LOPEZ CAPTURES MATCH PLAY TITLE
Veteran golfer claims fourth career title, first since 2004 at Buckingham GC
Juan Lopez of Finley won the championship flight of the 26th annual Lake County Match Play Championship on Saturday at Buckingham Golf and Country Club. Lopez has been a fixture on the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit for more than two decades and his victory marked the fourth time he has won the Match Play title, this time following a 17-year hiatus. He also won in 2000, 2003, and 2004.
Unlike stroke play formats in tournament golf, match play is contested on a hole-by-hole basis. Whether the golfer wins the hole by one shot or five shots, he simply goes one hole up in the match with his opponent. The match concludes when one golfer is up more holes ahead than there are holes left to play. If the final score is 3-and-2, that means that the winner was up three holes with just two holes left to play.
Lopez advanced to the Match Play finals with a first-round victory over 2019 Match Play champion Dylan Harrison of Mount Hannah. Lopez won 6-and-4. On the other side of the bracket, defending champ Billy Witt, the superintendent of Hidden Valley Lake Golf Course, prevailed by a 2-and-1 margin over Mike Patterson. The Witt-Lopez finals match would not only be a repeat of the 2020 finals, but would feature two of the more successful linksters in Lake County Amateur Circuit history.
Lopez jumped out to an early lead on the front nine, but Witt never fell more than two holes behind during the front nine. After nine holes Lopez was 1-up on Witt. The two heavyweights continued to battle back and forth with birdies and pars. Lopez went 2-up with a birdie on the par-5 13th hole. With just three holes left to play, Witt remained two down to Lopez. Witt made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole and Lopez topped him with a two-putt birdie after hitting par-5 in two. On the watery par-5 17th hole, both golfers hit short of the peninsula green in two strokes. Lopez hit a daring wedge over the water to 12 feet while Witt exploded from the greenside sand trap to 25 feet. Witt two-putted for par. Lopez needed just a two-putt to win and he sunk the 12-footer for birdie and a 3-and-1 margin of victory.
Net division
There was a lot of interest in the net division of the Match Play Championship. The Match Play tournament director as well as Buckingham’s PGA professional, Mark Wotherspoon, divided the net golfers into three net flights based on the golfers’ handicaps. In the flight for golfers with handicaps from 1012, 2019 Match Play net champion Peter Wotherspoon bested Kelseyville High School golfer Cory Holt by a 3-and-1 margin in opening-round play. Max Huff defeated Wyatt Ferrell by a 2-and-1 margin. In the Net Fligt I finals, Wotherspoon jumped out to an early front-nine lead and held it throughout the back nine, beating Huff by a 5-and-4 margin of victory.
In the second net flight, Darren
Hostetler beat Clear Lake High School golfer Nathon Lopez by a 3-and-2 margin. Tim Brown prevailed over Billy Shaul, winning 2-and-1. In the Net Flight II finals, Hostetler was on fire throughout the front nine, winning eight of nine holes from Brown. Hostetler won the 10th hole to capture his division by a most impressive 9-and-8 margin.
The third net flight featured two opening round blowouts followed by one of the more closely contested finals matches of the tournament. Enrique Monsante defeated Brennen Bethel 8-and-7 while Mason Smith eliminated Kevin Ryan 7-and-6. In the Net Flight III finals, Monsante found himself down two holes to Smith with just three holes to play. Monsante made par on the 16th hole to go one down and then made another par on the 17th to even up the match. Monsante hit a big drive on the 18th hole and Smith hit his tee shot into Little Borax Lake. Monsante’s bogey on the final hole gave him the 1-up victory and the Net Flight III title.
The senior net division included two flights. In the Senior Net Flight I, Rick Easter played consistently solid golf to defeat Dr. Bob Jolin by a 5-and-4 margin. Todd Colbrandt, a threetime winner of the senior net Match Play, prevailed over Gary Cisneros 3-and1. In the finals match of the tournament, Easter and Colbrandt went back and forth and had to go into overtime to determine the eventual outcome. On the 20th hole of their match, Colbrandt made par on the par-3 second hole to win his fourth Match Play senior net title.
The Senior Net Flight
II finals were tightly contested by super senior golfers Rick Tracy and Mel O’Meara. Tracy got to the finals by beating Albert Diaz 6-and-5 while O’Meara punched his ticket to the finals with a 3-and-1 victory over Dr. Keith Long. The finals went all the way to the 18th hole with Tracy defeating O’Meara by a 1-up margin of victory.
There wasn’t enough interest to hold a senior scratch division in this year’s Match Play.
Schedule
The next tournament on the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit calendar is the 29th running of the Lake County Open. A major tournament on the local circuit, the Open is scheduled to be played April 24 at Buckingham.