TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
46th NCGA Four-Ball Championship Russell Humphrey and James Watt | Spyglass Hill | May 11-13
CIF/CGA State High School Championship
Granite Bay HS | San Gabriel Country Club | June 7
Russell Humphrey and James Watt Russell Humphrey and James Watt went wire-to-
wire to win the 46th Annual Four-Ball Championship at Spyglass Hill. It was no easy task as the Lodi resi- dents had to fend off Casey Boyns and William Moore in a two-hole playoff after both teams finished with a 54-hole score of 205, 11 under par. Having been in a similar situation two years earlier, when the duo lost in a two-hole playoff to eventual champions Randy Haag and Darryl Donovan, Hum- phrey and Watt embraced the challenge they faced. “When we found out we were going to a playoff Russ said to me, ‘Well, we’ve done this before’ and that’s a huge advantage [to have],” said Watt.
Quick Facts FIELD & FORMAT: 100 teams; 54 holes of stroke play; the top 40 and ties made the 36-hole cut after posting a cumulative 147 or better.
WINNING PERFORMANCE: 66-70-69–205 IN THE TROPHY CASE: The championship trophy is named for Roger Val, longtime former director of the NCGA rules and competitions department.
STAT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The Four-Ball Champion- ship seems to always bring excitement to this pair. In 2010 when the duo forced a playoff before falling to the eventual champions, Humphrey’s wife gave birth the night of the first round. In 2011, the twosome couldn’t play the tournament because Watt had a wedding to attend. The fourth-place team of Haag and Donovan carded 43 pars over the three days of competition, the high-water mark for the tournament. UNTIL NEXT TIME: May 10-12, 2013 at Spyglass Hill
Granite Bay High School Champions Northern California high school golfers accom-
plished a rare feat at the 2012 CIF state championship. For the first time since the championship went to a six-team field, Northern California schools swept the top three spots. Sacramento’s Granite Bay HS brought a state title
back to Northern California for the first time since De La Salle’s 2006 championship bid. The team of Alex Gibbs, Brandon Baumgarten, Bryan Wise, Chuck Pedone, Jeffrey Inouye-Wong and Zack Kwan finished with a team score of 19 over with rounds in the 70s for all five of their scores that counted toward the total. Foothill HS was led by junior Nicolo Galletti’s
superb round of two under as the Falcons were able to fend off Stevenson (Pebble Beach) to take second. Incidentally, in the NorCal Championships held in late May at Butte Creek Country Club, the order of the top three was Foothill, Stevenson and Granite Bay. Sacramento can boast not only the team title, but the individual title winner as well. Playing in the last group of the day, Austin Smotherman from Del Oro HS blistered the course with five birdies to finish with a 4-under 67 and a narrow one-stroke victory over Santa Margarita’s Beau Hossler Jr. Hossler went on to finish in a tie for 29th at the U.S. Open two weeks later. This is the first time that the Sacramento area has topped the field in both the team and individual events in three decades.
SUMMER 2012 /
NCGA.ORG / 55
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