By Robert D. Thomas
Southern California Golf Association

With fierce winds continuing to rake the Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Dunes and Shore Courses, Blake Trimble of Rancho Santa Fe fired a 2-over-par 74 today to earn medalist honors at the 96th California Amateur Championship.

The 20-year-old Trimble, who stunned the field with a 5-under-par 67 at the end of the day yesterday (when the winds were strongest), played the Shore Course today and ended with 67-74 – 141 for two rounds, good for a five-shot margin over Brett Kanda of La Crescenta, who shot even-par 72 today on the Dunes Course for a two-day total of 146.  Eddie Olson of Aptos finished third at 147; Kanda and Olson were teammates of Trimble at UNLV (Trimble is transferring to the University of San Diego).

Trimble was relieved after finishing his second round.  “The wind kicked up earlier today,” he said, “and the Shore Course played harder because it has 13 holes exposed to the wind.  The wind really dried out the greens and made them putt much faster today.”

The low 32 scorers advanced to match play beginning tomorrow, with the final five spots being determined by a three-hole playoff involving 10 people.  The second round of match play is Wednesday, quarterfinals and semifinals are Friday and the 36-hole championship match is Saturday.  All matches will be played on the Shore Course.  “The Shore will be an awesome course for match play,” said Trimble, “because anything can happen on any hole.”

Trimble is bucking history if he is to capture the championship.  Only 10 medalists have gone on to win the championship; the last was Steve Woods in 1994.  “My goal was to get to match play and take it one step at a time,” said Trimble.  “I’m hitting a lot of fairways and greens and giving myself plenty of chances.  I’m not making all of the putts but I’m still happy with where I am.”

Former two-time champion Casey Boyns of Pacific Grove slipped to a 78 today but qualified for match play.  He’s bidding to become just the third person ever to win three or more California Amateur titles.  Defending champion Jordan Nasser of Anaheim Hills shot 83 today and failed to qualify.

Match Play notes: variety is the keyword

As is often the case, the 32-player match-play field for the 96th California Amateur Championship has an almost surreal amount of variety.  Consider:

• Nineteen of the golfers are from Southern California and 13 are from Northern California.  However that spread may well diminish since six of the 16 matches have SCGA members competing against each other, while the North has just three first-round “knockout” matches.

•There are 10 teenagers in the bracket, while nearly half the field (13 of 32) are over age 40.  The latter group includes two-time champion Casey Boyns of Pacific Grove, now 51, who overcame a two-shot penalty in today’s round to slip into match play.  Boyns is hoping to become just the third person ever to win three or more California Amateur titles.

• Boyns and Mark Etue of Carlsbad, also 51, are the oldest players in match play.  Gerry Simoni, also of Carlsbad, is 50.  Not far behind is 49-year-old Brady Myers of Colusa.

• The youngest match-play contestant is 16-year-old Justin Estrada of Yuba City.  Gregor Main of Danville, Tim Honeycutt of Placerville, and James Erkenbeck of San Diego are all age 17.

• The largest combined age of the first-round matches pair the 51-year-old Boyns against 47-year-old Jon Dechambeau of Clovis.

• The smallest combined age is the 19-year-old Olson against the 17-year-old Erkenbeck.

• Just two of the SCGA’s victorious Roger Lapham Challenge Cup team, John Pate of Santa Barbara and Robert Funk of Canyon Lake, made match play, the smallest number in many years.   Only Eddie Olson from the NCGA advanced, another dubious mark.

• The top three seeds -- medalist Blake Trimble, Olson and Brett Kanda -- were UNLV teammates last season.  Trimble is transferring to the University of San Diego.

• José Sanchez had a real home-court advantage in this tournament.  He’s the executive chef at Monterey Peninsula CC.

• Sihwan Kim, who plays John Pate in the final match tomorrow, was the 2004 U.S. Junior Amateur champion.