FALLBROOK, CALIFORNIA (August 1, 2006) -- Teeing off in the second-to-last pairing Tuesday in the amateurgolf.com San Diego County Amateur, Amit Chopra of Newport Coast was 6-strokes behind. But Chopra, 35, started to see serious potential in his round as he reached 7-under-par for the tournament after 13 holes thanks to a blistering front nine 32 and two more birdies after the turn.

Chopra does numbers for a living, and sensing he might be close, he asked Paul Bush of amateurgolf.com how the tournament stood.

"Kelley is at 9-under," quietly replied Bush, who was working his first amateurgolf.com event.

Chopra responded by making birdie on Nos. 14 and 15, then closing his day out with three straight pars for a competitive course record round of 8-under-par 64. A magical round to be sure, one that has only been matched in practice rounds at the Golf Club of California by several PGA Tour professionals, according to Director of Golf Scott Bentley.

Brian Kelley of San Diego had nearly done the same the day before, firing a bogey-free round of 65 to take a 5-stroke lead over Gerry Simoni of Carlsbad into today's final round.

"My coach at Fresno State, Mike Watney, used to give us a dozen free balls for every bogey-free round," said Kelley, who just graduated after playing four years for Watney on the Bulldogs Golf Team. "When you have one of those days, you start thinking about it late in the round and it keeps you going."

Indeed, hitting driver-6 iron into 530-yard uphill par-5's (the 10th) and sinking the putt for eagle, then making 3 more birdies for a back nine of 31, as Kelley did on Monday, might keep you fired up as well.

Kelley came back with a solid round of 71 on Tuesday in the final round, despite a shaky start. He bogeyed No. 1 after finding trouble on the right off the tee, and bogeyed No. 3 to drop back to 5-under-par on the tournament. He used a four-straight-birdie tourniquet to stop the bleeding, however, posting a solid 35 on the front nine and widening the lead on his playing partners Andrew Bostrom (38) and Gerry Simoni (37). An even par back nine was capped off by a well-stroked 5-footer that, if not for Chopra's other-worldly round, could have easily been the winning putt. Kelley's playing companions, in fact, were sure the tournament belonged to him and were surprised to hear of Chopra's round.

As if to say "this isn't going to be your day" fate handed Kelley another blow in the parking lot, as he searched in vain for his car keys (he never found them, but fortunately his Mom came to the rescue).

Senior Champ Steve Pircher

Kelley will likely try the pro ranks soon, while Chopra will head back to his job in the finance division of Pimco with a story to tell on Wednesday. As is becoming customary in amateurgolf.com events when a course record is shot by one of our players, Chopra will soon receive a framed scorecard for his wall.

In the Senior Division, Steve Pircher of Manhattan Beach -- who recently passed the "age 50" milestone required for amateurgolf.com's Senior cutoff -- followed his recent 7-stroke victory in the Oceanside City Senior Championship with a 9-stroke victory here after posting a 4-over-par total of 148. Unlike the Oceanside event, where he trailed the field by three and won by seven due to a blistering final round of 66, Pircher was the front runner at 1-over-par going into today's final round.

"I got a bit tripped up closing out the round today, when I made triple-bogey at No. 6 (his 15th hole) when I tried to hit out of a hazard when I should have taken a drop," said Pircher. "But at the beginning of the day I knew 75 might do the trick and I finished up right on that number."

Net Winner Ryan Ehrlich (left) with Kurt Erikson (center) and Phil Hacker

John Vogel of Moorpark came back from a tough 84 on Monday with an 11-stroke improvement. His 1-over-par 73 moved him into solo second place at 157. John Jones of La Quinta finished in third at 161.

In the Net Division, Ryan Ehrlich's net 74 was good enough for a one stroke victory over Kurt Erikson of Carlsbad. Ehrlich, a 6.7 handicapper who made the trip in from Victorville for the event, was pleasantly surprised with the victory, after being hunted-down by the tournament committee in the clubhouse. Erikson shot a gross 75 on Tuesday to make a nice move up the leaderboard into second. amateurgolf.com "regular" Phil Hacker posted a 147 total for solo-third.

For complete results, please scroll down the page. Special thanks to The Golf Club of California for hosting the tournament, to the staff of amateurgolf.com and to all players for taking the time off from work to join us.

We look forward to seeing many of you at the North Orange County Amateur at Black Gold Golf Club on August 12 and 13. There are still spots available.

Click here for info.

Champion Amit Chopra (right) with Brian Kelley (center) and Gerry Simoni

Final results from the amateurgolf.com San Diego County Amateur, played at the 6850 yard, Par-72 Golf Club of California: