- York College photo

It wasn’t the traditional way to close out a golf tournament Sunday, but it worked nonetheless for San Luis Obispo’s Casey Leebrick.

First came his poorly hit 2-iron off the 18th tee at DeLaveaga Golf Course, which struck a tree out-of-bounds on the left side of the fairway and caromed back into play, albeit not far from the tee box on the dogleg left hole. Then he miss-hit a wedge that barely cleared out-of-bounds on the left. It did, though, avoiding another possible two-stroke penalty. His ball received a generous bounce off the cart path into the middle of the fairway, within 50 yards of the green.

The golf gods did their part, Leebrick did the rest. He got on the green with his next shot and two-putted for bogey to seal his win at the 29th annual Santa Cruz City Amateur on Sunday. After opening with a 2-under-par 68 Saturday, and in a three-way tie for the lead, the soon-to-be Sacramento State sophomore closed with 71 for a 139 total and a win in his City Am debut.

It marked a record fifth straight year that an out-of-towner has won the title.

“The golf gods being on your side, I guess,” summarized Leebrick, 19, who is transferring to Sac State from York College in Pennsylvania.. “I feel pretty good. The last hole was kinda a blur.”

Leebrick, who won the Capital Athletic Conference individual title last season, held off defending champion Mike O’Donnell of Chico, who closed with 72 for an even-par 140 total.

As crazy as Leebrick’s finish was in the final round, it was even crazier a day earlier.

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