Stieler, Paniccia win marathon playoff to win NCGA Mid-Am 4-Ball
October 9, 2019 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff
see also: View results for NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball, Poppy Ridge Golf Course
The two went 11 extra holes against Randy Haag and Jason Anthony but eventually got the win
Mike Stieler and Danny Paniccia certainly didn’t come by their NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball title easily. After playing to 15 under over the course of two days at Poppy Hills Golf Club in Pebble Beach, Calif., there was the matter of sudden death – all 11 holes of it.
Stieler, who is the superintendent at Spring Creek GC, finally sank a 9-foot putt on the par-4 17th to end a playoff that set a new NCGA record. When he did, he and Pannicia clinched their second NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball Championship title. The duo outlasted the team of Randy Haag, 2019 Senior Player of the Year, and Jason Anthony, the 2019 NCGA Player of the Year, after both came in with matching scores of 15-under 127 in regulation.
The previous longest playoff, according to the NCGA, had been Nick Moore’s dramatic nine-hole playoff win at the 2015 NCGA Valley Amateur, which occurred in 100-degree heat and helped Moore clinch Player of the Year honors.
“Being that we did it against those two guys (Haag and Anthony), it’s bittersweet,” Stieler told the NCGA. ‘It was epic.”
Interestingly, when Stieler and Pannicia won this title in 2017, they also did it in sudden death. That time, however, it only took one extra hole.
“Winning never gets old,” said Paniccia, who works at Sunnyside CC and also coaches the women’s and men’s golf programs at Fresno City Community College. “It’s always fun to win one with my partner.”
Both men are members at Olympic Club.
Quotes and information from the NCGA used in this report
Stieler, who is the superintendent at Spring Creek GC, finally sank a 9-foot putt on the par-4 17th to end a playoff that set a new NCGA record. When he did, he and Pannicia clinched their second NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball Championship title. The duo outlasted the team of Randy Haag, 2019 Senior Player of the Year, and Jason Anthony, the 2019 NCGA Player of the Year, after both came in with matching scores of 15-under 127 in regulation.
The previous longest playoff, according to the NCGA, had been Nick Moore’s dramatic nine-hole playoff win at the 2015 NCGA Valley Amateur, which occurred in 100-degree heat and helped Moore clinch Player of the Year honors.
“Being that we did it against those two guys (Haag and Anthony), it’s bittersweet,” Stieler told the NCGA. ‘It was epic.”
Interestingly, when Stieler and Pannicia won this title in 2017, they also did it in sudden death. That time, however, it only took one extra hole.
“Winning never gets old,” said Paniccia, who works at Sunnyside CC and also coaches the women’s and men’s golf programs at Fresno City Community College. “It’s always fun to win one with my partner.”
Both men are members at Olympic Club.
Quotes and information from the NCGA used in this report
About the NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball
Two-person, better-ball scratch event for NCGA members 25 years of age and older. FORMAT: 36 holes of four-ball stroke play, 18 holes per day. ELIGIBILITY: Players must have reached their 25th birthday by the start of the tournament and have a numeri...
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