Monterey Four-Ball: Defending Champs have company at the top
Russell Humphrey holed out for eagle at No. 16
PACIFIC GROVE, California (March 7, 2015) -- If you like numbers -- especially red ones in golf tournaments -- you'll like this pattern. In their last three tournament rounds at the Pacific Grove Golf Links, the team of Jerry Ledzinski and Jeff Britton have posted 61-62-63.
That's a total of 24-under.
Sure, the 5732-yard "PG Muni" plays short and there are plenty of birdies to be had by all. But 24 under in 54 holes? That's pretty special.
Ledzinski and Britton, both members of the Clint Eastwood-owned Tehama Golf Club, will play tomorrow's final round with the very capable duo of Russell Humphrey and James Watt of Lodi. Humphrey and Watt have paired to win the NCGA Four-Ball at nearby Spyglass, in 2012. And Humphrey has been a winner of this event as well, albeit with a different partner -- Kevin Wentworth.
Two teams, Brandon Hoskins and Joey Russo, plus Larry O'Neill and Johnny O'Leary, are well positioned to make a charge after rounds of 64. There are plenty of others lurking as well.
As for the scoring, Ledzinski and Britton made most of their noise on the gorgeous oceanside back nine, designed by Jack Neville (famous for Pebble Beach). After shooting 1-under on the front, they lit the back up with a 6-under 29.
Humphrey and Watt had an even more amazing run. Starting on the 4th hole, they took a bogey on the long par-3 ninth to sit at 1-over par. They caught fire once the ocean came into view, shooting a 29 on the back. A highlight was Humphrey's eagle on the 355-yard 16th hole.
"That was pretty fun," said Humphrey. "I hit a drive that left me with 78 yards off a downhill lie, so I hit a knockdown shot that landed 2 feet past the hole and spun back in."
After they turned, Humphrey and Watt still had three holes to play, and decided to keep the birdies pouring by making 2s on the 1st and 2nd holes and closing with par at the third.
In the Senior Division, Terry Foreman (a member of last year's winning team with Mark Hill) partnered up with Steve Wilson to shoot 5-under 65. Wilson has been plagued by various injuries, and is happy to be back competing. Tied at the top are Pacific Grove local legend Casey Boyns (he once shot an individual 63 here) and his partner Mark Miller of Antioch, plus Rob Adolph of Fresno and Ken Noonan, a fairly recent transplant to Pacific Grove.
In the Net flight, it's also a three way tie at the top. The teams of Jeff Lerner and Sathvik Krishnamurthy (Sunnyvalle and San Jose), Charles Balisha and Brandon Murphy, (Turlock and Modesto) and Scott Carelli and Tim Yager (San Jose) all fired 65.
Sunday's final round also looks to feature perfect weather, but the wakeup call is going to seem earlier as the clocks get set forward at 2am. Please plan accordingly.
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