45th Annual NCGA Zone Championship
August 29-30, 2010
Spyglass Hill & Poppy Hills
August 30, 2011
by Katie Stoeckle
PEBBLE BEACH – The Benbow GC team of Travis Early, Pat Goodman, James Pogue and Rick Sutherland leapt up the leaderboard from third place to win the NCGA Zone Championship at Poppy Hills.
Benbow began the day two strokes back of the lead in the format that takes the best two of four scores per hole. They rallied to post a 41-under net 247, with 27 of that 41-under coming from today’s final round. Benbow won the North Bay Zone in May and took third in the NCGA Zone Championship last year.
The Spring Creek GCC team of Tom Bair, Al Campopiano, Kevin Hawes and Michael Weintz and the Saratoga CC team of Tom Cook, Paul Hammond, Augustus Kamburis and Stephen Webb tied for second place at 36-under net 252. Spring Creek took runner-up honors after a cardoff, with Saratoga finishing in third. Spring Creek and Saratoga qualified for the championship after winning the Central Valley Zone and South Bay Zone respectively.
The 30 teams that qualified for the championship either won or finished runner-up at one of 14 regional zone championships held throughout the summer at Poppy Hills and Quail Lodge GC. The majority of the nearly 400 NCGA regular clubs participate in one of the NCGA’s most popular net events.
Champions Benbow: Travis Early, Pat Goodman, James Pogue and Rick Sutherland
Runners-up Spring Creek: Tom Bair, Al Campopiano, Kevin Hawes and Michael Weintz
Third Place Finisher Saratoga: Tom Cook, Paul Hammond, Stephen Webb, and Augustus Kamburis