RICH TOLLY LOOKS TO DEFEND TITLE AT 31st SCGA SENIOR AMATEUR
Six past champions slated to play the Zaharias Course at Industry Hills

STUDIO CITY, June 27 -- Rich Tolly, who completed a magical 2007 tournament season by winning the SCGA Senior Amateur and SCGA Senior Four-Ball crowns, will be back to defend his title when the 31st SCGA Senior Amateur Championship is contested at Industry Hills Golf Club’s Zaharias Course on June 30-July 1.

Rich Tolly of Laguna Niguel will try to defend his title at the SCGA Senior Amateur. Photo by Robert D. Thomas/SCGA.

The 57-year-old Laguna Niguel resident shot 74-73—147, 5 over par, at Hacienda GC last year and topped 2007 SCGA Super Senior Amateur champion Robert Carver, 2006 SCGA Senior Amateur champion Steve Bogan and Bakersfield’s Jim Seymour by two strokes in a three-hole playoff for the title. It was also Tolly’s first career major amateur win.

Traditionally played in the fall, the event (for players 55 and older) was moved to the summer to allow players to compete in the California Golf Association State Senior Championship, which pushed its dates back to September this year after previously being played in conjunction with the California Amateur Championship on the Monterey Peninsula. This is the first time the SCGA Senior Amateur will be played at Industry Hills, and it will use the 6,531-yard Zaharias “Babe” Course, which also hosted flights of this year’s SCGA Amateur Net Championship. The 36-hole championship tees off at 7:30 a.m. on June 30, and is free of charge for spectators.

This is also the first year since its inception in 2000 that the SCGA Super Senior Amateur championship, the 65-and-older division, will be conducted separately from the senior amateur. The super senior championship is slated for September 30-October 1 at The River Course at The Alisal, site of three past SCGA championships.

Past senior champions participating this year include Tolly (2007); Steve Bogan, 59, of Placentia (2004, 2006); Scott Monroe, 59, of Julian (2005); Ted Lyford, 64, of Redlands (2000); Frank Merhar, 66, of La Jolla (1998); and Paul Ladin, 75, of Westlake Village (1995). Past super senior champions in the field include Robert Carver, 72, of Fullerton (2004-05); and Ray Vanyo, 70, of Banning (2006-07).

In April, two-time SCGA Senior Amateur Champion Ed Rieu, 69, passed away. Rieu held the 1993 and 1994 titles and is one of four champions in the event's history to successfully defend his title (the other three were four-time champion Ted Richards, Jr. in 1980-81, two-time winner Bud Bradley in 1991-92 and three-time winner John Olive in 2001-03).

Two past SCGA presidents will also tee it up in the event: Ed Holmes, 60, of Riverside (2007) and Bill Cunerty, 62, of Mission Viejo (2005).

The SCGA Senior Amateur will be the last senior event of the season that will count toward the inaugural SCGA Amateur Match Play Championship on August 12-14 at Sandpiper GC in Goleta. The top 16 senior players off the 2007 and 2008 points list will be eligible to participate in the senior division of the event, as well as the top 32 in players off the general list. Points can also be earned at the 109th SCGA Amateur Championship on July 18-20 at Saticoy CC in Somis. Bogan is currently on top of the senior list with 990 points. Click HERE for the full list of point leaders.

Players of note include:

Kemp Richardson, 62, of Laguna Niguel, a two-time U.S. Senior Amateur Champion and 2006 SCGA Senior Player of the Year runner-up who has yet to win an SCGA championship. Richardson teamed with James Meyer of Dana Point to place third in the 2008 SCGA Foursomes Championship at Rancho San Marcos GC in Santa Barbara.

Robert Carver, 72, of Fullerton, a three-time (and defending) SCGA Super Senior Amateur Champion and current Hacienda Men’s Club champion. Carver and 23-year-old Brian Edick also teamed up to finish second in this year’s foursomes championship -- the duo had never met before stepping up to the first tee of the event.

Jim Myers, 63, of Oceanside, the 1984 SCGA Mid-Amateur Champion who recently qualified for this year's U.S. Senior Open.

Lyford, one of three players (including Bogan) who have won both the SCGA and CGA Senior titles (he won the Southland title in 2000 and the state senior in 2002; Paul Ladin won the CGA in 1993 and 1995).