Jeff Wilson (left) and Todd Barsotti
PACIFIC GROVE, CALIFORNIA (March 5, 2006) -- Twenty years later, a couple of
old pals from the University of the Pacific Golf Team, (class of '85) Todd Barsotti and Jeff
Wilson, still enjoy getting the competitive juices flowing. They have partnered
together in Northern California four-ball events many times -- picking up a victory in the biggest one of them all, the NCGA Four-Ball
at Spyglass in 2003. Barsotti and Wilson have done pretty well a wee bit down the 17-mile-drive in the seaside hamlet of Pacific Grove as well.
Today at the short-but-tricky Pacific Grove Golf Links Barsotti and Wilson captured the title of
the Monterey County Four-Ball for the second time in the last five years (they also lost one in a playoff) with
a 5-under-par front nine and a momentum-saving birdie at No. 11 good enough to hold
off playing companions Tyler Crawford and Cory Lathern and the rest of the Championship
Division field.
"I hit it left on No. 11, and left my partner hanging," said Wilson,
whose storied amateur resume includes being low amateur at the 2000 US Open
at Pebble Beach. "But Todd came through in a pinch with a birdie to put
us 7-under - from there it was just 'keep it out of the ice plant.'"
(And anyone who has played the spectacular back nine on the course affectionately
referred to as "The Poor Man's Pebble Beach" can attest to the fact that the ice plant which grows
wild among the sand dunes is nice to look at from a distance, but it is almost
impossible to hit out of.)
Crawford and Lathern -- who traveled to Monterey from Palm Desert and tied Barsotti
and Wilson with a round one 63 despite never having seen the course -- briefly
made things interesting on the front nine Sunday with a three birdie run, but
they quickly gave it back with three straight bogeys as they rounded the turn.
Brady Baguio and Tony Denesha of Bakersfield snuck into second place with a
final round 63, while Tom Koster and John Desantis, who play at nearby Coral
de Tierra, fired a 64 to tie Lathern and Crawford, plus the long-time golf partnership
of Bob Fulton and Dan Bieber at 10-under-par 130 on the tournament.
NET DIVISION
There is a sign at Kiawah Island, in one of the villas we stayed in last week,
that says "If you wonder if you have any friends, just buy a place at Kiawah!"
Here's another one. "If you aren't getting any attention, just post a sub-60
round in a net golf tournament." That's what Glenn Lee of Fairfax and Wes
Tom of Sacramento did in the first round, creating a buzz around the leaderboard.
Fact is, 12-under-par net is far from unreasonable in a net four-ball format,
even at 80 percent handicap. If you applied handicaps to the scratch division
numbers, you would see at least one team under 60 and many very close. (It is
only 5700 yards, remember, at the far-from-daunting Pacific Grove G.L. which
carries a course rating of 67.5)
Bill Foley of San Ramon and Rob McCourt of Alamo, paired with the leaders, did
everything they could to catch up, including a beautiful pitch-in at the par-5
sixth by McCourt (which was answered with a high-five from Lee). In the end, Lee and Tom's final round 66 was good enough to hold off McCourt and
Foley, who posted a 64 to take third at 128. Trevor Healy and Tom McGrane, two game
players whose Irish accent fits in perfectly at the Pacific Grove Golf Links,
fired a final round 63 to take grab second place at 127.
SENIOR DIVISION
Chip Campion of Salinas and Doug Dusenbury of Monterey, after a tournament low
first round of 63, came out strong on Sunday. The duo appeared ready to run
away from the field when they got to 10-under par on the tournament with 5 holes
left to play (with an eagle on No. 4) before a team bogey on the par-5 fifth
hole derailed their train. They finished with 68 to tie for third with Terry
Ackerman (newly of Monterey!) and Tom O'Grady of Los Altos. David Hemrick of
Aptos and Frank Pieper of Carmel, playing in the final group with the leaders,
posted a solid 6-under-par 64 in the final round to win by one over Marshall
Raymer of Pleasanton and Bob Rowland of Danville, who snuck up the leaderboard
into second place with a final round of 64 as well.
To view complete results, scroll to the bottom of the page.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
- Special thanks to longtime Pacific Grove Golf Links Professional Peter Vitarisi,
PGA for entrusting amateurgolf.com with an event he has run for the past 20 years.
We presented Mr. Vitarisi with an engraved clock on Sunday to thank him for his
support of amateur golf and we hope to continue the tradition he started for many
years.
- Congratulations to Jerry Ledzinski of Carmel, who made an ace on the 1st
hole (his 10th) with a nine iron. Ledzinski flushed a 9-iron that landed just
feet past the hole and spun in, much to the delight of his partner Frank Pokigo,
Jr. And while the Ocean Honda-supplied hole-in-one car was in view, Ledzinski
would have needed his ace on the longer 9th hole to qualify for the free car.
- While we're talking about holing shots, kudos to Andrew Biggadike of Palo
Alto for scoring an eagle on the difficult 8th hole, his first hole of the day!
Biggadike, formerly of New Jersey, has become a regular at amateurgolf.com events
and was quickly picked up as a partner by the savvy Tak Taoyama. That hot start
resulted in enough momentum to carry the team up the leaderboard after an even
par start as they closed with a 63.
- Thanks to the entire staff of Pacific Grove Golf Links for hosting us, to
the weatherman for holding off the rain, and to Tournament Director Liz McQueen,
Bill Biermann, and Trisha Williams of amateurgolf.com for running the event
so smoothly. Our next tournament is next weekend at Shadow Lakes in Brentwood
- we still have a few spots left in the field which you can grab by visiting
www.amateurgolf.com/tour/schedule.asp
* * *
Final results from the amateurgolf.com Monterey County Four Ball, played at
the Par-72, 5727 yard Pacific Grove Golf Links:
|
|
Championship |
|
|
|
Pos |
|
Team |
Rd1 |
Rd2 |
Tot |
1 |
|
Barsotti / Wilson |
63 |
62 |
125 |
2 |
|
Baguio / Denesha |
65 |
63 |
128 |
T3 |
|
DeSantis / Koster |
66 |
64 |
130 |
T3 |
|
Crawford / Lathern |
63 |
67 |
130 |
T3 |
|
Bieber / Fulton |
67 |
63 |
130 |
T6 |
|
Looper / Peterson |
65 |
66 |
131 |
T6 |
|
Ledzinski / Pokigo Jr. |
67 |
64 |
131 |
T6 |
|
Erbez / McBroom |
65 |
66 |
131 |
T6 |
|
Boyns / Moore |
64 |
67 |
131 |
T10 |
|
Foreman / Miller |
69 |
63 |
132 |
T10 |
|
Couch / Moore |
65 |
67 |
132 |
T12 |
|
Hallgrimson / Melvin |
65 |
68 |
133 |
T12 |
|
Biggadike / Taoyama |
70 |
63 |
133 |
T12 |
|
Anthony / Pryor |
67 |
66 |
133 |
T15 |
|
Davis / Davis |
67 |
67 |
134 |
T15 |
|
Affinito / Harding |
68 |
66 |
134 |
T15 |
|
Miller / Smithburger |
66 |
68 |
134 |
T15 |
|
Tessler / Wlodkowski |
67 |
67 |
134 |
19 |
|
Furth / Whittemore |
68 |
69 |
137 |
20 |
|
Hatfield / Ravazza |
68 |
70 |
138 |
21 |
|
Bass / Debellis |
68 |
71 |
139 |
22 |
|
Allison / Allison |
67 |
73 |
140 |
T23 |
|
Harris / Tonge |
69 |
73 |
142 |
T23 |
|
Campbell / Moore |
71 |
71 |
142 |
T25 |
|
Dieker / Simas |
72 |
72 |
144 |
T25 |
|
Bauer / Weeks |
75 |
69 |
144 |
|
|
|
Senior |
|
|
|
Pos |
|
Team |
Rd1 |
Rd2 |
Tot |
1 |
|
Hemrick / Pieper |
65 |
64 |
129 |
2 |
|
Raymer / Rowland |
66 |
64 |
130 |
T3 |
|
Campion / Dusenbury |
63 |
68 |
131 |
T3 |
|
Ackerman / O'Grady |
68 |
63 |
131 |
5 |
|
Goettsch / Rhodes |
66 |
69 |
135 |
6 |
|
Black / Cayton |
70 |
71 |
141 |
7 |
|
Hamilton / Massier |
74 |
68 |
142 |
|
|
|
NET |
|
|
|
Pos |
|
Team |
Rd1 |
Rd2 |
Tot |
1 |
|
Lee / Tom |
58 |
66 |
124 |
2 |
|
Healy / McGrane |
64 |
63 |
127 |
3 |
|
Foley / McCourt |
64 |
64 |
128 |
4 |
|
Knapp / Silacci |
66 |
63 |
129 |
T5 |
|
Blaney / Lee |
69 |
62 |
131 |
T5 |
|
Houde / Randesi |
64 |
67 |
131 |
T5 |
|
Anderson / Biason |
68 |
63 |
131 |
T8 |
|
Aschenbrenner / Wilbur |
68 |
64 |
132 |
T8 |
|
House / Strahan |
64 |
68 |
132 |
T10 |
|
Farino / Minkoff |
67 |
66 |
133 |
T10 |
|
Steele / Vieira |
66 |
67 |
133 |
T10 |
|
Hollstien / Loveless |
67 |
66 |
133 |
T13 |
|
Lerner / Pittenger |
70 |
65 |
135 |
T13 |
|
Richardson / Thurman |
69 |
66 |
135 |
T15 |
|
Blake / Loftus |
70 |
66 |
136 |
T15 |
|
Balisha / Balisha |
68 |
68 |
136 |
17 |
|
Albaugh / Tudhope |
71 |
66 |
137 |
18 |
|
Gray / Morais |
74 |
64 |
138 |
T19 |
|
Staszko / Staszko |
70 |
69 |
139 |
T19 |
|
Behling / Caputo |
68 |
71 |
139 |
T19 |
|
Allison Sr / Beshwate |
68 |
71 |
139 |
ABOUT THE
amateurgolf.com 2006 Monterey County Four-Ball
Online registration for this tournament is now closed.
If you are interested in playing, please contact Liz McQueen 650 207 0817 or email liz@amateurgolf.com
amateurgolf.com will be running this annual event at Pacific Grove Golf Links starting with the 2006 golf season.
View Complete Tournament Information