Bear Creek's one-two punch of Ed Cuff and Bob Clark take a second SCGA Four-ball title

"The bad news for Cuff is, now he's stuck with me for the next 10 years."

It's unlikely Ed Cuff will complain much about teaming up with his Bear Creek and Murrieta neighbor Bob Clark for another decade (the duration of a winning team's exemption) of SCGA Four-Ball Championships. Seven years after the pair teamed up to win their first title at Oakmont CC, they annexed another by firing a 64-68 - 132 total at the PGA of Southern California GC at Oak Valley's Champions Course.

The margin ended up matching the advantage they held after first-round action, two strokes, but the road had a few twists. Their 18-hole lead had disappeared by the time 27 had been played. Playing competitors Robert Funk and Ken Wertzberger caught and passed them when Clark-Cuff bogeyed the sixth and seventh holes, both par-4s. In fact, three other teams had passed them as well.

However, when there are still nine holes to play, solid veterans of competitions like the former NCAA champion (Clark) and former state amateur champion (Cuff) can't be dismissed. Clark birdied the first par-five on the back side, No. 11, and Cuff followed suit on the next hole.

At No. 13, a 355-yard par-four named Moonscape, Cuff fashioned what he termed "probably the best one of those kinds of shots I've ever made".

The hole is bisected by a deep ravine. Average golfers play into a generous fairway landing area to the left, then launch their approach across the hazard to a shallow green perched near the southeast corner of the property. Many players in the Four-ball, though, were taking their chances by trying to drive the green, which is reachable taking the "as the crow flies" route.

Most didn't reach or hold the green from the tee and Cuff was one of them. His ball settled in one of the lower row of a swarm of deep bunkers below the green, 35 feet from the hole. Cuff wedged his ball up the required 20 feet of elevation and it settled 20 inches from the hole. From disaster (Clark was on the "scenic" side of the cart path eight feet higher than the hole) to birdie: the lead had returned.

Two pars later they had reached the 490-yard par-five 16th. Clark's drive found the cart path on the right, gaining a bit of yardage as it rolled. After a drop, he hammered an approach that rolled off to the back fringe. Cuff, facing the crossing wind, chose a seven iron from 165 yards. The ball floated down to within six feet of the hole. Clark just missed his eagle attempt, but Cuff did not and that settled the issue.

The previous day, the pair was pretty much invincible, Clark scoring 71 on his own ball and Cuff 69. The four-ball score was a perfectly balanced 32-32- 64 with four birdies on each side, both including par-3, -4, and -5 holes.

Dan Jennings and Steve White finished 10th a year ago and moved into award-plate echelon this time around with two 67s, paced by Jennings' 72-71. Brian Bazzel and Greg Johnson also made the turn in 33 in round 2, but could birdie only No. 16 on the way in to tie them for second.

Former California Amateur and U.S. Amateur Public Links champion Tim Hogarth and former SCGA Amateur champ John Pate (fresh off a victory over a stellar field in the Stocker Cup) logged a top five for the second year in a row, tying for fourth with Orange Countians John McDonald and Daniel Smith. Defending champions Dennis Reiland and Jim Plotkin were in a group at 136.

The top five finishers get exempted into the 2002 event. Clark and Cuff start their new 10-year exemption as former champions at - ready for this? - their home course, Bear Creek GC.