PEBBLE BEACH, CA (October 24, 2009)--After months of league competition Riverside and Tehama almost needed extra holes Saturday to determine the last one standing. A clutch two-putt allowed Riverside to hang on and defeat Tehama to capture the 21st Annual Team Match Championship title at Poppy Hills.
Riverside’s victory in the final was its second in as many days, capturing the Saturday league title with a win over Spring Creek the day before. Both finalists moved forward on the strength of convincing 23-13 margins in the semifinals. Tehama was seeking to win its second title since 2005 with several players from the championship squad, including club head pro Rick Leibovich and team captain Bill Yakobovich anchoring the current team.
The championship match was all square heading into the 18th hole with Tehama’s Yakobovich and Riverside’s Bill Duarte both on the front of the green in regulation more than 60 feet away. Duarte benefitted from seeing Yakobovich putt first. The Fresno resident cozied his first putt to the hole within tap-in range placing pressure on team captain Yakobovich to make a double-breaking putt from thirty feet. After Yakobovich was unable to save par he graciously conceded Duarte’s winning par putt.
Duarte displayed calm and grit down the stretch after bouncing back from an unnerving penalty on the back nine. The Riverside team member was assessed a loss of hole penalty for touching his line of putt. He persevered on the closing stretch at Poppy Hills to claim the winning putt.
The magnitude of the win was not lost on Riverside. “This is the biggest victory the club has ever had,” explained team captain Manuel Herrera. “We were most definitely nervous but we kept playing hard and waited to see what happened.”
The popular championship is the conclusion to a summer-long competition involving more than 200 teams from across Northern California. The 12-man teams competed in four-ball (best ball) matches concurrent with singles’ matches, with each match worth two points, or a total of six in each group. More than 15,000 rounds were played to bring the final four clubs - Tehama, Riverside, Whitney Oaks and Spring Creek - to the Monterey Peninsula.
“Each club selects its own team members and nobody has to qualify,” explains Jim Moriarty, NCGA board member and chairman of the Tournament Committee. “The maximum index is 18.4 and thus players who are not otherwise eligible for other NCGA tournaments can participate. Approximately 3,500 different players participated in 2009. For the players making it to Poppy Hills it is the equivalent to their Presidents Cup. They take it seriously and have gotten this far for a reason.”
Whitney Oaks advanced to the final four at Poppy Hills for the second straight year. Like 2008 the Rocklin club lost on Friday and settled for a spot in the consolation match on the weekend. It was Spring Creek who captured third place honors though after a dominant 27-9 victory over the Rocklin Club. In a true team effort, every member of the Spring Creek squad contributed a point to the 27 point-total Saturday.
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Championship Match
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Tehama GC |
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Riverside GC |
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Rick Leibovich |
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2 |
Keith Berry |
5&4 |
| 4&3 |
David Gill |
2 |
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Aaron Hensley |
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Leibovich/Gill |
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2 |
Berry/Hensley |
3&2 |
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Tom Zoller |
2 |
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Ryan Wiezycki |
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Gerry Schwartzel |
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2 |
Jason Flores |
1UP |
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Zoller/Schwartzel |
1 |
1 |
Wiezycki/Flores |
AS |
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Dick Brown |
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2 |
Javier Soto |
1UP |
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Marc Bromley |
|
2 |
Manuel Herrera |
1UP |
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Brown/Bromley |
2 |
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Soto/Herrera |
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Bill Kiely |
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2 |
Jose Espinoza |
2&1 |
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David Eckles |
|
2 |
Robert Jacobs |
|
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Kiely/Eckles |
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2 |
Espinoza/Jacobs |
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Bill Yakobovich |
|
2 |
Bill Duarte |
1up |
| 2&1 |
Pat Sullivan |
2 |
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Robert Atkinson |
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| 2&1 |
Yakobovich/Sullivan |
2 |
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Duarte/Atkinson |
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Lon Mollentine |
2 |
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Jeff Berry |
|
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Joe Fogel |
2 |
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Alan Axt |
|
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Mollentine/Fogel |
2 |
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Berry/Axt |
|
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Total: |
17 |
19 |
:Total |
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Third Place Match
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Spring Creek GCC |
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Whitney Oaks GC |
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Shea Rollins |
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2 |
Kyle Gillmore |
1UP |
| 2&1 |
Kyle Huckell |
2 |
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Gary White |
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| 1UP |
Rollins/Huckell |
2 |
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Gillmore/White |
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| 8&7 |
Andy Ward |
2 |
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Mike Poetsch |
|
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Mike Kinch |
|
2 |
Scott Straub |
2UP |
| 4&3 |
Ward/Kinch |
2 |
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Poestsch/Straub |
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| 5&3 |
Danny Castallon |
2 |
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Fred Huston |
|
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Alan Wilbur |
|
2 |
Steve Ronan |
3&2 |
| 4&3 |
Castallon/Wilbur |
2 |
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Huston/Ronan |
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| 5&4 |
Mike Weintz |
2 |
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Ed McGreehan |
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| 3&2 |
Gil Huckell |
2 |
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Greg Larson |
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| 4&3 |
Weintz/Huckell |
2 |
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McGreehan/Larson |
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| 5&4 |
Mike McNulty |
2 |
|
Doug King |
|
| AS |
Eric Armstrong |
1 |
1 |
Mike Barnes |
AS |
| 1UP |
McNulty/Armstrong |
2 |
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King/Barnes |
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| 4&2 |
Gary Lopez |
2 |
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Chuck Roberts |
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Paul Kaminski |
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2 |
Terry Siler |
2&1 |
| 4&3 |
Lopez/Kaminski |
2 |
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Roberts/Siler |
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Total: |
27 |
9 |
:Total |
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ABOUT THE NCGA Team Match Championship
Participating clubs with 12 players per team compete
in matches during the summer with the top teams
from each region advancing to the Championship at
Poppy Hills. Format is as follows: A team of two players
plays the opposing team of two, playing three matches
simultaneously - two individual matches and a four-ball
match.
View Complete Tournament Information