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SAN JUAN BAUTISTA, Calif. (July 1, 2007) -- San Juan Oaks isn't easy, but three teams made it look that way on Saturday during the first round of the amateurgolf.com Monterey Peninsula Four Ball, shooting 8-under 64's on the par 72 layout.
Most of them found the front nine to be the place to score, a trend which would continue on Sunday when the final foursome of Casey Boyns (Pacific Grove) and Jerry Ledzinski (Carmel) shot 5-under, only to be outdone by the group they were playing with (Michael Alejandro and Anthony Fernando of the Philippines) who shot 6-under.
It was "game on," and Fernando and Alejandro held on to their 1-shot lead until both Boyns and Ledzinski found the hazard to the right of the par 5 fifteenth and suffered team double-bogey.
"That was it, right there," said Boyns, a Pebble Beach caddie who may have given a rare bad direction when he pointed Ledzinski to a target over the dense oak trees that guard the green on the tempting dogleg.
Ledzinski bounced back with a birdie at the sixteenth, applying pressure that was answered by Alejandro and Fernando with a huge par save on No. 17 and a solid par on eighteen, where Boyns' 30-foot birdie try nearly found the cup.
In the Net Division, a solid first-time amateurgolf.com victory was recorded by James Murphy and Robert Vernon of San Francisco, two real estate guys who as leaders prepared for their final round by singing Karaoke at "Daisy's," a local haunt in the cute town of San Juan Bautista. They followed their 7-under 65 in the first round with the same score on Sunday.
"We found a way to get it in the hole," said Vernon. "But our shots were all over the place."
Another first-time amateurgolf.com victory was recorded by Bob Cayton of Aptos and Neil Duffy of Santa Cruz. They did the same thing as the net guys, from a course playing over 6300 yards -- shooting a pair of 65's for a 6-stroke margin of victory over Marco Dusi and Ken Webb.
Tournament Notes:
-- Patrick Kucich and Andrew Overton of Stockton, who were tied for the lead after round 1, remained in contention with a 33 on the front nine, but struggled on the back and saw their hopes dwindle with a team bogey on No. 17.
Not to leave on a bad note, Kucich went for the corner on No. 18, cleared it, and had a sand wedge left to the green. It hit three feet past the hole and spun back for an eagle two.
-- The "how did they do it?" award goes to Bill Foley and Jim Robertson, who followed up their net 76 in the first round with the lowest round of the tournament, a fabulous 63 on Sunday. It must have made for a nicer ride home for these two amateurgolf.com regulars.
The next amateurgolf.com event is July 16-17; The San Diego County Amateur at Fallbrook's private "The Golf Club of California." After that, we play two Bay Area events, July 30-31 at the Presidio in San Francisco, and August 3-5 at Tilden Park in Berkeley. Visit www.amateurgolf.com/tour/schedule.asp to register for any of these events.
Thanks to all players and for a great host course, San Juan Oaks for participating.
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ABOUT THE amateurgolf.com 2007 Monterey Peninsula Four Ball
Join us for the 16th Annual Monterey Peninsula Four Ball, which was just elevated by the NCGA to the 100 Point level! Save $10 per player for registering prior to June 1st. Your entry includes two rounds of golf with carts, and a $4000 prize fund to be paid in proshop credit.
Our host course, San Juan Oaks, is a Fred Couples design that has hosted USGA, NCGA, and PGA Tour qualifiers. It is a challenging test of golf with some of the best scenery in Northern California.
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