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NCGA beats NCPGA for ninth straight time at the Hanna-Wehrman
2014 Hanna-Wehrman Cup champion Team NCGA
2014 Hanna-Wehrman Cup champion Team NCGA

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (Oct. 21, 2014) — The Hanna-Wehrman Cup isn't going anywhere different.

On what was another busy day at par-71 Poppy Hills Golf Course, the NCGA won the Hanna-Wehrman Cup for the ninth straight time on Tuesday, defeating the Northern California PGA 10 1/2 – 9 1/2.

Coming into the Singles matches, both the NCGA and NCPGA were tied in the race for the Hanna-Wehrman Cup, 5-5. Three wins in the final four matches left the NCGA hoisting the trophy yet again, as they’d come back to defeat the NCPGA in the day’s action, 5 1/2 – 4 1/2.

“Like we thought, it’d be an exciting finish and it turned out to be that way,” said winning NCGA captain Lee Gidney. “It’s nice to be on the winning score. It was great golf by both sides but more importantly, it was great players on both sides.”

Trailing early in the day, the big difference for the NCGA was a trio of late wins: a 1-up win by Danny Paniccia over Stuart Smith, a 2 and 1 by Jason Anthony over Jason Schmuhl and a 2 and 1 victory by 2014 NCGA Player of the Year Trevor Clayton over Philip Dawson.

Also picking up huge wins for the NCGA were Austin Roberts, who defeated Mitch Lowe, 3 and 2, and Michael Tolladay, who got the NCGA its first win, a 6 and 5 victory over Dennis Tuhn.

The Robert and Lowe match was so crazy early on that there were seven lead changes on the front-nine alone. Roberts, winner of this year’s NCGA Public Links Championship, finally started breaking away when he drained a 25-foot putt for birdie on the par-4 13th. He’d later take a 2-up and closed out the match with a par on the 16th.

“We were both playing great,” Roberts said. “Mitch is just really solid in every aspect of his game. I just trusted my swing.”

In another key match, 2014 NCGA Amateur Stroke Play champ Bobby Bucey rallied to halve with Shawn Kelly. Having first birdied the 17th to bring the match back to all-square, on the pivotal 18th Bucey hit a fantastic shot from the right waste area to within 6 feet of the flagstick. He’d make his putt for birdie, salvaging the halve with Kelly. On his shot onto the green on 18, his ball stopped dead cold after looking like it was going to run through the putting surface.

“I had hit a similar shot yesterday on hole No.10. It took a few bounces and then spun back uphill. So I knew I could hit the shot. It was a matter of pulling it off,” Bucey said.

The NCPGA’s three wins were a 5 and 4 win by Steve Watanabe over Matt Cohn, a 3 and 2 victory by Mike Duncan over Jeremy Sanchez and a 3 and 2 win by Steve Hummel over Mike Stieler. At the time, the NCPGA held an 8 1/2 – 6 1/2 lead.

In summing up how tight things were, Sanchez went 2-under through his 16 holes. Hummel upped the ante, going 5-under.

View results for Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches

ABOUT THE Hanna-Wehrman Cup Matches

The Hanna-Wehrman Cup features 10 amateur players representing the NCGA (top players from the previous season’s points list) taking on 10 professional players representing the Northern California PGA in a Ryder Cup-like format.

The first day of play consists of two rounds—one round of four-ball match play (better ball) and one round of foursome match play (alternate shot). The second day of play’s final rounds consist of singles match play.

View Complete Tournament Information

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