After a long season of team match play with 225 clubs participating in 2013, the NCGA Team Match Play Championship Final is set as Whitney Oaks GC will face Lake of the Pines CC on Saturday at Carmel Valley Ranch GC. The two teams arrived there by making it through semifinal matchups on Friday in a format where two players from a side face off against two players from an opposing side in a four-ball and individual match concurrently, with players/teams earning two points for a win and one point for a halve.

Whitney Oaks GC beat Tehama GC to be crowned Thursday Team Match Play Champions and advance to the overall final, winning by a score of 27-9. Whitney Oaks GC the defending overall champions, who incidentally won the Thursday Final a year earlier by the same score, got off to a hot start and were never seriously threatened to not make their second consecutive final.

The team was carried by its lead group and fourth group, each earning all six points, with their anchor group also sweeping its three matches after Whitney Oak’s fate had been decided. The lead group saw Pat McDonald beat Tehama’s Eric Goettsch 3-and-2 and Spencer Page squeaked by Ben Perry 2 up, while winning the four-ball match 3-and-2. In the fourth group, Ed McGreehan won in a dominating fashion 6-and-4 over Marc Bromley and Fred Huston edged out Dan Archer 1 up, while securing the four-ball match by a 2-up margin. Then in the final group Chuck Roberts and Steve Rath added icing to the cake, with Roberts beating Bill Yakobovich 1 up, Rath beating Bob Finn 5-and-3 and winning the four-ball match 3-and-1.

In the Saturday Match Finals, Lake of the Pines CC beat Green Hills CC 24-12 to advance to tomorrow’s overall final against Whitney Oaks GC. Much like their upcoming opponent, Lake of the Pines dominated from the beginning winning the majority of the points in five of the six groupings.

The first group out set the tone as Terry Cross and Joe Slane locked up six points for the early lead. Cross beat Tom Broderick 3-and-2 and Slane beat Alpio Barbara 5-and-4, while the duo slid by with a 1-up victory. The next four groups all won their matches by securing four out of six points, while the final group only secured two out of six points.

The finals will commence tomorrow at Carmel Valley Ranch GC at 10:00 a.m. with the final group teeing off at 10:50 a.m. The consolation match between Tehama GC and Green Hills CC will follow with players going out from 11:00 to 11:50 a.m.

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