by Pete Wlodkowski, for amateurgolf.com

Stevinson, California (April 3, 2005) -- In the big professional golf tournaments, it’s almost impossible to be in contention and not be aware of what’s going on in the groups around you – even when you want to stay oblivious.

At the Masters, there are the famous roars at amen corner, like the one that Seve Ballesteros heard from Jack Nicklaus’ gallery ahead before dumping a four-iron into the water on No. 15 back in 1986. At other PGA Tour events, there are leader boards everywhere and word travels fast amongst the gallery. While most players seem to want to know their status, many work hard to stay calmly unaware and often credit their strategy with helping them win the event.

So it was interesting to observe Dave Capel on Sunday at the amateurgolf.com California Mid Amateur at Stevinson Ranch. As the low man in the final group on the last hole, he briefly eyed spectators and fellow competitors before approaching a delicate short-side pitch to the slick green.

”You don’t want to know, do you?” Rhetorically asked fellow competitor Mike Vera.

”Nope.” Calmly answered Capel, 39.

Up to that point, Capel had played steady golf, after opening with a 72 on Saturday, one stroke off the pace set by Jerry Ledzinski of Carmel, who fired 71. He avoided a near-disaster at No. 9, where a four iron approach he described as “a quick diver” buried itself into the lip of the cross bunker 20 yards in front of the narrow green.

”I had no idea where I was going to hit it, but I figured I could at least get it out,” explained Capel. “The ball then landed 10 feet left of the pin, and spun straight right to tap-in distance – it was the shot of my life.”

The unlikely par save helped Capel to an even-par front nine, and the ‘leader board-free’ environment of amateur golf kept him unaware that he was losing ground to a red-hot Rob Adolph, of Fresno’s San Joaquin Country Club – playing a group in front of him with Randy Haag, John Driver, and Gary Young.

Adolph’s charge started with a birdie at No. 9. He made par on No. 10, then eagled the par-5 11th and birdied the par-3 12th to get to 4-under on the day and 3-under for the tournament. A standout athlete at USC, playing Baseball and Football, Adolph knows how to conduct himself under pressure. But a lost drive to the right of the treacherous 17th took Adolph back to even par on the day, and his birdie try at the par-5 18th narrowly missed the cup. Young also found red numbers for the tournament on the back nine, but a double bogey on the 15th cost the defending champ dearly.

Stevinson Ranch’s stretch of holes from Nos. 15 to 18 make even multi-shot leads no guarantee in medal play events such as this one, which makes Capel’s finish even stronger.

On the par-3 16th, where Ocean Honda was sponsoring a hole-in-one competition, Capel wanted no part of the tucked right pin, just a bad bounce away from the hazard. He threaded a four-iron to the front of the green, then hit the back of the cup with a 20-footer that was moving at Arnold Palmer speed. On No. 17, Capel smartly avoided the water with his tee shot, missed the green right and made a solid 5-footer for par.

That set up the scenario at 18, where the blissfully unaware Capel crisply ran his pitch towards the hole, and gave it a good chance to go in. The come-backer (5 feet) was no cinch, and Capel drained it like a tour player for the victory.

TRUE WINS HIS FIRST NET TITLE
8-handicapper Jeff True is also a Senior, so he has to decide which division to play in before entering each event, Senior Scratch or Net. He made the right choice this week, and played some of his best golf ever on Saturday with an even par gross round of 72.

”The swing felt great, nothing like Shadow Lakes in March when I was trying to swing through a muscle-pull,” said True, who called the event his first tournament victory.

On Sunday, True did a great job handling the role of front-runner, as he extended his margin of victory to a whopping 12 strokes – an amateurgolf.com record.

YAVORSKY ENJOYING HIS SENIOR MOMENTS
Steve Yavorsky of Capistrano Beach has made the most of turning 55, which he did last summer. Yavorsky not only qualified for the US Senior Open in 2004 (minimum age in that one is 50) he later made it all the way to the round-of-16 in the US Senior Amateur (minimum age 55) at Los Angeles’ Bel Air Country Club. And that’s not to mention three straight Los Angeles City Senior titles.

Yavorsky made his trip from Southern California worthwhile this weekend, and he had to best a tough field of Northern California ‘regulars’ (including the always tough George Kelley of Stevinson Ranch, who just turned 55) to do it.

Kelley had opened with a 71, which gave him a 1 stroke lead over Yavorsky and 2 stroke lead over Carl Selkirk of Chico heading into the final round. But a balky putter on Sunday cost Kelley 6 three-putts and crucial strokes against the steady Yavorsky, who Kelley called a “great player” after the round. Yavorsky finished with a 73 for a total of 1-over-par 145 for the victory, while Kelley (76) and Selkirk (74) tied for second at 147.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:

- Karen Capel, Dave’s wife, and two children watched the final hole, tan from a recent trip to Jamaica. That trip was cut a day short so Capel could play in this important tournament at his home club. “What can I say, this meant a lot to me,” quipped Capel.

- Rob Adolph, who tied for 2nd in the overall competition, was low in the Master’s Division with his total of 145 edging Randy Haag of The Olympic Club. Haag started bogey-bogey on Sunday, then made an ace on the lets-get-the-water-carry-overwith par-3 4th where most players are hoping to escape with a par… it wasn't the Ocean Honda-sponsored 'Win a Honda Ridgeline' hole (Ken Helwig came within inches of acing that one by the way!) but Haag will still get a TaylorMade R7 Driver for his effort.

- Bob Olds eagled the toughest hole on the course on Saturday in the first round, knocking a Callaway 7-wood into the cup for a deuce.

- Special thanks to George Kelley and the entire staff at Stevinson Ranch for hosting us again this year and making everyone happy from the fine course conditions to the great food and hospitality all around.

- Our next tournament is at Bandon Dunes April 16-20 (hey, we could use one more team for an even 64 players…) and then it’s the Monterey Bay Championship at the end of May. Visit the Tour site at www.amateurgolf.com/tour to register now.


- Capel scored a special exemption to the Stocker Cup for his victory, but all other players with a 2.4 handicap or less can enter the open qualifier on September 19th at Harding Park, right before the Amex World Golf Championship event. We'll soon start accepting registrations. The top 5 players received exemptions into the Trans Miss Amateur, being played July 18-23 at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kansas. Thanks to George Kelley and Stocker Cup Committee, as well as the Trans Miss Golf Association, for providing these wonderfuly 'fringe benefits' to the top players.

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Final Results from the California Mid Amateur, played at the 7060 yard, par-72 Stevinson Ranch Golf Club:

Mid Amateur Division (age 25-39)
Rank	Player Name	Rd 1	Rd 2	Total
1	Capel, David	72	72	144
2	Young, Gary	73	72	145
3	Vera, Michael	73	75	148
4	Johnson, Will	79	71	150
5	Furth, Ben	80	72	152
6	Ledzinski, Jerry	71	85	156
7	Martinez, Ted	82	76	158
7	Hamilton, Bryce	81	77	158
7	Coffey, Jeff	78	80	158
10	Hall, Howard	83	76	159
11	Renaud, Martin	80	81	161
11	Overton, Andrew	76	85	161
13	De Bellis, Dominic	85	77	162
13	Couch, Matt	77	85	162
15	Thorson, Eric	86	77	163
15	Tobin, Michael	82	81	163
17	Thielke, David	81	85	166
18	Connelly, Scott	80	90	170
18	Barstow, Sean	89	81	170
20	Brekhus, William	89	84	173
21	Flores, Armando	95	82	177
22	Ffrench, Marc	94	101	195
23	Ball, Charles	82	WD	WD
Master Division (age 40-54)
Rank	Player Name	Rd 1	Rd 2	Total
1	Adolph, Rob	73	72	145
2	Haag, Randy	73	74	147
3	Donovan, Darryl	77	71	148
3	Taylor, Zack	72	76	148
5	Wilson, Steve	81	70	151
6	Foreman, Terry	77	75	152
7	Dunn, Philip	80	73	153
7	Driver, John	74	79	153
9	Miller, Mark	82	73	155
9	Hamm, John	82	73	155
9	McBroom, Tony	79	76	155
9	Justus, John	76	79	155
13	Nilmeier, Conrad	79	79	158
14	Matias, Robert	79	80	159
15	Helwig, Ken	85	75	160
15	West, Corey	79	81	160
17	O'Malley, Greg	79	83	162
17	Zanassi, Joe	78	84	162
17	Rathjen, Dave	77	85	162
20	Iulio, Iose	83	80	163
21	Duffy, Neil	87	77	164
21	Flood, Michael	82	82	164
23	Pence, Steve	86	79	165
23	McCusker, Hank	84	81	165
25	Wlodkowski, Pete	87	80	167
26	Lang, Scott	92	76	168
27	Garcia, Ramiro	86	84	170
28	Godsey, Dirk	87	84	171
28	Cayton, Bob	82	89	171
30	Miskin, Don	88	87	175
30	Donnelly, Steve	85	90	175
32	Davis, Mike	89	95	184
33	Newcomer, Joseph	NS	NS	NS
33	Maniery, Gary	96	WD	WD
33	Bass, Wayne	88	WD	WD
33	Green, Phillip	80	NC	NC
33	Burda, Jeff	76	WD	WD
33	Pircher, Steve	WD	WD	WD
33	Dachtler, Dennis	77	WD	WD
33	Maguire, Mike	87	WD	WD
33	Carter, Don	82	WD	WD
Senior Division (age 55 and over)
Rank	Player Name	Rd 1	Rd 2	Total
1	Yavorsky, Steve	72	73	145
2	Selkirk, Carl	73	74	147
2	Kelley, George	71	76	147
4	Stewart, Earl	76	75	151
5	Olds, Bob	76	76	152
6	Washburn, Shelton	79	75	154
6	Ackerman, Terry	78	76	154
8	Shellenberg, Vic	79	76	155
9	Spellman, Mike	78	78	156
9	Parsons, Dave	78	78	156
11	Thompson, Rob	74	83	157
12	Baker, Doug	80	78	158
12	Carroll, Dave	77	81	158
14	Dusenbury, Doug	82	78	160
14	Butler, Mike	80	80	160
16	Saiki, Greg	87	76	163
17	Futch, Gregory	77	88	165
18	Welsh, Jim	81	89	170
19	Perez, Raul	90	81	171
19	Roark, Mike	85	86	171
19	Rauber, Patrick	87	84	171
22	Ackerman, Bob	89	83	172
23	Herndon, Steve	87	87	174
24	Wikse, Bob	100	79	179
25	Knapp, Art	100	93	193
26	Thomas, Ronald	103	92	195
NET Division (all ages, Net scores shown)
Rank	Player Name	Rd 1	Rd 2	Total
1	True, Jeffrey	64	72	136
2	Knapp, Todd	76	72	148
3	Gunn, Mason	71	78	149
4	Traweek, Jeff	77	74	151
5	Byers, Chuck	78	76	154
6	Balisha, Charles	79	76	155
6	Kline, James	79	76	155
6	Rush, Noel	76	79	155
9	Richardson, Al	79	83	162
10	Murphy, Gary	81	84	165
11	Jordan, Don	75	92	167
12	Holt, Brian	83	85	168
13	Hanback, Larry	91	80	171
14	Kneisley, Frank	81	NS	NS

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