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Alameda Commuters: Jensen, Miller are the victors

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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.

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