonfly took an early lead behind wins from Steve Perez and Neer. Not much later, Tim Schinner also won, getting a sweep with partner Doug Johnson. The lead grew to 12-4.
Wins by Marc Watts and Clint Jones would later make it 16-6. Following another Draglnfly victory by Steve Benard, all that was left was one more point to clinch. Watts and Zahariades would get the point with a four-ball win.
“When the low guys played bad, the high guys would carry the load, and vice versa,” Neer said. “We’ve done it that way all year.”
San Luis Obispo did get wins from Galen Adams, who also with Jeff Townsend in four-ball. Chris Eppright and Allyn Walker also got points for SLO.
The championship uses a format where two players from a side face off against two players from an opposing side in four-ball and individual matches concurrently, with players earning two points for a win and one point for a halve.
ABOUT THE NCGA Team Match Championship
Participating clubs with 12 players per team compete
in matches during the summer with the top teams
from each region advancing to the Championship at
Poppy Hills. Format is as follows: A team of two players
plays the opposing team of two, playing three matches
simultaneously - two individual matches and a four-ball
match.
View Complete Tournament Information