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Marsh marches to victory at 109th SCGA Amateur Championship at Saticoy Country Club
By Robert D. Thomas In a two-man battle of former national champions, the 35-year-old Marsh — the 2005 U.S. Mid-Amateur and 1996 SCGA Amateur champion — shot 3-over-par 75 today and finished at 3-under-par 285 for 72 holes over the challenging 6,872-yard layout. The 40-year-old Hogarth — the 1996 U.S. Amateur Public Links and 2004 SCGA Amateur champion — got off to an awful start with three bogeys and a double bogey in his first five holes, leading to a front-nine 41, but fought back to post 3-under-par 33 on the back nine. He finished with a 2-over-par 74, and at 287 was the only other golfer under par for the championship. UC Davis student Austin Graham of San Clemente, the first-round leader after a 68, struggled to a 76 today but finished in third place at 289, 1 over par, two shots in front of John Pate of Santa Barbara and Spencer Anderson of Pacific Palisades. Marsh became the 20th player to win two or more SCGA Amateur titles, and the 12-year-span between titles is the second longest in SCGA Amateur history. When he won in 1996 at Santa Maria CC, Marsh let a six-shot lead evaporate over the last five holes and had to win the title in a playoff over Pat Duncan. “Fortunately,” said Marsh afterwards, “I didn’t even think about that coming down the stretch today.” “I was a little bit nervous all day because it’s been a long time since I’ve won a major stroke-play event, so this was important for my psyche.” Things might have been different had Hogarth not imploded at the beginning. “My putter is always the thing that holds me back,” said Hogarth afterwards. “When it goes south, it really goes south; today I three-putted four holes at the beginning. But I couldn’t just lay down; I’ve got too much pride to simply throw in the towel.” He didn’t Instead, it was Marsh who struggled and kept Hogarth and Graham in the tournament. Marsh made three bogeys and two birdies on the front nine, and blew his tee shot on the 144-yard, downhill 10th hole over the green, which led to a double-bogey 5. When Hogarth stuck his tee shot on the 10th hole to within two feet of the flagstick and sank the putt, it was game on. Marsh bogeyed the 11th hole after plugging his approach in a bunker, which trimmed the lead to two shots. After Marsh and Hogarth both got up and down from the same greenside bunker for birdie 4s on the 14th hole, Marsh drove into the trees on the 15th hole, was forced to chip out into the fairway and ended up making bogey. Meanwhile, Hogarth laced his approach shot on No. 15 to within eight feet but missed the birdie putt (“a dead pull; it never had a chance,” he would say later). Although he would wedge to eight feet on the 16th hole and sink the birdie putt, he was still a shot back. However, on the 478-yard 17th hole Marsh, in his words, “nuked” a 143-yard 9-iron to within eight feet of the hole and rolled in the curling putt to stretch the lead to two shots heading to the 522-yard par-5 finishing hole. Marsh played safe, pulling his second shot well to the left of the green. “I knew I had plenty of green to work with and figured par would get the job done,” said Marsh afterwards. Hogarth then threw a monkey wrench into that strategy when he hammered a 250-yard, 3-wood bomb over trees that reached the green, 25 feet away from an eagle. “It was one of the best shots I’ve ever hit under pressure,” said Hogarth later. When he charged the eagle putt eight feet past the hole, Marsh breathed a sigh of relief. “If he had made the eagle putt,” Marsh said later, “I would have had to work a lot harder on my birdie putt.” Both players settled for par 5s. The 18-year-old Graham was mildly frustrated after his round in which he didn’t make a single birdie and didn’t pick up a single stroke on the four par-5 holes. “I tried to stay patient,” he said later, “but nothing was dropping on the greens.” He wasn’t too downhearted; he leaves tomorrow to compete in two tournaments in Ireland. For complete, hole-by-hole scores, click HERE. For the winners photo gallery, click HERE. Kevin Marsh leads 109th SCGA Amateur heading into final round
SOMIS, July 19 — Kevin Marsh, whose roots are in Santa Barbara, is feeling right at home at Saticoy Country Club in nearby Ventura County. The 35-year-old Henderson, NV, resident, who won this event in 1996, fired a 2-under-par 70 today and leads the 109th SCGA Amateur Championship by three shots heading into tomorrow’s final round of the nation’s second-oldest, continuously contested amateur golf championship. Marsh’s 210 total for 54 holes, 6 under par over the challenging 6,905-yard layout, is three shots in front of 2004 SCGA Amateur champion Tim Hogarth of Northridge and UC Davis rising sophomore Austin Graham of San Clemente. Those two are five shots clear of the next three golfers: Wayne Merich of Moorpark, Spencer Anderson of Pacific Palisades and Brian Edick of Valencia, each of whom is at 2-over-par 218 for 54 holes. Final-round tee times begin tomorrow at 8 a.m. The 35-year-old Marsh, who won the 2005 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship and played in the 2006 Masters, had four birdies and two bogeys in his third round. “I actually played a lot better today than I did yesterday,” admitted Marsh after his round today. “If I had putted as well today as I did yesterday, I could have gone really low.” Marsh bogeyed the 427-yard first hole for the second round in a row (“It was kind of a wakeup call,” he said later) but followed that up with a birdie 3 on the third hole and closed his front nine with birdies on the eighth and ninth holes (the latter with a 15-foot putt). The back nine was more eventful. Marsh snap-hooked his drive on the 14th hole out of bounds but rallied to save bogey, and then rebounded to birdie the next hole. On the 487-yard, par-4 17th hole, Marsh blocked his drive right into the trees, chipped back into the fairway, then hit a wedge shot to within a foot to save par. He finished his round by getting up and down from a greenside bunker to save par on the final hole...MORE Kevin Marsh leads 109th SCGA Amateur Championship after two rounds at Saticoy SOMIS, CA, July 18 — Twelve years after he won the Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship, Kevin Marsh of Henderson, NV, put himself in contention for a second title with two sparkling rounds at Saticoy Country Club. Marsh, the 2005 USGA Mid-Amateur champion, shot 71-69 — 140 today, 4 under par over the challenging 6,859-yard Saticoy layout. He has a four-shot lead over three golfers at the midpoint of the 109th edition of the nation’s second-oldest, continuously contested amateur golf championship...MORE Brett Kanda, Nick Delio and Scott McGihon chase history at 109th SCGA Amateur on July 18-20 at Saticoy CC STUDIO CITY, July 8, 2008 — Defending champion Brett Kanda of La Crescenta, three-time champion Scott McGihon of Bermuda Dunes and newly crowned California Amateur champion Nick Delio of Valencia will be chasing history when the 109th SCGA Amateur Championship — the nation’s second-oldest, continuously contested amateur golf championship — tees off July 18-20 at Saticoy Country Club in Somis, the home club of SCGA President Bob Lowe...MORE |
