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November 9, 2009

SAN JOSE – St. Francis High School claimed the NCGA/CIF Girls Northern California Championship, advancing to the state championship, to be held next Thursday at Poppy Hills.

The Sacramento school posted a 395, led by Briana Mao’s 74 and Marrisa Mar’s 76, to distance themselves from runner-up Alameda HS by four strokes. Both Alameda HS and Granada HS qualify for the state championship.

In individual play, NCGA Junior Player of the Year Hannah Suh of Evergreen Valley HS posted a one-stroke win over Mariko Tumangan of San Jose and Grace Na of Alameda. Suh fired a two-under 70. Tumangan had been perhaps the hottest high school golfer alive in the last week, after claiming the NCGA Junior Tour Championship at Belmont with a final round 66, and then blowing away the field at the Central Coast Section at Rancho Canada, this time shooting a course record 62.

The top six indivduals not on teams qualify for the state championship. Suh and Tumangan were joined by Taylor Camany of Salinas (72), Haley Andrea of Pacific Grove (74) and Stephanie Hsieh of Monta Vista (74). After a playoff, Alexandra Wong claimed the last spot in the state field.

The State Championship will be contested next Thursday, November 19 at Poppy Hills.

St. Francis High School

Alameda High School

Granada High School

Hannah Suh

Mariko Tumangan

Taylor Camany and Haley Andrea

Stephanie Hsieh and Alexandra Wong

SAN FRANCISCO -  Bay Area golfers were relieved when after a long-delayed 5-month study, the city’s Recreation and Parks Department recommended keeping the 18-hole Sharp Park Golf Course open. “The Department’s report is a “good start towards saving the historic Alister MacKenzie-designed golf course and all of its endangered species—frogs, snakes, and municipal golfers,” said Bo Links, co-founder of San Francisco Public Golf Alliance, an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that has led the fight to preserve the golf course.

The Department’s report is a significant step, but nevertheless only a step, along the way for rehabilitation of the beautiful but tattered 77-year-old golf course, which is subject to a currently-pending Environmental Impact Report, and which must ultimately be approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

A Tucson-based environmental litigation group, Center for Biological Diversity, has led a political charge to close the course, in favor of creating a dedicated frog and snake preserve. The Recreation and Parks Department’s 400-page report concluded that closing the golf course, or reducing it to 9 holes, would be significantly more expensive than keeping the historic 18-hole course in operation. The CBD’s proposal to use an environmental “mitigation bank” as a funding device for closing the golf course, would have high up-front costs and questionable revenue-generating prospects, the Department’s report concluded. Under all alternatives, the frog and snake’s primary habitat would be protected and expanded at Sharp Park.

“This is another good day for golf in San Francisco and the Bay Area,” said Links, who pointed to other recent golf good news in President’s Cup Tournament conducted in October at Harding Park and the opening of the new First Tee Academy at the inner-city Visitacion Valley Middle School. “Golf is a wonderful outdoor sport played by people of all ages and backgrounds, and Sharp Park is a beautiful and historic and fun place to play. It is one of the real treasurers of Bay Area golf. And we are pleased that the Recreation and Park Department now understands this after long neglecting the property. We congratulate Parks Director Phil Ginsburg and his Department for this.”

The Department’s golf plan calls for closing the 3-par Hole 12, and shortening the 4-par hole 11 and 5-par hole 13, for the purpose of moving golfers and maintenance workers away from the two large ponds and a connecting stream on the western part of the course, which are thought to provide the best potential new habitat for the creatures. “We have not had time to study the Department’s hole closure and redesign proposals,” said Links, who is himself a prominent amateur golf architect. “But the less change to MacKenzie’s historic course routing, the better. And we are confident that our architects will have good ideas which can help to minimize the amount of golf course disruption on this landmark property. We look forward to working cooperatively with the city, as well as the Pacifica and San Mateo County leaders who share our commitment to preserve and renovate Sharp Park’s architecture as well as its environment. Golfers are environmentalists, and this is important to us, too.”

Despite its fancy architectural pedigree, the golf course is famous for being the home of a racially and culturally-diverse, middle-class golfing clientele, featuring large percentages of pensioners, women, and beginners—a clientele much like golfers on the public seaside links of Scotland. “This is exactly who Dr. MacKenzie designed this golf course for,” said Links. “He had been the consulting architect at St. Andrews before he immigrated to the States. At Sharp Park, MacKenzie intentionally re-created a Scottish public seaside links. Sharp Park’s golfers just fit the spirit of MacKenzie to a tee.”

In the months since the Center for Biological Diversity first mounted its assault to close the course in favor of a frog and snake preserve, there has been “a groundswell of public support for keeping Sharp Park open,” Links said. “Perhaps the powerful reaction from golfers and preservationists caught golf’s opponents by surprise, but it doesn’t surprise us. Together with Long Island and Chicago, San Francisco is the original home of golf in America. Because of this, golf in the Bay Area has kept its Scottish roots as a broadly-based public sport. So the attack on golf as “elitist” simply does not ring true to people here. At Sharp Park, there is also a strong cultural history factor, because the golf course is the work of the greatest golf architect in history. It is as if the CBD were trying to tear down Frank Lloyd Wright’s Marin Civic Center. There is too much cultural history here to just plow it under.” Located in the southern San Francisco coastal suburb of Pacifica, the Sharp Park Golf Course has been designated as a nationally-significant at-risk cultural landscape by the Washington D.C.-based Cultural Landscape Foundation.

San Francisco Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and Pacifica Mayor Julie Lancelle have joined with the Public Golf Alliance in defense of the historic golf course. Within the past month, the golf course’s publicly-announced political supporters has grown, to now include Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco/San Mateo County), State Assembly Whip Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco), Assemblyman Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), and San Mateo County Supervisors Carole Groom and Adrienne Tissier, and San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. Additionally, Local 261, the Laborer’s Union that represents gardeners at the San Francisco public courses, has declared its support for the Save Sharp Park movement. This support is in addition to major golf organizations, including the World Golf Foundation, Northern California Golf Association, California Alliance for Golf, Alister MacKenzie Society, Golf Course Superintendent’s Association, and others. San Francisco golf legend Ken Venturi, the 1964 U.S. Open Champion, is the Public Golf Alliance’s Honorary Chairman.

Next up in the continuing struggle over the golf links, will be a series of public meetings, whose dates have not been set. Long-term, it is unknown when the matter will reach the Board of Supervisors for a final determination.

October 24, 2009

PEBBLE BEACH – After months of league competition Riverside and Tehama almost needed extra holes Saturday to determine the last one standing. A clutch two-putt allowed Riverside to hang on and defeat Tehama to capture the 21st Annual Team Match Championship title at Poppy Hills.

Riverside’s victory in the final was its second in as many days, capturing the Saturday league title with a win over Spring Creek the day before. Both finalists moved forward on the strength of convincing 23-13 margins in the semifinals. Tehama was seeking to win its second title since 2005 with several players from the championship squad, including club head pro Rick Leibovich and team captain Bill Yakobovich anchoring the current team.

The victorious Riverside team

The championship match was all square heading into the 18^th hole with Tehama’s Yakobovich and Riverside’s Bill Duarte both on the front of the green in regulation more than 60 feet away. Duarte benefitted from seeing Yakobovich putt first. The Fresno resident cozied his first putt to the hole within tap-in range placing pressure on team captain Yakobovich to make a double-breaking putt from thirty feet.  After Yakobovich was unable to save par he graciously conceded Duarte’s winning par putt.

Duarte displayed calm and grit down the stretch after bouncing back from an unnerving penalty on the back nine. The Riverside team member was assessed a loss of hole penalty for touching his line of putt. He persevered on the closing stretch at Poppy Hills to claim the winning putt.

The magnitude of the win was not lost on Riverside. “This is the biggest victory the club has ever had,” explained team captain Manuel Herrera. “We were most definitely nervous but we kept playing hard and waited to see what happened.”

The popular championship is the conclusion to a summer-long competition involving more than 200 teams from across Northern California.  The 12-man teams competed in four-ball (best ball) matches concurrent with singles’ matches, with each match worth two points, or a total of six in each group. More than 15,000 rounds were played to bring the final four clubs - Tehama, Riverside, Whitney Oaks and Spring Creek - to the Monterey Peninsula.

“Each club selects its own team members and nobody has to qualify,” explains Jim Moriarty, NCGA board member and chairman of the Tournament Committee. “The maximum index is 18.4 and thus players who are not otherwise eligible for other NCGA tournaments can participate. Approximately 3,500 different players participated in 2009.  For the players making it to Poppy Hills it is the equivalent to their Presidents Cup. They take it seriously and have gotten this far for a reason.”

Whitney Oaks advanced to the final four at Poppy Hills for the second straight year. Like 2008 the Rocklin club lost on Friday and settled for a spot in the consolation match on the weekend. It was Spring Creek who captured third place honors though after a dominant 27-9 victory over the Rocklin Club. In a true team effort, every member of the Spring Creek squad contributed a point to the 27 point-total Saturday.  

Spring Creek: First row - Gary Lopez, Erik Armstrong, Gil Huckell and Mike Weintz. Second row - Kyle Huckell, Shea Rollins, Andy Ward, Mike McNulty and Andy Wilbur. Third row - Danny Castallon, Joel Tyrus, Mark Purdom and Paul Kaminski.

Tehama: First row - Rick Leibovich, Bill Yakobovich, Bill Kiely and Gerry Schwartzel. Second row - David Eckles, Marc Bromley, Dick Brown and Joe Fogel. Third row - Pat Sullivan, Lon Mollentine and David Gill. Fourth row - Dave Taylor, Ben Perry and Tom Zoller.

Riverside: First row - Charles Richardson, Jose Espinoza, Jeff Berry and Keith Berry. Second row - Jason Flores, Alan Axt, Bob Atkinson and Javier Soto. Fourth row - Ryan Wiezycki, Bill Duarte, Robert Jacobs, Manuel Herrera and Tim Schinner.

Whitney Oaks: First row - Doug King, Terry Siler, Mike Barnes and Gary White. Second row - Steve Ronan, Ed McGreehan, Scott Straub and Chuck Roberts. Third row - Greg Larson, Jeff Burkhead and Mike Poetsch. Fourth row - Fred Huston, Kyle Gilmore, Mark Lenz and Vern Chance.

October 20, 2009

PEBBLE BEACH – Kissing your sister never looked so sweet.

In results that pay homage to the spirit and uber-competitiveness of the event, both the Hanna-Wehrman and Staedler-Jetter cups were halved, with the final scores of both riding on the final putt on the final hole. The annual event pits the finest Northern California amateurs against the best professionals as determined through a qualifying points system in a three-round Ryder Cup format.

Coming into the day, the amateurs were two points up in both cups and boasting long winning streaks over the last few years. But strong professional play in the singles’ matches propelled the NCPGA teams into position to snatch both cups. With the score tied 9-9 in the Hanna-Wehrman Cup, the NCGA’s Scott Hardy and Rick Reinsberg – a formidable four-ball team playing together in singles’ matches – needed to tie or win the final hole for the amateurs to retain the trophy. A solid up and down from 100 yards for birdie by Hardy, punctuated by an eight-foot putt, allowed the St. Mary’s golf coach to secure a tie and 1/2 point against Steve Hummel of Wolf Creek in Reno. (Ironically, both Hardy and Hummel made aces on the first day of competition). Rick Reinsberg of Moraga then needed to hole a six-footer to win his match against Rick Leibovich of Tehama, and to win the overall event. Reinsberg, the NCGA Amateur Stroke Play champion, missed left, halving both the match and the cup.

“The hole location (on 18) was a little higher than normal, so it was more difficult to stop the first putt,” Reinsberg said after reaching the par 5 in two shots and taking three putts to hole out.

The NCGA team led 6-4 coming into the singles matches after dominating the morning foursomes the first day, taking every point 5-0. But the afternoon four-ball saw the professionals almost completely reverse that result, winning 4-1. The amateurs had taken home the trophy for the last three years, and now retain it for a fourth year, with the overall series tied at 17-17-9.

The senior Staedler-Jetter Cup provided a case of deja vu, as 2008 senior player of the year Jeff Burda reached the final hole in two and then missed a five footer to clinch both the match and cup, resulting in an overall 14-14 tie. The Del Rio member established a 1-up lead with a 20-foot birdie putt on 16 and held on with a stellar up and down from the bunker on 17 in his match against Mick Soli of the Links at Mariners Point.

The senior amateurs won both foursome and four-ball sessions by a single point on the first day, powered by the Bob Olds/Carl Selkirk and Jeff Burda/Jim Knoll duos who claimed points in both sessions. The amateurs now lead the overall series 12-4-3 and retain the cup for the sixth year in a row.

“The competition was wonderful and the sportsmanship and camaraderie is what its all about,” said NCGA captain and Vice-President Vaughn Kezirian. “We get to mix with the pros from all areas of Northern California and I think that’s important. The course was in great shape, which was tremendous given the rain we had yesterday.”

It is the first time both cups have resulted in a tie in the history of the event dating back to 1967 (Hanna-Wehrman) and the 1991 (Staedler-Jetter).

The NCGA Hanna-Wehrman team was comprised of William Moore, Ricky Stockton, Steven Chung, Reid Scarff, Kevin Wentworth, Danny Paniccia, Jeff Hoffman, Russell Humphrey, Scott Hardy and Rick Reinsberg. They competed against the NCPGA team of Steve Hummel, Robert Poole, Don Winter, Steve Pellegrine, Jerrel Grow, Jason Schmuhl, Jeffrey Anderson, Ed Hester, Mitch Lowe and Rick Leibovich.

John Enright, Paul Balatti, Herb Jensen, Mark Miller, Dan Bieber, Bob Fleming, Bob Olds, Carl Selkirk, Ronnie WileyBob Rowland, Jeff Burda, Jim Knoll, Rob Thompson and Doug Johnson comprised the NCGA Staedler-Jetter team. The NCPGA’s team consisted of Mike Beveridge, Ron Parsons, Charlie Gibson, Al Weinhold, Michael Cook, Michael Paul, Raul Quezada, Doug Cody, Al Krueger, Gary Plato, Ric Burgess, Glen Stubblefield, Mick Soli and John Snopkowski.

NCGA Hanna-Wehrman Cup Team: First row - Danny Paniccia, Reid Scarff, Ricky Stockton and Steven Chung. Second row - Russell Humphrey, Jeff Hoffman, Bill Moore and Rick Reinsberg. Back row - Kevin Wentworth and captain Vaughn Kezirian.

NCGA Staedler-Jetter Cup Team: First row - Jim Knoll, Bob Rowland, Bob Olds, Ronnie Wiley and John Enright. Second row - Paul Balatti, Bob Fleming, Doug Johnson and Mark Miller. Back row - Carl Selkirk, Jeff Burda, Dan Bieber, captain Vaughn Kezirian, Herb Jensen and Rob Thompson

Results

Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches – Singles

	4	vs.		6
Kevin Wentworth	3 & 2	vs.	Mitch Lowe
William Moore		vs.	Robert Poole	1 up
Steven Chung		vs.	Jason Schmuhl	2 & 1
Ricky Stockton	3 & 2	vs.	Steve Pellegrine
Jeff Hoffman		vs.	Jeffrey Anderson	2 & 1
Reid Scarff		vs.	Ed Hester	3 & 2
Russell Humphrey		vs.	Don Winter	2 & 1
Danny Paniccia	4 & 3	vs.	Jerrel Grow
Scott Hardy	Halved	vs.	Steve Hummel	Halved
Rick Reinsberg	Halved	vs.	Rick Leibovich	Halved

Staedler-Jetter Cup Matches – Singles

	6	vs.		8
Paul Balatti	3 & 1	vs.	Glen Stubblefield
Dan Bieber		vs.	Al Weinhold	1 up
Bob Fleming	4 & 2	vs.	Mike Beveridge
John Enright	2 & 1	vs.	John Snopkowski
Bob Rowland	2 & 1	vs.	Raul Quezada
Bob Olds		vs.	Gary Plato	1 up
Carl Selkirk	Halved	vs.	Al Krueger	Halved
Ronnie Wiley		vs.	Doug Cody	1 up
Jim Knoll		vs.	Ron Parsons	1 up
Rob Thompson		vs.	Charlie Gibson	3 & 2
Mark Miller		vs.	Michael Cook	5 & 4
Doug Johnson	2 & 1	vs.	Ric Burgess
Jeff Burda	Halved	vs.	Mick Soli	Halved
Herb Jensen		vs.	Michael Paul	3 & 2

Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches – Foursomes

	5	vs.		0
William Moore Ricky Stockton	1 up	vs.	Steve Hummel Robert Poole
Steven Chung Reid Scarff	3 & 1	vs.	Don Winter Steve Pellegrine
Kevin Wentworth Danny Paniccia	3 & 2	vs.	Jerrel Grow Jason Schmuhl
Jeff Hoffman Russell Humphrey	5 & 3	vs.	Jeffrey Anderson Ed Hester
Scott Hardy Rick Reinsberg	2 & 1	vs.	Mitch Lowe Rick Leibovich

Staedler-Jetter Cup Matches – Foursomes

	4	vs.		3
John Enright Paul Balatti		vs.	Mike Beveridge Ron Parsons	1 up
Herb Jensen Mark Miller		vs.	Charlie Gibson Al Weinhold	1 up
Dan Bieber Bob Fleming	1 up	vs.	Michael Cook Michael Paul
Bob Olds Carl Selkirk	5 & 4	vs.	Raul Quezada Doug Cody
Ronnie Wiley Bob Rowland		vs.	Al Krueger Gary Plato	1 up
Jeff Burda Jim Knoll	2 & 1	vs.	Ric Burgess Glen Stubblefield
Rob Thompson Doug Johnson	1 up	vs.	Mick Soli John Snopkowski

Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches – Four Ball

	1	vs.		4
William Moore Ricky Stockton		vs.	Steve Hummel Robert Poole	6 & 5
Steven Chung Reid Scarff	Halved	vs.	Don Winter Steve Pellegrine	Halved
Kevin Wentworth Danny Paniccia	Halved	vs.	Jerrel Grow Jason Schmuhl	Halved
Jeff Hoffman Russell Humphrey		vs.	Jeffrey Anderson Ed Hester	2 & 1
Scott Hardy Rick Reinsberg		vs.	Mitch Lowe Rick Leibovich	3 & 1

Staedler-Jetter Cup Matches – Four Ball

	4	vs.		3
John Enright Paul Balatti	2 & 1	vs.	Mike Beveridge Ron Parsons
Herb Jensen Mark Miller		vs.	Charlie Gibson Al Weinhold	3 & 2
Dan Bieber Bob Fleming		vs.	Michael Cook Michael Paul	6 & 4
Bob Olds Carl Selkirk	3 & 2	vs.	Raul Quezada Doug Cody
Ronnie Wiley Bob Rowland	4 & 3	vs.	Al Krueger Gary Plato
Jeff Burda Jim Knoll	1 up	vs.	Ric Burgess Glen Stubblefield
Rob Thompson Doug Johnson		vs.	Mick Soli John Snopkowski	2 & 1

The Burger Dog – The Olympic Club

Candace Parrish, On–Course Chef

Makes 8 burgers
2 lbs. mixture of ground chuck and ground lean beef knuckle (beef tip)
Salt and pepper to taste
8 eight-inch hot dog buns
American cheese slices (optional)
Steinfeld’s ® Red Cabbage Relish
Yellow mustard
1/16 inch crosscut dill pickles
Yellow onion slices
Tomato slices (optional)
Iceberg lettuce leaves (optional)
Mayonnaise (optional)
1. Using food-safe mold, form meat into hot-dog shapes. Add salt and pepper. Cook burgers 4 minutes on gas grill set at high. Lightly toast hotdog buns. Melt American cheese on burger (if desired) right before placing into bun. Garnish with relish, mustard, pickles and onions.

Del Monte Artichoke Soup – Pebble Beach

Beat Giger, Director of Special Events and Corporate Chef

Serves 8-10
6 large artichokes (cooked, cleaned and diced)
1 large russet potato (peeled and diced)
2 medium yellow onions (diced small)
1 small turnip (diced)
1 small parsnip (diced)
4 c. chicken broth or stock
1 ½ c. heavy cream
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ c. whole butter
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Trim and place artichokes in a large pot, including peeled and cleaned stems. Add chicken stock and then water to cover. Bring to a boil and then simmer for approximately 40 minutes of until artichoke bottoms are soft and tender when cut (add more liquid if necessary).
2. Strain the artichokes with a colander that is sitting over another pot, making sure to save all of the stock. Cover artichokes with cold water to chill, then dice them.
3. Into the now-empty large pot, add the butter and onions. Cook until translucent, then add the cinnamon, diced potato, parsnip, turnip, artichokes, 4 c. reserved stock and the cream. Bring to a simmer again and allow to cook for approximately 10-15 minutes. Using a hand blender, purée until smooth. Season to taste.
4. Garnish with artichoke leaves, diced artichoke hearts and a dollop of whipped cream flavored with cognac just before serving. Sprinkle with chive slivers.

These recipes reprinted courtesy of THE CLUB MENU: Signature Dishes from America’s Premier Golf Clubs, by Scott Savlov and Jon Rizzi. Copyright 2009, Pindar Press, new York. All Rights Reserved

THE CLUB MENU is available for purchase only through the Pindar Press website. ]]> http://www.ncga.org/2009/10/15/the-club-menu/feed/ 4 http://bayareagolfshow.com/ http://bayareagolfshow.com/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:17:31 +0000 Scott Seward http://www.ncga.org/?p=7865 http://bayareagolfshow.com/feed/ 0 http://www.ncga.org/2009/10/09/the-presidents-cup/ http://www.ncga.org/2009/10/09/the-presidents-cup/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:15:15 +0000 Scott Seward http://www.ncga.org/?p=7847 http://www.ncga.org/2009/10/09/the-presidents-cup/feed/ 1