- on 3rd hole of sudden death

MONTEREY, CA (May 29, 2005) – It was fitting that Phillip Hall won the amateurgolf.com Monterey Bay Championship by getting up and down on the last playoff hole. After all, that’s what he did time and time again during the weekend at Bayonet and Black Horse GCs.

On the heels of an extraordinary 2-under-par 71, Hall, of Atherton knocked off Haeyoung Lee of Scotts Valley on the third hole of sudden death. Hall’s gutsy 12-foot par putt followed a deft pitch from 40 yards short of the green. Lee then left short a 10-footer to force yet another hole.

Hall, who describes his lifestyle simply as “playing golf every day,” made three birdies on the round, starting at the 626-yard par-5 fourth. He also birdied the par-5 10th and par-4 12th to come back from a five-stroke deficit to begin the final round. His 77 on the first day came as a result of hitting only five greens, and he got up and down several more times to save pars in the final round.

Lee, meanwhile, made five birdies during a final-round 74 on a course he is quite familiar with. The 23-year-old senior-to-be at New Mexico State is currently serving an internship at Bayonet and Black Horse as part of the Professional Golf Management program through his school. In fact, minutes after the playoff ended, he was back behind the counter in the pro shop. “I have to go to work,” he said simply.

Lee said he worked hard on his short game prior to the tournament, “and it paid off. I made a lot of birdies, but I also made a lot of bogeys.”

Among those bogeys was one on the second hole of the playoff, in which both he and Hall were in the trees off the tee. But while he escaped with that one (as Hall bogeyed as well) he couldn’t get away with the one on the final playoff hole. Both he and Hall were in the fairway bunker off the tee, and while Hall came up well short with his approach, Lee missed long left and couldn’t get up and down from the rough.

“I thought I hit a pretty good putt, but it came up short,” Lee said. “And he made a great putt of his own. This course is tough and you’ve got to stay focused. I think I did that pretty well.”

First-round leader Adam Deadrich tied for third after following his even-par 72 with a 77 in the final round. His 149 total was matched by Erik Hallgrimson, who shot 73-76.
Earlier in the afternoon, Robert Rowland shot a stellar even-par 72 to capture the Senior Division title by three shots. Rowland came into the final round having shot 73 the day before at Black Horse and trailed the venerable Earl Stewart by a shot. He was still one back after both players shot 37 on their opening nine in the final round (Black Horse’s back nine).

Stewart increased the lead to two with a birdie on the par-5 first, but stumbled the rest of the way with bogeys on six of the next seven holes. Meanwhile, Rowland tied it up with a par on the tough second hole (his 11th), the only player in the final group to par the hole. “That helped a lot,” Rowland said later. “No doubt about it."

A birdie from 20 feet on the short par-4 seventh gave him the lead for good and led to a rare win for the 61-year-old retired airline pilot. “I’m a good top-10 finisher, but I don’t win a lot,” Rowland said. Indeed, he had earned three runner-up finishes this season – at the Livermore City, amateurgolf.com Metropolitan Amateur and Manteca City Four-Ball with partner Bob Reed – but hadn’t won since the Santa Clara County two years ago.

And this win was extra meaningful considering he defeated a player of Stewart’s caliber and was consistently the shortest hitter of a final group that also included Bob Cayton (runner-up at 73-75 -- 148) and Mark Miller (third at 73-76 --149). “I’m not long but I stay out of trouble,” Rowland said. “And that’s what you have to do out here.”

James Kline captured the Net Division title with a final-round 72 that was good enough to win by two shots. It paled in comparison to his first-round 66, but clutch pars on his 16th and 17th holes keyed the victory.

Kline, a network engineer with Cisco Systems who also races motorcycles, is soon moving to North Carolina. However, he hopes to find a way to defend his title.

“Next year,” Kline said with a wink, “I may have to plan a business trip this time of year.”

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Final results from the amateurgolf.com Monterey Bay Championship, played at Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course: