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Eight former champions headline 17th CGA Senior Amateur Championship September 15-17 at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach
By Katie Denbo Defending champion Gary Vanier, who made history when he became the only player to win both a California Amateur and CGA Senior Amateur championship, as well as seven other past champions will tee it up in the 17th CGA (California Golf Association) Senior Amateur Championship on September 15-17 at Poppy Hills GC in Pebble Beach. Tee times begin at 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 15 and 16 off the first and 10th tees, and the field will be cut to the low 33 and ties after the second round; click HERE for pairings and more information. Spectators are welcome free of charge. The 57-year-old Vanier, of Pleasant Hill, who won the 1982 California Amateur, was the 2006 CGA Senior runner-up to Placentia’s Steve Bogan after falling to Bogan in a playoff. Vanier rallied in the final round of the 2007 event to win by one stroke over Costa Mesa’s Steve Rhorer after eagling Poppy Hills’ par-5 18th hole and closing with a 1-over-par 73 to put him at 5-over-par 221 for the tournament. Rhorer is also in this year's field. If Vanier wins the 2008 title, he’ll be the only player since Fair Oaks’ Jim McMurtrey in 1995 to win two consecutive CGA Senior titles (McMurtrey went on to win a total of three titles). In addition to Vanier, other past champions in the field include Steve Bogan of Placentia, the 2006 CGA Senior champion, who Vanier lost to in a playoff for the title that year (Bogan is also the 2006 SCGA Senior Amateur champion and was the 2006 and 2007 SCGA Senior Player of the Year); Cliff Davis of Fairfield, the 1997 champion (Davis was runner-up in the 2005 event, losing in a playoff to Bob Olds of Brentwood); Tom Eastlack of Prescott, Ariz, the 1999 champion and a member of Temeku Hills GCC in Southern California; Ted Lyford of Redlands, the 2002 champion, 2000 SCGA Senior Amateur champion and second in the 2005 SCGA Foursomes Championship (with partner Mark Gardner); Bob Olds of Brentwood (Northern California), the 2005 champion and 1996 NCGA Senior Player of the Year; Paul Spengler of Carmel, the 1996 champion; and Robert Thompson of Merced, the 2004 champion (Thompson led the 2007 CGA Senior through the first two rounds but fell to third place after the final round).
The championship also includes a team play component that runs concurrently through the first two rounds; each association’s four-man teams will take the low three of four scores count toward the team total. The SCGA’s team of Clark Heath (Coto de Caza), Warren Caves (Newport Beach), Rich Tolly (Laguna Hills) and Boyd Martin (Corona del Mar) will compete against the NCGA’s Vanier, Mark Miller (Antioch), Jeff Burda (Modesto) and Thompson. The South Team is the defending champion, topping the North’s squad by one stroke last year. Southern California players of note include Robert Carver of Fullerton, the 2006 and 2007 SCGA Super-Senior Amateur champion; Caves, semifinalist at the 2008 SCGA Senior Match Play Championship and T7 at this year's SCGA Senior Amateur; Heath, the 2008 SCGA Senior Amateur champion; Martin, the 2008 SCGA Senior Match Play champion (he also teamed with Rich Tolly to win the 2007 SCGA Senior Four-Ball Championship, in his first SCGA event); Tolly, the 2007 SCGA Senior Amateur champion and 2007 SCGA Senior Four-Ball champion (with Martin); and Kemp Richardson of Laguna Niguel, a two-time U.S. Senior Amateur champion (2001 and 2003) and the 2001 British Senior Open champion. Richardson was also the low amateur in both the 1999 and 2000 U.S. Senior Open championships and was the runner up in the 2002 CGA Senior Amateur; he and father John are the only father-son combination to win a USGA championship. Northern California players include Burda, the 2008 NCGA Senior Amateur champion who advanced to the Round of 16 at this year’s California Amateur (falling to eventual champion, 18-year-old Nick Delio of Valencia); Lee Jeberjahn of San Luis Obispo, T8 in the 2007 event and a 2007 U.S. Senior Amateur participant who fell to eventual runner-up Sam Farlow in the first round; Miller, the 2008 Golfweek Senior Amateur champion and 2007 Northern California Senior Player of the Year; Dave Parsons of Benicia, 2002 NCGA Senior Four-Ball (with Carl Selkirk), Antioch City Senior and Livermore City Senior champion; Selkirk of Chico, 2003 CGA Senior runner-up and two-time NCGA Senior Player of the Year; and Earl Stewart of Fairfax, runner-up at 2008 Oakland City Senior, 2004 NCGA Senior Four-Ball champion and 2001 NCGA Senior Amateur champion. This is the first year in the championship’s history that it is being played on separate from the California Amateur Championship, which left Pebble Beach GL in 2007 to begin a north-south rotation. |
