105th California Amateur Championship Valencia | June 20-25
In the previous 105 years of the California
Amateur Championship, no pair of brothers had ever hoisted the Edward B. Tufts Trophy. San Jose resident Shintaro Ban changed all that. A year after his older brother Shotaro won the
championship, Ban, a junior at UNLV, won his own title, defeating Hidetoshi Yoshihara, 5 and 4, in a grueling 36-hole finale in 95 degree heat. “It’s absolutely a dream come true,” said Ban, who joined the likes of Ken Venturi and Mark O’ Meara as winners of the prestigious event. “To forever have my name under Shotaro’s on that trophy, I can’t believe this really happened.” With his mom and coach by his side, Ban sealed the deal with a par on the 14th. Wearing a smile across his face, he hugged his caddie, UNLV team- mate Justin Chong, as well as his mother and coach, who drove down from Northern California, arriv- ing at 1 a.m. to be there for the finals. Ban’s mother walked off the green with tears in her eyes. “I just kept telling myself to stay focused, and to
stay aggressive,” said Ban, who never trailed. Yoshihara, who recently won the Individual title at the CIF Boys’ State Championship, trailed Ban by four after the morning 18. He’d whittle the lead back down to 2-up with a birdie on the 23rd hole, but Ban regained his form to break away. “I came into this event having played two tourna- ments in the past two weeks, so I just came in think- ing ‘try and do your best,’” Ban said. “It’s definitely hard on your endurance, especially out in the heat.” For Ban, who also won the 2014 San Francisco
City Championship, it was a dominant week of golf from start to finish. He’d finish T-4 during the stroke play portion of the event, which featured 156 golfers on Monday and Tuesday. In match play, his other wins were 6 and 5, 4 and 3, 5 and 3 and 3 and 2.
–J.S. Upcoming Events
Aug. 15-19 113th Annual NCGA Amateur Match Play Championship at Spyglass Hill Aug. 15-19 10th Annual NCGA Senior Amateur Match Play Championship at Poppy Hills & Spyglass Hill Sept. 20-21 13th Annual NCGA Valley Amateur & Senior Amateur Championship at Morgan Creek
Shintaro Ban
SUMMER 2016 /
NCGA.ORG / 61
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