By Katie Denbo
Southern California Golf Association

For a Round of 16 photo gallery, click HERE.

John McClure of West Los Angeles, the No. 32 seed, upset stroke-play medalist Blake Trimble of Rancho Santa Fe, 4 & 3, today and 16 golfers went home after the first round of match play at the California Amateur Championship at Monterey Peninsula Country Club.

Historically, it wasn’t all that big of an upset.  Just 10 medalists in the nearly century-old tournament have gone on to win the championship gold medal; Steve Woods in 1994 was the last.

While the strong winds that wreaked havoc for players earlier in the week died down on the Monterey Peninsula’s Shore Course, the competition picked up for McClure, a real estate developer and the 2005 SCGA Mid-Amateur Champion, who secured the final spot in a 10-for-5 playoff yesterday to make match play. During his second stroke play round, McClure was assessed a two-stroke penalty for touching his moving and unmarked ball on the green, and he had to chip in on the final hole yesterday to make the playoff.

“I got off to a good start today by birdieing two of the first three holes, and I was able to gain a few holes that Blake was having trouble with,” McClure said. “Match play is a good format for me. I’m pretty straight of the tee and I don’t hit many offline shots, which keeps the pressure on my opponents.”

McClure will be paired with good friend Keith Kinsel of Glendale in the Round of 16 Thursday; Kinsel defeated Los Angeles’ E.J. Kahn 2 & 1.  “It felt like we had blood out there on every hole,” said Kinsel. ‘There was a lot of up and down.  I only three-putted once, which really helped. The course was probably three or four strokes easier today without the wind.”

Southern California golfers won nine of 16 matches. Josh Anderson, a recent Murrieta Valley HS graduate who will attend Pepperdine in the fall on a golf scholarship, defeated longtime golf friend Brett Kanda, who was seeded No. 2. It is the 18-year-old Anderson’s first time playing in the championship. “The conditions were much easier out there today, and I played solid,” Anderson said. “The greens were really quick, but I didn’t have any problems. Brett and I are friends and have been playing together for a long time, so it was nice playing with him today.”

La Quinta High School star Ben Murray dealt Escondido’s Mark Etue a tough hand, when he defeated the 51-year-old Etue, 7 & 6.  The end came after Etue hit his drive and two approach shots into the rough and conceded the match on the 12th hole. “There wasn’t as much gale force wind today,” Murray said. “I just hit fairways and greens and minimized my mistakes.  I plan to do the same tomorrow.”

Two-time California Amateur champion Casey Boyns of Pacific Grove outlasted Clovis’ Jon Dechambeau in 19 holes in “the best match-play round I’ve ever played,” Boyns said later.  That’s quite an accolade considering that the 51-year-old Boyns is bidding to become the just the third player ever to win three or more California Amateur titles; he won in 1989 and 1993.

The round of 16 will begin at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow on the Shore Course, with the quarterfinal and semifinal matches at 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday. The final 36-hole championship match is Saturday.

In other matches:

• Monterey Peninsula CC favorite José Sanchez of Carmel, the club’s executive chef, fell to the youngest golfer in the field, 16-year-old Justin Estrada of Yuba City, 4 & 3.

• In a true up-and-down match, Placerville’s Tim Honeycutt, age 17, defeated Robert Funk of Canyon Lake, the 2006 SCGA Mid-Amateur, 2006 Foursomes and 2007 Four-Ball Champion, securing a 3 & 2 victory despite double-bogeying the hole No. 1 and losing the first four holes.

• Fairfield’s Jeff Wilson, the 2001 California Amateur medalist, beat San Marcos’ Todd Strible, 8 & 7, in the largest winning margin of the day.  Wilson made five birdies in 11 holes, while Strible struggled throughout.

• Saugus’ Joseph Greiner, a member of the 2006 state community college champion team, College of the Canyons, birdied five of the first nine holes and held on to defeat Hillsborough’s Kory Storer 2 & 1.  Storer rallied to square the match after 14 holes, only to have Greiner birdie Nos. 15 and 16 and halve the 17th.

• Bogeying five of seven holes played on the back was costly for Earl Cross of Grass Valley, who lost to Darren Slackman of Indio, 3 & 2.

• Gregor Main, age 17 of Danville, defeated Carlsbad resident and San Diego State golfer Aaron Goldberg, 3 & 2.

• Gerry Simoni of Carlsbad topped Claremont’s Gary Havro, 3 & 2.  Havro was only 1 down through eight holes before the 51-year-old Simoni pulled away.

• Cody Slover, age 22 of Visalia, never lost a hole to Fremont’s Eric Mina, as he secured a 3 & 1 win over the 18-year-old Mina.

• Coto de Caza’s Scott Almquist halved the first seven holes in his match against Brady Myers of Colusa before Myers bogeyed the eighth hole to give Almquist a 1-up lead.  The 42-year-old Almquist, who reached the quarterfinals in 2005, held on to win, 3 & 1.

• Future Stanford golfer Sihwan Kim of Buena Park and Santa Barbara’s John Pate, the 1985 California Amateur runner-up, traded bogeys for five holes before Kim, the 2004 U.S. Junior Amateur champion, held Pate off, 3 & 2.

RESULTS: CALIFORNIA GOLF ASSOCIATION
96th California Amateur Championship
at Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course); Pebble Beach, Calif.
Shore Course: 6,886, par 72

First-round match-play results (numbers in parentheses are seedings):

Upper bracket:
• Gregor Main, Danville, d. Aaron Goldberg, Carlsbad, 3 & 2.
• Joseph Greiner, Saugus, d. Kory Storer, Hillsborough, 2 & 1.
• Jeff Wilson, Fairfield, d. Todd Strible, San Marcos, 8 & 7.
• Tim Honeycutt, Placerville, d. Robert Funk, Canyon Lake, 3 & 2.
• Darren Slackman, Indio, d. Earl Cross, Grass Valley, 3 & 2.
• Justin Estrada, Yuba City, d. José Sanchez, Carmel, 4 & 3.
• Keith Kinsel, Glendale, d. E.J. Kahn, Los Angeles, 2 & 1.
• John McClure, West Los Angeles, d. Blake Trimble, Rancho Santa Fe, 4 & 3.

Lower Bracket:
• Josh Anderson, Murrieta, d. Brett Kanda, La Crescenta, 4 & 2.
• Gerry Simoni, Carlsbad, d. Gary Havro, Claremont, 3 & 2.
• Ben Murray, La Quinta, d. Mark Etue, Escondido, 7 & 6.
• Casey Boyns, Pacific Grove, d. Jon Dechambeau, Clovis, 19th hole.
• Eddie Olson, Aptos, d. James Erkenbeck, San Diego, 2 up.
• Cody Slover, Visalia, d. Eric Mina, Fremont, 3 & 1.
• Scott Almquist, Coto de Caza, d. Brady Myers, Colusa, 3 & 1.
• Sihwan Kim, Buena Park, d. John Pate, Santa Barbara, 3 & 2.

Second-round pairings:
• 7:30 – Main vs. Greiner
• 7:38 – Wilson vs. Honeycutt
• 7:46 – Slackman vs. Estrada
• 7:54 – Kinsel vs. McClure
• 8:02 – Anderson vs. Simoni
• 8:10 – Murray vs. Boyns
• 8:18 – Olson vs. Slover
• 8:26 – Almquist vs. Kim