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NCGA Amateur Catlin Conquers Field


John Catlin’s trips to Pebble Beach in August each of the last two years produced wildly different results.


The 19-year-old Carmi-


chael resident last played at Spyglass a year ago in the NCGA Junior, making the cut but then finishing in last


in the final, the 34-year- old Hardy ranks with the best of coaches. His almost Houdini-esque ability to es- cape trouble produced par- saving bunker shots, chips and an array of holed five-footers that maintained a lead that bounced between 1- and 2-up, though the morning 18 ended all square. But Catlin


possesses a solid, whiplash action that produces a ball flight and straight path that Tiger Woods would kill for. And the con- stant avoidance of


place with a final-round 83. A year later, he found him- self atop the region with a 3 and 2 victory in Northern California’s most prestigious amateur event, the NCGA Amateur Match Play. In doing so, he defeated one of the top mid-amateurs in the state in Saint Mary’s Golf Coach Scott Hardy. The scheduled 36-hole


final got off to a roller- coaster start as there were no halved holes within the opening six. Hardy finally established and held a 1-up lead with a kick-in birdie on the par-5 seventh, a lead he would hold for the next 18 holes. If the best coaches and teachers lead by exam- ple, then, as demonstrated


68 / NCGA.ORG / FALL 2010


the big mistake allowed the 2009 Jesuit High graduate to keep the match close. “I’ve always been a straight driver. I felt solid all week on these fairways,” he said. That consistency, and the


grind of a 36-hole match, started to take their toll on Hardy toward the middle of the final 18 holes. Catlin bombed a 25-footer for birdie on the 27th hole, Spy- glass’ 9th, and followed that with another long putt on the 28th hole that sparked some momentum and a 2-up lead. “After I made that putt on 10 I thought I had it,” the New Mexico Lobo said. “But I had to stay present and not think about the tro- phy. Scott’s too good to let


up. He put a lot of pressure on me.”


Catlin played 139


holes over the course of two rounds of stroke-play qualifying and five rounds of match play (with the final accounting for 34 holes). In the quarterfinals, he dusted State Amateur champ Scott Travers 5 and 3, denying Travers’ bid to win the State Am, SCGA Amateur and NCGA Amateur in the same year, a feat that had only been accomplished once before, in 1925. Perhaps the demands


the championship places on endurance explains why the North Ridge member’s win extends a nine-year stretch of victories by college golf- ers (the last mid-amateur to win was PGA Tour


By Scott Seward


champion Matt Bettencourt back in 2001). The win also stopped Hardy’s quest to add a sixth NCGA trophy to his case. The Amateur is the only title to elude him of the events he is eligible. So how did Catlin


dramatically improve from the bottom of the junior leaderboard to the top of the Northern California amateur game in one year at the same venue? “Playing college golf,” he


said. “It made me a better player. After playing against Oklahoma State, TCU and USC this course doesn’t seem nearly as hard.” Catlin heads back to


Albuquerque to begin his sophomore season with a major NCGA feather in his cap.


Scott Hardy


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