ALAMEDA, Calif. (April 27, 2008)--Michael Jensen carded his fourth straight round in the red Sunday to close out the Alameda Commuters with a three-stroke victory over Chris Marin and Andrew Haggen. Martin Trainer, the reigning San Francisco City champ took fourth at 279.
Jensen, a senior at Cal-Berkeley, entered the day with a two-stroke lead over Haggen, with several golfers lurking within five strokes. He was able to keep his game under control, finishing with a 1-under-par 70 final round for a total of 10-under-par 274.
"With a two-stroke lead I didn't want to make any huge numbers, so I was aiming at the middle of the fairways, middle of the greens," said Jensen. "The pins were pretty tough, tucked close to the edges, so I didn't want to fire at them and get short sided. No one was making many birdies, so I didn't want to force anything."
Jensen said his finish exceeded his own expectations coming into the tourney.
"I expected to make the cut, but I hadn't thought about winning because I haven't played in a tournament in a while," he said. "I didn't think about winning until I shot a 66 yesterday. I just putted really well, made a lot of long par and birdie putts. I didn't putt quite as well today, but was still able to get the job done."
Marin, the reigning amateurgolf.com California Mid-Am champ, also carded a 70 to join Haggen in second place.
Emily Childs, who was the story of the tournament after becoming the first woman to make the cut in the men's division of a Northern California Golf Association points event, finished in the middle of the pack at 9-over 293. She carded the best round of her foursome each day except the final round.
"I just wanted to come out here and have two good rounds," said Childs, a senior at Alameda High School who will attend the University of Colorado at Boulder next year. "I ended up making the cut, which was a bonus, then I wanted to shoot better than I did the first two days, which I did. I've just been playing real consistent lately."
Count six-time Alameda champ and current tournament ambassador Bob Blomberg among the many that were impressed with Childs' feat.
"We had a young lady out here who was showing us gentlemen how to play golf, which was a treat," said Blomberg. "We have a Saturday morning game that I'm going to ask her to play with us. I'm afraid she'll beat us, but maybe we can learn from someone a whole lot younger than we are."
In the senior division, which was contested over 36 holes, reigning NCGA Player of the Year Mark Miller was able to unseat Gary Vanier by one stroke after carding back-to-back rounds of 1-under 70. Miller noted at the awards ceremony that Vanier, whom he called Northern California's best amateur golfer, defeated him in last year's tourney by one stroke.
***** amateurgolf.com reporter's notes *****
-Checking in with the former champs in the field, Gary Vanier had the best finish as the runner-up in the senior flight. He carded a 1-under 141. Vanier won the tourney three times in the championship flight and once, last year, as a senior.
-Bob Blomberg, the most decorated Alameda Commuters golfer with six championship flight victories, couldn't get his putter going, and finished at 160 in the senior flight..
-Rick Reinsberg, the victor in four of the past five years, finished at 3-over 287.
-Two-time champ Ken Webb checked in at 7-over 293.
-Other former champs, now playing in the senior flight included Bob Callan (144), Bob Berg (153), Bob Olds (153), and Jay Guerin (162).
-Along with Blomberg, Mark Merrigan was the only other Alameda Committee member to make the cut. He finished at 302.
-A special thanks to Mike Maurice and all of the "Green Coats" for putting on an extraordinary tournament and helping us in every way possible covering the event.
amateurgolf.com will have video coverage of this event posted by Monday afternoon.
Full results from the Alameda Commuters, played three rounds at the 6,310-yard Earl Fry Course and one round at the 6,560 Jack Clark Course follow, both courses are par-71's
Player |
Rd.1 |
Rd.2 |
Rd.3 |
Rd.4 |
Tot. |
Jensen, Michael |
70 |
68 |
66 |
70 |
274 |
Marin, Chris |
68 |
70 |
69 |
70 |
277 |
Haggen, Andrew |
72 |
66 |
68 |
71 |
277 |
Trainer, Martin |
71 |
67 |
71 |
70 |
279 |
Miller, Mat |
72 |
71 |
72 |
65 |
280 |
Ernst, Derek |
72 |
70 |
73 |
67 |
282 |
Travis, Taylor |
72 |
75 |
68 |
67 |
282 |
Tessler, Trent |
70 |
72 |
71 |
69 |
282 |
Smith, Sam |
72 |
71 |
71 |
70 |
284 |
Dahl, Ian |
72 |
69 |
71 |
72 |
284 |
Wolfe, Freddy |
71 |
68 |
69 |
76 |
284 |
Hoffman, Kaz |
77 |
69 |
70 |
69 |
285 |
Sako, Nick |
72 |
70 |
74 |
69 |
285 |
Biggadike, Andrew |
75 |
70 |
69 |
71 |
285 |
Burda, Patrick |
70 |
73 |
70 |
72 |
285 |
DeMeter, Sean |
69 |
69 |
71 |
76 |
285 |
Viboch, Brett |
68 |
73 |
70 |
75 |
286 |
Briones, Carlos |
70 |
75 |
75 |
67 |
287 |
Hamm, Jeff |
72 |
73 |
73 |
69 |
287 |
Keane, Jonathan |
76 |
72 |
70 |
69 |
287 |
Yamane, Kent |
74 |
68 |
76 |
69 |
287 |
Chung, Steven |
69 |
73 |
75 |
70 |
287 |
Jensen, Chris |
70 |
74 |
71 |
72 |
287 |
Reinsberg, Rick |
74 |
71 |
69 |
73 |
287 |
Swenson, Brian |
69 |
71 |
73 |
74 |
287 |
Meeker, Eric |
76 |
72 |
72 |
69 |
289 |
Carson, Dennis |
70 |
71 |
75 |
73 |
289 |
Looper, Jamie |
69 |
73 |
73 |
74 |
289 |
Koika, Aleksei |
73 |
71 |
73 |
73 |
290 |
Harkins, Brandon |
77 |
65 |
75 |
75 |
292 |
Webb, Ken |
73 |
75 |
75 |
70 |
293 |
Jojola, Domingo |
75 |
68 |
77 |
73 |
293 |
Childs, Emily |
74 |
74 |
71 |
74 |
293 |
Ichikawa, Tyler |
74 |
70 |
75 |
74 |
293 |
Hovan, Matthew |
71 |
75 |
70 |
77 |
293 |
Mallin, Mark |
70 |
75 |
78 |
71 |
294 |
Myers, Blair |
71 |
77 |
75 |
72 |
295 |
Dusi, Marco |
73 |
75 |
73 |
74 |
295 |
Grimes, Patrick |
75 |
70 |
75 |
75 |
295 |
Hexner, Devin |
75 |
70 |
75 |
75 |
295 |
DeFrancesco, Michael |
74 |
73 |
78 |
71 |
296 |
Carlson, Jonathan |
72 |
71 |
79 |
74 |
296 |
McClain, Kevin |
77 |
70 |
73 |
76 |
296 |
Nelson, Jeff |
77 |
71 |
77 |
72 |
297 |
Smith, Paul |
79 |
68 |
77 |
73 |
297 |
Donovan, Darryl |
73 |
74 |
73 |
77 |
297 |
Pienkos, Shaun |
72 |
75 |
77 |
74 |
298 |
Marin, Nicolas |
71 |
74 |
74 |
79 |
298 |
Kallerud, Bjorn |
72 |
76 |
74 |
77 |
299 |
Merrigan, Mark |
73 |
74 |
80 |
75 |
302 |
Costanzo, Ralph |
73 |
74 |
82 |
87 |
316 |
***** Senior Flight *****
Player |
Rd.1 |
Rd.2 |
Tot. |
Miller, Mark |
70 |
70 |
140 |
Vanier, Gary |
70 |
71 |
141 |
Jensen, Herb |
72 |
70 |
142 |
Callan, Bob |
73 |
71 |
144 |
Knoll, Jim |
74 |
70 |
144 |
Thompson, Rob |
74 |
71 |
145 |
Johnson, Ron |
75 |
72 |
147 |
Lyons, Tom |
75 |
72 |
147 |
Swanson, Bruce |
74 |
73 |
147 |
Abbott, Frank |
77 |
71 |
148 |
Balatti, Paul |
75 |
73 |
148 |
Burda, Jeff |
70 |
78 |
148 |
Saike, Greg |
78 |
70 |
148 |
Selkirk, Carl |
74 |
74 |
148 |
Beesley, Chuck |
75 |
74 |
149 |
Bieber, Dan |
73 |
76 |
149 |
Enright, John |
74 |
75 |
149 |
Penso, Dave |
74 |
75 |
149 |
Carroll, J. David |
81 |
69 |
150 |
Pearson, Neal |
70 |
80 |
150 |
Raymer, Marshall |
75 |
75 |
150 |
Washburn, Shelton |
76 |
74 |
150 |
Wolf, Steven |
72 |
78 |
150 |
Donnelly, Michael |
79 |
72 |
151 |
Berg, Bob |
76 |
77 |
153 |
Duffy, Neil |
75 |
78 |
153 |
Goode, Merton |
75 |
78 |
153 |
Kinser, David |
78 |
75 |
153 |
Olds, Bob |
77 |
76 |
153 |
Heaton, Robert |
78 |
76 |
154 |
Schoenherr, Bob |
78 |
76 |
154 |
Wiley, Ronald |
78 |
76 |
154 |
Early, Jeff |
79 |
76 |
155 |
Reed, Bob |
78 |
77 |
155 |
Faucett, Casey |
79 |
78 |
157 |
Wilmer, Tony |
82 |
75 |
157 |
Powers, Mike |
82 |
76 |
158 |
Sabbatini, Chuck |
81 |
77 |
158 |
Blomberg, Bob |
78 |
82 |
160 |
Edgerly, Walt |
79 |
81 |
160 |
Stewart, Earl |
82 |
78 |
160 |
Heath, Ford |
84 |
77 |
161 |
Ladd, Doug |
77 |
84 |
161 |
Guerin, Jay |
82 |
80 |
162 |
Thomas, Al |
77 |
86 |
163 |
Lund, Steve |
81 |
83 |
164 |
Massier, Rex |
77 |
88 |
165 |
ABOUT THE Alameda Commuters
What's in a name? In the case of the Alameda
Commuters Championship, the logo of the
almost 100
year old tournament would be a dead
giveaway. It's
a steam ferry, which was the only way to
"commute"
to San Francisco from the East Bay before the
Bay
Bridge was built. Started as an informal event
-- the
original first prize was a bag of nails -- the
tournament has grown into one of the top
independent events in California.
A
dedicated tournament committee prides itself
on
running the two weekend, 72-hole competition
as if
it were a PGA Tour event. Two of the best
public
courses at the city-owned Chuck Corica Golf
Complex
are prepared with care. Slick greens, Sunday
pins,
and even that rarity in amateur golf –
spectators are
all part of the fun. The roped-off scoreboard is
a
particular area of pride for the "green jackets"
who
were wearing dark green blazers before they
were
made popular by another tournament you
might be
aware of in Augusta Georgia. The 250 player
championship division is cut to 50 and ties for
the
second weekend, at which time the 36-hole
senior
division tees off to join them.
View Complete Tournament Information