2016 champion Peter Kuest is now a freshman at BYU
(BYU Athletics Photo)
ALAMEDA, CA (April 19, 2017) - One of Northern California’s most prestigious amateur events is back.
Beginning this weekend, play will begin at the annual Alameda Commuters Championship at Chuck Corica Golf Complex in Alameda.
The championship has definitely come a long way. Back when it was originally held in 1928, the winner got a keg of nails. The last place finisher, meanwhile, was awarded with a sack of manure.
Among those penciled in to tee off in this year’s rendition are 2015 NCGA Player of the Year Nick Moore , 2014 NCGA Amateur Stroke Play winner Bobby Bucey, current NCGA Player of the Year points leader Jason Anthony and Junior Tour of Northern California member Yealimi Noh. Noh, a high school sophomore from Concord, is currently in second place in the standings for JTNC Girls’ Player of the Year honors.
At last year’s championship, Peter Kuest, a senior at West Clovis High in Bryson DeChambeau’s hometown, posted a final round 73 to become the youngest champion in the event’s history.
Kuest flirted with the record 72-hole championship total of 266 before coming in at 15-under 269. Jonathan De Los Reyes, a senior at St. Mary’s, tied the tournament record for low score (18-under) en route to cruising to a win in 2014. The record was originally set by former NorCal amateur great and current PGA Tour member Matt Bettencourt in 2002.
There will also be a Senior Championship. Record five-time NCGA Senior Player of the Year Jim Knoll holds the mark for most Senior victories with four.
Play in the 72-hole Championship begins Saturday with the second round to be held on Sunday. Play will then wrap up the weekend of April 29-30. The Senior Championship, a 36-hole event, will be held the weekend of April 29-30.
Due to the continued renovation of the new Jack Clark South Course, all tournament play will be held on the Earl Fry North Course.
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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