NCGA Junior Tour - Central Valley
The NCGA Junior Tour stopped in the Central Valley at Stevinson Ranch for the second event of the multi-event tour.
Results and Scorecards:
Boys 12-13
Boys 14-15
Boys 16-18
Girls 12-14
Girls 15-18
March 15, 2008
STEVINSON - Due to the weather, the NCGA Junior Tour-Central Valley championship was shortened to 18 holes, but that didn’t stop heated competition across five flights divided by age over the course of one round at Stevinson Ranch.
Mathew Miller of Pleasanton continued a hot spring season, capturing his second boys overall title on the NCGA Junior Tour in as many weeks (Miller won last week’s Monterey Junior Tour event at Poppy Hills). The champion’s two-over-par 74 was good for a one-stroke win over Boys’ 16-18 flight winner Daniel Covrig of Modesto. Matthew Hansen of Los Osos was second in that flight while Matt Williams of San Jose was third.
The girls overall championship was grabbed by Emily Childs of Alameda in a playoff win over Kercia Brakel of Acampo after both players carded a 78. Childs, 17 and Colorado bound next year, recently won the San Francisco City. Brakel then captured the Girls 15-18 flight with defending NCGA Junior champion Kristen Allard of Porterville finishing second, two strokes behind, and Haley Andreas and Linda Brown in a tie for third.
Austin Roberts of Carmicheal was the Boys’ 14-15 flight champion. Roberts’ 78 was good for a six-stroke win over runners-up Jonathan De los reyes of Antioch and Lawrence Fu of Piedmont. De los reyes would take second in a playoff.
After a three-way tie for first necessitated a playoff, Andrej Bevins of Elk Grove emerged as the winner in the Boys’ 12-13 flight. Nicolo Galletti of Clayton took second while Derek Karunaratne of Anitoch finished third. All three competitiors turned in an 82.
Roseville’s Ashley Noda won by three strokes in the Girls’ 12-14 flight after firing an 81. Briana Mao of Folsom was runner-up while Carmel’s Alicia Binneboese took third.
The Tour now takes two weeks off, commencing again in San Mateo at Poplar Creek April 5-6.
Overall champions Emily Childs and Mathew Miller.
Girls 12-14 flight champion Ashley Noda, runner-
up Briana Mao, third-place winner Alicia Binneboese.
Girls 15-18 champion Kercia Brakel, runner-up
Kristen Allard, third place finishers Haley Andreas
and Linda Brown.
Boys 12-13 flight champion Andrej Bevins, runner-
up Nicolo Galletti, third-place finisher Derek
Karunaratne.
Boys 14-15 champion Austin Roberts, runner-
up Jonathan De los reyes, third-place winner
Lawrence Fu.
Boys 16-18 flight winner Daniel Covrig, runner-
up Matthew Hansen, third-place winner Matt
Williams.
Very disappointed that this tournament was shortened due to wind. Lightning, yes. I can understand that, but wind, no. I believe that the wrong decision was made.
March 17th, 2008 at 12:01 pmI support the decision to cancel the second round. It would not have been a positive competitive experience for any of the players as the scores could not be low in those conditions. Also for those players who are concerned about their rankings those high scores would have hurt that as well. It was not just “windy” it was miserable and when the boys 16-18 year olds are hitting their drivers just to make it to the green on a par 3 hole, you have to acknowledge unplayable conditions. Besides the kids were still given the opportunity to play if they so chose to.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:04 pmMark,
Cancelling a round is always a difficult decision. The Rules Committee at the tournament discussed it for quite a while before coming to the conclusion that the conditions were such that a competition could not be conducted in that wind. As Kristin stated, the conditions in the morning were extremely difficult and there was no forecast for the wind to die down before the evening.
The primary factors were that balls were beginning to move on the greens and were getting very diffcult to spot when they were being replaced and that the pace of play would be so affected that we would be unable to finish that evening. Since we could not come back the next day, we chose to cancel the final round.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:13 pm