Ferrell, Wotherspoon win Partners Championship

They card five birdies on front nine to pull away from pack

BUCKINGHAM >> The duo of Wyatt Ferrell of Kelseyville and California State University San Bernardino golfer Matt Wotherspoon rolled to victory in the 30th annual Lake County Partners Golf Championship on Saturday at Buckingham Golf and Country Club.

The Partners is a fourball (better ball) tournament. Both partners play their own ball on each hole and the team score is based on which partner has the better score.

Ferrell and Wotherspoon jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. They carded five birdies on the front nine on holes three, four, five, seven and nine for a team score of 5-under-par 31. They also birdied the 10th hole, then went on a par run before giving a shot back with a bogey on the 15th hole. They closed out their round with a birdie on the watery par-5 17th hole for a back-nine score of 1-under-par 35 and an aggregate score of 6-under-par 66. Ferrell and Wotherspoon won by a five-stroke margin.

Hidden Valley Lake superintendent Billy Witt and HVL resident Gene Manning carded a 1-under-par 71 to tie the team of Buckingham's Pete Wotherspoon and Mason Smith of Kelseyville for runner-up honors. Juan Lopez of Finley and Mike Patterson of Kelseyville finished in fourth place with a 3-over-par 75.

Ferrell is an accomplished area golfer who earlier this year won the One Man Scramble. Wotherspoon spent the past year in the starting rotation of the collegiate golf team at San Bernardino. He has been on a roll of late, qualifying for the Northern California Public Links Championship at Ancil Hoffman in Sacramento. He advances to the tournament proper on July 5-6 at Poppy Hills Golf Course at Pebble Beach. As an aside, earlier last week Wotherspoon shot a 7-under-par on the back nine at Buckingham while posting a 29 during a skins game.

Senior flight

Witt and Manning prevailed in the senior division of the Partners with their 71. The senior flight is for golfers age 50 and older.

Lopez and Patterson were the runner-up team with 75. Todd Colbrandt of Middletown and Rick Easter of Lakeport tied the team of Manny Mendoza of Buckingham and Ted Knowles of Kelseyville for third place with 77.

Net flight

Pete Wotherspoon and Mason Smith captured the net flight for golfers with handicaps of 10 and higher. They posted a net score of 14-under-par 58. Wotherspoon and Smith ran off four natural birdies in a row on holes 10-13.

Enrique Monsante and Joel West, both of Kelseyville, were two strokes back with a 60 alongside MendozaKnowles. Recently graduated Clear Lake High School senior Nathon Lopez joined up with Jerimiah Valador of Fort Bragg to shoot a 67. Rich Steenwyck of Willits and Jesse Santana of Kelseyville came in with a 68, while the teams of Dr. Bob Jolin of Lakeport and Mel O'Meara of Upper Lake and Don Bunch and Rob O'Hara finished with 69.