Berkeley, Calif. (Aug. 6, 2006) -- Chris
Kilkenny and his friends have an expression that summarizes their attitude
on the golf course.
"30 Seconds," goes the saying, according to the energetic Kilkenny. "After
a bad shot, or bad break, you have 30 seconds. If you're not over it by then,
you're going to wind up stewing over it for the rest of the round and you're
done."
At Berkeley's Tilden Park Golf Course -- a well-traveled public course that sits
smack dab in the middle of one of the most scenic public land preserves in Northern
California (The East Bay Park District) -- Kilkenny, 25, of Arcata won the 69th
Annual amateurgolf.com Bay Regional today and used the 30 second rule on several
key occasions.
Leading by one over Jim Williams, 50, of Orinda heading into the final round,
Kilkenny faced pressure from the veteran former-USC golfer (1978) and owner of
13 club championships at Orinda C.C.
"At a course like this, my competitive experience and memories of growing up
on the muni courses in Los Angeles really help," said the soft-spoken Williams,
who easily won the 50-and-over Senior Division.
Williams may have given up 30 yards off the tee to the consistent 300 yard drives
of Kilkenny, but he made up for it with steady iron play and a strong short game
that was shown off on No. 14, a par-5 where Kilkenny had less than 200 yards
into the green while Williams was closer to 230. Williams missed the green short
with a 3-wood, then hit a deft pitch up and over the firm front ridge to a pin
tucked on the front portion of the upper tier. His birdie narrowed the margin
to one as Kilkenny had missed the green with his 4-iron and failed to convert
the up-and-down, settling for par.
Kilkenny got over it in 30 seconds.
With Kilkenny's lead down to one, the players exchanged bogeys on No. 15, and
Kilkenny sensed an opening when Williams hit an uncharacteristically poor chip
well short of the hole.
"I thought I had an opening making par on that pivotal hole, but Williams holed
a 15-footer for his par," explained Kilkenny.
With both players in the trees to the right on No. 17, a downhill hole guarded
by giant redwoods on each side, Kilkenny holed a pivotal par putt of a similar
length to the one Williams made on No. 16 -- while Williams failed to convert
his up-and-down for par -- and closed out the victory with solid chip and putt
for par from behind the 18th green, where the pin was tucked in its traditional
Sunday position.
The former UC Davis golfer -- who recently qualified for the USGA
Amateur being played at Hazeltine CC in Minnesota in late August -- posted a
54-hole total of 2-over-par 212.
Net Division: Rush grabs his first amateurgolf.com Victory
In the Net Division, Noel Rush of Pacifica
posted a 9-under-par total of 201 (net), fueled by a final round gross total
of 75 (net 64) to win by 3 over Korsen Yu of Sunnyvale.
Rush, who hails from County Donegal in the Northwest of Ireland, has played
all the great links courses of his homeland. His handicap has fluctuated between
7 and 10 over the last few years, and he has played in almost all of amateurgolf.com's
tournaments, steadily improving his consistency.
In Saturday's second round, the golf gods seemed to be shining on the likeable
Rush.
"I hit a nice hybrid club off the tee on No. 12, and had 89 yards to the center
with the pin a few more back," said Rush. "I hit a wedge that flew into the
hole, taking a good piece of the lip of the cup with it."
At the end of the day, however, it was Sunnyvale's Yu that had the advantage,
by two strokes. On Sunday Yu, playing with Rush, hit a wedge that nailed the
flag stick and cup, ending up just feet from the cup for an easy birdie.
"I thought, 'this is payback,' said Rush.
But it was Rush's day, as the seesaw match between he and Yu swung in his direction
on No. 16, one of the Bay Area's finest par 3's with views of the Bay on a
clear day at the highest point on the course. Rush had tripled the hole the
day before -- this time he nailed a
5-iron that found the plateau green where he two-putted for par to take a 4
stroke lead into the final holes. At the same time, he was enjoying one of
his career rounds at 3-over-par gross on the day. Rush double-bogeyed No. 17,
then came home with a solid par for a round of 75 gross and 3-stroke victory.
Tournament Notes:
Special thanks to the Tilden Park Men's Club and Bay Regional Tournament Committee
for trusting amateurgolf.com with the stewardship of this fine tournament,
which will enter year 70 next year with a similar 54-hole format. Thanks to
Marc Souza, Shelley Hara, and the entire staff at Tilden Park for helping with
the transition, and to our amateurgolf.com staff including Tournament Director
Liz McQueen and a fine team of spotters for keeping play moving all weekend.
Despite a hiccup on the first day at the turn, we were able to play in the
4 1/2 hour timeframe all weekend.
|
Champion Chris Kilkenny (2nd from left) with Chris Moreno-Hunt (far left),
Andrew Bowdish (far right) and Jim Williams |
|
Net Champion Noel Rush (center) picked up his first amateurgolf.com Crystal.
Runner-up Korsen Yu is on the far right, and T3 James Murphy is on the
far left |
Final results from the 69th Annual amateurgolf.com Bay Regional Championship,
played at the 6246-yard, Par 70 Tilden Park Golf Course follow (note only
players who survived the 36-hole cut of 149 in the Championship and 140 in
the Net Division are shown):
Championship |
|
|
|
|
|
Name |
Hometown |
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
Tot |
Chris Kilkenny |
Arcata, CA |
71 |
69 |
72 |
212 |
Jim Williams |
Orinda, CA |
72 |
69 |
73 |
214 |
Chris Moreno-Hunt |
Berkeley, CA |
71 |
73 |
72 |
216 |
Andrew Bowdish |
San Jose, CA |
72 |
72 |
73 |
217 |
Giuliano Delecce |
Carmel Valley, CA |
70 |
75 |
73 |
218 |
Patrick Pernice |
Oakland, CA |
71 |
72 |
76 |
219 |
George Gandranata |
Berkeley, CA |
71 |
74 |
74 |
219 |
Michael Fajardo |
Lafayette, CA |
73 |
70 |
77 |
220 |
Jake Bieber |
Alamo, CA |
77 |
69 |
74 |
220 |
Andrew Sanchez |
San Bruno, CA |
76 |
71 |
73 |
220 |
Garth Watrous |
Watsonville, CA |
75 |
72 |
74 |
221 |
Wayne McClintock |
Palo Alto, CA |
71 |
71 |
80 |
222 |
John Enright |
Montara, CA |
74 |
72 |
76 |
222 |
Bryan Moquin |
Redwood City, CA |
73 |
74 |
75 |
222 |
Brett Viboch |
Moraga, CA |
74 |
73 |
75 |
222 |
Tom Pera |
Scotts Valley, CA |
75 |
73 |
74 |
222 |
Brent Booth |
Los Altos, CA |
79 |
70 |
73 |
222 |
Jason Stone |
Antioch, CA |
75 |
73 |
75 |
223 |
Nick White |
Sacramento, CA |
73 |
76 |
76 |
225 |
Brendan Wong |
Orange, CA |
75 |
74 |
77 |
226 |
|
Senior |
|
|
|
|
|
Name |
Hometown |
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
Tot |
Jim Williams |
Orinda, CA |
72 |
69 |
73 |
214 |
Dave Ware |
Martinez, CA |
81 |
79 |
80 |
240 |
Mike Merritt |
Livermore, CA |
80 |
82 |
78 |
240 |
Jim Thurman |
Clayton, CA |
86 |
83 |
WD |
|
|
|
NET |
|
|
|
|
|
Name |
Hometown |
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
Tot |
Noel Rush |
Pacifica, CA |
71 |
66 |
64 |
201 |
Korsen Yu |
Sunnyvale, CA |
69 |
66 |
69 |
204 |
James Murphy |
San Francisco, CA |
71 |
67 |
67 |
205 |
Alex Hwang |
Orinda, CA |
68 |
71 |
66 |
205 |
Paul Agriesti |
Orinda, CA |
68 |
70 |
70 |
208 |
Cary Lapidus |
Berkeley, CA |
70 |
67 |
73 |
210 |
James Grensted |
Belmont, CA |
72 |
68 |
70 |
210 |
Jon McCurdy |
Rancho Murieta |
74 |
66 |
77 |
217 |