6th NCGA Amateur Stroke Championship | Poppy Hills | July 10-12, 2009
First played in 1944, the NCGA Stroke Play Championship has a special history, as the tournament has been won by the likes of Ken Venturi and Johnny Miller. But the event was cancelled in 1966 when the NCGA decided to add the now-popular Four-Ball Championship.
The original Stroke Play Championship was played over 72 holes, while the renewed format which began in 2004, is a 54-hole event staged at Poppy Hills every year. Scott Hardy holds the tournament record set in 2004 of five-under-par 211.
While Talbert Smith has won the championship more than any other player (four times), since the renewed event, no one has claimed repeated victories.
The sterling silver perpetual trophy was donated by the San Francisco Examiner in 1944.
Qualifying Information
The event is open to all players with a handicap index of 5.4 or less. 2009 qualifying results:
Bayonet | Copper River | Coyote Creek | San Geronimo | Shadow Lakes | The Ridge
Format: 18 holes qualifying. 100 players plus ties (including exempts) will advance to the championship. Championship play is 54 holes of stroke play (18 holes per day). After 36 holes the field will be cut to 40 players and ties.
All players must qualify except the following: All past champions prior to 2004 (beginning in 2004, this is a 10-year exemption) and the top 10 and ties from the preceding year, players who reached the quarter-finals of the Amateur Match Play of the preceding year and the following current NCGA champions: Public Links, Senior, Junior, Master Division, Valley Amateur and Valley Senior Amateur. Players who reached the quarterfinals of the CGA in the previous year are also exempt. Exemptions are also granted to the top 15 players on the preceding year’s final NCGA Points List. Each exempt player is required to submit an entry prior to the closing date. Amateur Stroke Play Exemptions.
Tournament Recaps
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you have a friend in NCGA Stroke Play Champion Matthew Hollinsead. After the 22-year-old posted wildly divergent rounds of 67-77-69 that the Robert Louis Stevenson characters would be proud of, Hollinsead found himself opposite NCGA veteran Rick Reinsberg in a playoff. “I’m an up-and-down player, the champion said. “I’ve been streaky my whole life”… Read Full 2008 Recap | View 2008 Photo Gallery
After establishing a four-stroke lead through two rounds, Casey Boyns began his final round leaky. “I don’t like being in the lead,” Boyns said. “I’d rather come from behind. But I know how golf is — something bad is always going to happen. I kept trying to play the golf course and not worry about what anyone else was doing.” A front-nine, three over 39 left the Pacific Grove resident in a tie for the lead with UC Davis rising senior Matt Marshall… Read Full 2007 Recap | View 2007 Photo Gallery
Past Champions
| 1944 | James Molinari at Sharp Park GC | ||
| 1945 | Earl Stewart at Harding Park GC | ||
| 1946 | Talbert Smith at Sharp Park GC | ||
| 1947 | Dick Bailey at Sonoma GC | ||
| 1948 | Talbert Smith at Sonoma GC | ||
| 1949 | Eli Bariteau at Peninsula GCC | ||
| 1950 | Al Frye at Sacramento GC | ||
| 1951 | Kenneth Venturi at La Rinconada GCC | ||
| 1952 | Kenneth Venturi at Presidio GC | ||
| 1953 | William Colm at Del Rio GCC | ||
| 1954 | Jack Bariteau at San Jose CC | ||
| 1955 | E. Harvie Ward at Stanford GC | ||
| 1956 | Talbert Smith at Castlewood CC | ||
| 1957 | Talbert Smith at Peninsula GCC | ||
| 1958 | Verne Callison at Silverado CC | ||
| 1959 | Verne Callison at Orinda CC and Sequoyah CC | ||
| 1960 | George Archer at California GC and Presidio GC | ||
| 1961 | Ernest Pieper, Jr. at San Jose CC and La Rinconada CC | ||
| 1962 | John Lotz at Lake Merced GC | ||
| 1963 | Stephen Oppermann at Stanford GC | ||
| 1964 | Johnny Miller at Meadow Club and Peacock Gap GC | ||
| 1965 | Steve Whitman at Sierra View GC and Sunset Oaks GC | ||
| 1966 | Jim Wiechers at Sharon Heights GCC and Mira Vista GCC | ||
| 2004 | Scott Hardy at Poppy Hills GC | 73-70-68—211 | |
| 2005 | Bob Niger at Poppy Hills GC | 75-68-70—213 | |
| 2006 | Erick Justesen at Poppy Hills GC | 71-71-73—215 | |
| 2007 | Casey Boyns at Poppy Hills GC | 69-70-75—214 | |
| 2008 | Matthew Hollinsead at Poppy Hills GC | 67-77-69—213 |
About Poppy Hills
Poppy Hills is a challenging golf course that weaves through the Del Monte Forest. The venue plays host to many prominent tournaments including the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, in early February. A 2007 Zagat Survey ranked Poppy Hills the 12th “Most Popular Course” in the U.S, and the layout was named “National Course of the Year” in 2006 by the National Golf Course Owners Association.
The Robert Trent Jones Jr. design opened in 1986 and is the home course for the NCGA. It was the first course in the United States to be owned and operated by an amateur golf association. The par-72 layout measures 6,857 yards from the black tees with a slope rating of 74.3/144. Matt Gogel holds the course record of 62. There are four teeing areas on each hole, making Poppy Hills enjoyable for all levels of play.