Story by
Elizabeth Kricfalusi, for amateurgolf.com
Birdies were flying everywhere at the Alameda Commuters golf tournament today as first-round leader Michael Mulhearn remained at the top of the leaderboard, tied with Carlos Corona at 9-under (133).
The opening rounds were played on the Earl Fry and Jack Clark courses at the Chuck Corica Golf Complex in Alameda, with the field of 224 alternating courses and starting tees from Saturday to Sunday. Fifty-seven players made the cut at 145.
The 18-year-old Mulhearn, who sank a 35-footer on the final hole to hold onto the lead, said his putting was the key to his success all weekend, as well as his play on the par-5s. “I think I played the par-5s at 8-under for 6 par-5s,” said Mulhearn, a freshman at Chabot Junior College in Hayward. His shot of the day came on the par-5 2nd on the Earl Fry course when he hit a 3-iron within 8 feet of the pin and made his putt to eagle the hole. “That’s probably what got me going on the back nine.”
Corona, who tied with Chris Ancheta for the low round of the day at 64, also credited his putting for his low score. “Overall it was just good ball striking, just smart play. I didn’t do anything stupid, just put myself on the green…I was just making a bunch of putts. Nothing too spectacular, but it was just solid. You can really light it up out here if you get your putter going.” The 28-year-old business management student at Holy Names University hopes to turn pro in early 2006.
Ancheta, a senior at UC Berkeley who won a national championship ring in 2004, took 7 strokes off his Saturday score to finish with a weekend total of 135. “All the putts I missed yesterday, I made them all today,” he laughed.
Two-time consecutive defending champion Rick Reinsberg also improved his play over the weekend, going from a 2-over 73 on Saturday to a 5-under 66 on Sunday. “I think it was my lack of sleep last night, because I was up with my 8-month-old kid all night, from 1:30 on,” joked the 33-year-old who plays out of Moraga and Orinda Country Clubs. He added, “I always play better on the Earl Fry course. I’ve never had much success on the Jack Clark.”
The players were unanimous in praising the quality of the greens on both courses. “For a muni and as much play as these two courses get, (Superintendent) Doug Poole does a wonderful job,” said 49-year-old Ken Webb, who won the Commuters in 1987 and 1991 and who currently stands alone in second place with a weekend total of 134.
Tournament Director Al Wagner agreed. “The greens were in great shape. Actually for the amount of rain we had this winter, the fairways were in good shape. There’s a lot of bare spots out there and stuff like that, but really overall, the greenskeepers and all the people here that worked did a really good job of getting the greens and the fairways in shape.”
Other Sunday highlights:
- Ron Williams, who hit 17 greens in regulation on Saturday to tie for third place going into today’s round, was nursing a broken rib so didn’t sleep well and ended up posting a 76 on Sunday. “I’m old and I’m tired,” exclaimed the 55-year-old Commuters veteran with a laugh.
- One of the runners-up in last year’s tournament, Scott Hardy was again tied for second place after Saturday’s round of 66, but he wasn’t happy with his play today, posting a 70. “I hit 9 greens and shot 1-under,” said the 29-year-old. “I chipped and putted really well, but it was a struggle.”
- Ryan Thomas, a junior at De La Salle High School in Concord, is tied for third place with Ancheta and Michael McRae at 7-under. Thomas played in the tournament two years ago but missed the cut. “I grew 8 inches over 2 years. That kind of helped.”
- 32-year-old tournament newcomer Da Chuang, who recently completed his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford, is currently in a 3-way tie for fifth place with Jamie Looper and Garett Wagner at 5-under. He described his shot of the day. “I hit a lob wedge in on 16 and stuck it in close and made my birdie. I went wayward on my drive but was able to recover and make my birdie.”
- Wagner, who played professionally for three years but regained his amateur status last November, is amateur.com’s current points leader, after winning the tour’s inaugural Silicon Valley tournament and coming in second at Diablo Valley. He was also the qualifying medalist last week at Turlock for the CGA State Amateur championship, which will be held June 20-25 at Pebble Beach and Poppy Hills.
The Senior Division will be held next weekend as well.
For more tournament information, including next Saturday’s pairings, visit the Alameda Commuters
Web site.
* * * *
Round 2 results, April 30, from the Alameda Commuters,
played at the Jack Clark South and Earl Fry North
Golf Courses:
Player |
Rd1 |
Rd2 |
Tot |
Carlos Corona |
69 |
64 |
133 |
Michael Mulhearn |
65 |
68 |
133 |
Ken Webb |
66 |
68 |
134 |
Christoper Ancheta |
71 |
64 |
135 |
Ryan Thomas |
68 |
67 |
135 |
Michael McRae |
67 |
68 |
135 |
Scott Hardy |
66 |
70 |
136 |
Jamie Looper |
70 |
67 |
137 |
Da Chuang |
68 |
69 |
137 |
Garett Wagner |
68 |
69 |
137 |
Justin Long |
68 |
70 |
138 |
Kyle Prolo |
69 |
69 |
138 |
Will Johnson |
68 |
70 |
138 |
Daniel Cone |
72 |
67 |
139 |
Dayne Hale |
69 |
70 |
139 |
Jake Yount |
70 |
69 |
139 |
Jeff Murphy |
70 |
69 |
139 |
Rick Reinsberg |
73 |
66 |
139 |
Brett Borchers |
68 |
71 |
139 |
Michael Donnelly |
67 |
72 |
139 |
Timothy Nelson |
69 |
71 |
140 |
Trent Tessler |
68 |
72 |
140 |
Chadd Cocco |
72 |
68 |
140 |
Ray Suhandynata |
74 |
66 |
140 |
Joseph Bramlett |
73 |
68 |
141 |
Mark Miller |
71 |
70 |
141 |
Danny Buell |
71 |
70 |
141 |
Jason Stone |
70 |
71 |
141 |
Robert Mangan, Jr. |
71 |
70 |
141 |
Rob Frye |
69 |
72 |
141 |
Gary Brown |
71 |
71 |
142 |
Jon Burkard |
71 |
71 |
142 |
Siegfred Wroebel |
73 |
69 |
142 |
Domingo Jojola |
71 |
71 |
142 |
Kent Yamane |
72 |
70 |
142 |
Steve Hoyt |
69 |
74 |
143 |
Terry Foreman |
74 |
69 |
143 |
Derek Dobashi |
71 |
72 |
143 |
Ron Williams |
67 |
76 |
143 |
Anthony Vaccaro |
68 |
75 |
143 |
Patrick Pernice |
75 |
68 |
143 |
Bob Blomberg |
72 |
72 |
144 |
Victor Simionas |
75 |
69 |
144 |
Jeff Rangel |
70 |
74 |
144 |
John Bain |
74 |
70 |
144 |
David Rebman |
71 |
73 |
144 |
Dean Prince |
74 |
70 |
144 |
Adam Deadrich |
73 |
71 |
144 |
Craig King |
72 |
73 |
145 |
Mark Hill |
71 |
74 |
145 |
Tim Breland |
76 |
69 |
145 |
John Enright |
72 |
73 |
145 |
Ryan Collins |
74 |
71 |
145 |
Sean Demeter |
71 |
74 |
145 |
Roland Maples, Jr |
74 |
71 |
145 |
Jeff Nelson |
76 |
69 |
145 |
Gordon Kashiwagi |
73 |
72 |
145 |
|
|
|
|
failed to survive 36-hole
cut |
Mike Maurice |
74 |
72 |
146 |
James Hay |
72 |
74 |
146 |
Gary Vanier |
75 |
71 |
146 |
T.K Miyazono |
70 |
76 |
146 |
Anthony Souza |
75 |
71 |
146 |
Orion Galioni |
71 |
75 |
146 |
Mark Garcia |
74 |
73 |
147 |
Jason McHargue |
74 |
73 |
147 |
Michael Vera |
74 |
73 |
147 |
Craig Wolfman |
75 |
72 |
147 |
Iose Iulio |
73 |
74 |
147 |
Adam Barkow |
75 |
72 |
147 |
David Capel |
74 |
73 |
147 |
Roger Demonte |
73 |
74 |
147 |
Richard Schacht |
74 |
73 |
147 |
Brian Razzari |
72 |
75 |
147 |
Mike Powers |
73 |
74 |
147 |
Joe Zanassi |
71 |
76 |
147 |
Ernesto Marcelo |
75 |
72 |
147 |
Josh Bleyle |
76 |
71 |
147 |
Brett Mormann |
73 |
74 |
147 |
Norman Hamill |
76 |
72 |
148 |
Shawn Shelby |
76 |
72 |
148 |
Bob Fulton |
71 |
77 |
148 |
Chip Doyle |
73 |
75 |
148 |
Andrew Wood |
73 |
75 |
148 |
Blake Yu |
73 |
75 |
148 |
Jay Guittard |
76 |
72 |
148 |
Scott Terry |
73 |
75 |
148 |
Gregory Isom |
71 |
77 |
148 |
Nate Weidner |
72 |
76 |
148 |
Sean Healy |
77 |
71 |
148 |
David Sager |
78 |
70 |
148 |
Dave Stone |
71 |
77 |
148 |
Michael MacDonald |
73 |
75 |
148 |
John Diego |
74 |
74 |
148 |
Mike Murphy |
78 |
71 |
149 |
Trent Isgrig |
74 |
75 |
149 |
Jay Scheller |
75 |
74 |
149 |
Taylor Hobin |
74 |
75 |
149 |
Victor Chew |
74 |
75 |
149 |
Rod Souza, Jr |
76 |
73 |
149 |
Stephen Kilman |
75 |
74 |
149 |
Andy Nevin |
74 |
75 |
149 |
Akihiro Okada |
78 |
71 |
149 |
Michael Palomino |
71 |
78 |
149 |
Mark Scofield |
73 |
76 |
149 |
Gary Tewell |
76 |
73 |
149 |
Cary Chiappone |
74 |
76 |
150 |
Greg Hutton |
76 |
74 |
150 |
Ryan Wilson |
72 |
78 |
150 |
Daniel O'Connor |
78 |
72 |
150 |
Charlie Todaro |
73 |
77 |
150 |
Anthony Yean |
79 |
71 |
150 |
Guillermo Barton |
71 |
79 |
150 |
Erik Kastmiler |
74 |
76 |
150 |
Will Haydon |
75 |
75 |
150 |
Michael Tobin |
76 |
74 |
150 |
Josh Twist |
76 |
74 |
150 |
George Kong |
74 |
76 |
150 |
Scott Morris |
76 |
74 |
150 |
William T Farynaz |
76 |
75 |
151 |
Jeffrey Wong |
78 |
73 |
151 |
Ki-Shui Liao |
75 |
76 |
151 |
Dan Whitehurst |
76 |
75 |
151 |
Todd Gormand |
79 |
72 |
151 |
Chris Scott |
73 |
78 |
151 |
Russell Yu |
75 |
76 |
151 |
Phillip Gill |
77 |
74 |
151 |
Rick Shumate |
77 |
74 |
151 |
Aris Pope |
76 |
75 |
151 |
Sean House |
77 |
74 |
151 |
Bruce MacLean |
80 |
72 |
152 |
Jim Dwulet |
76 |
76 |
152 |
Richard Castanon |
74 |
78 |
152 |
Tommy Bergeron |
76 |
76 |
152 |
Steve Pence |
77 |
75 |
152 |
Luke Allard |
74 |
78 |
152 |
Bret Becker |
74 |
78 |
152 |
Marco Dusi |
76 |
76 |
152 |
Dan Hansen |
76 |
76 |
152 |
Richard Sepp |
75 |
77 |
152 |
Mark Loomis |
72 |
80 |
152 |
Ryan Cullimore |
74 |
78 |
152 |
Chris Manfrin |
77 |
75 |
152 |
Grahame Skytte |
77 |
75 |
152 |
Dana Wade |
78 |
74 |
152 |
Yosuke Ariga |
77 |
75 |
152 |
Jeff Wilson |
78 |
75 |
153 |
Tim Caesare |
75 |
78 |
153 |
Dino Muzio |
78 |
75 |
153 |
Martin Renaud |
77 |
76 |
153 |
Brien Donaldson |
76 |
77 |
153 |
Anthony DiLaura |
74 |
79 |
153 |
Thomas Uniacke |
76 |
77 |
153 |
Stefan Von Seeger |
79 |
74 |
153 |
Mick Baker |
77 |
76 |
153 |
Dominic DeBellis |
77 |
76 |
153 |
Steve Schoenfeld |
79 |
75 |
154 |
Gary Conklin |
79 |
75 |
154 |
Erik Hallgrimson |
77 |
77 |
154 |
Robert Gundermann |
77 |
77 |
154 |
Robert Goodwin |
73 |
81 |
154 |
Michael Leong |
77 |
77 |
154 |
Nick Kaufman |
77 |
78 |
155 |
Jake Saito |
77 |
78 |
155 |
Daniel Nelson |
75 |
80 |
155 |
Michael Johnson |
74 |
81 |
155 |
Peter Boese |
78 |
77 |
155 |
Tsering Dorjee |
78 |
78 |
156 |
Jeff Cheng |
80 |
76 |
156 |
David Deem |
79 |
77 |
156 |
Mark Merrigan |
77 |
79 |
156 |
Brian Brake |
78 |
78 |
156 |
Mike Granelli |
81 |
76 |
157 |
Dae Jin |
84 |
73 |
157 |
Derek Miller |
78 |
79 |
157 |
Ralph Costanzo |
76 |
81 |
157 |
Brendan Noonan |
78 |
79 |
157 |
Taylor Neal |
81 |
76 |
157 |
John Blankfort |
83 |
74 |
157 |
Steve Bong |
80 |
77 |
157 |
Nick Webb |
77 |
81 |
158 |
David Fein |
84 |
74 |
158 |
George Serra |
79 |
79 |
158 |
Jeff Dwyer |
79 |
80 |
159 |
Aaron Woolway |
83 |
76 |
159 |
Shane Kim |
80 |
80 |
160 |
Kimberly Conocono |
82 |
78 |
160 |
Richard Hunz |
81 |
79 |
160 |
Eoghan Canniffe |
81 |
80 |
161 |
Patrick McKern |
76 |
85 |
161 |
Carl Boxill |
83 |
78 |
161 |
Michael Burch |
83 |
78 |
161 |
Paul Ashbrook |
83 |
79 |
162 |
Chris Goin |
87 |
76 |
163 |
Mathew Park |
84 |
79 |
163 |
Diane Kwon |
87 |
76 |
163 |
Scott Stevens |
83 |
81 |
164 |
Brian McShane |
86 |
78 |
164 |
Craig Cole |
79 |
85 |
164 |
Jonathan Suk |
85 |
80 |
165 |
Daniel Greenhalgh |
80 |
87 |
167 |
Amante Bartolome |
88 |
79 |
167 |
Rick Kehr |
84 |
85 |
169 |
Juan Salcido |
86 |
83 |
169 |
Nick Hatzopoulos |
86 |
83 |
169 |
Kenji Ohkawa |
89 |
81 |
170 |
Jeff Myers |
85 |
85 |
170 |
Cary Tokunaga |
91 |
81 |
172 |
Richard Heaps |
90 |
84 |
174 |
Geoffrey Johnson |
92 |
83 |
175 |
Michael McCall |
89 |
86 |
175 |
Jim Coyne |
94 |
90 |
184 |
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