Charlie Reiter wins the California Amateur Championship

July 2, 2022 | by Pete Wlodkowski of AmateurGolf.com

- SCGA photo

Reiter completes an amazing month that saw him qualify and play in the U.S. Open with a 5-and-4 victory over Kevin Huff

It's been some kind of 30 days for Charlie Reiter of Palm Desert, California.

On June 6, he nearly medaled at the U.S. Open Final Qualifying event at The Olympic Club.

The University of San Diego golfer, who went down in the finals of the California Amateur in 2020, avenged that loss with a 5-and-4 victory over Kevin Huff (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) at Big Canyon Country Club. Two years after losing to Joey Vrzich at Torrey Pines, he is the California Amateur Champion.

"Finishing second, that wasn't going to happen again," Reiter said when asked about the 2020 outcome. "We got off to a quick start and I kept it going. It was awesome."

Reiter enjoyed a small 1-up lead over Huff after the front nine. But while Huff had been taking down his earlier opponents on that inward stretch of holes all week, it was Reiter who did the damage there today.

After a run of three-straight birdies for wins on Hole Nos. 16-18, the Reiter lead was 6-up at the lunch break. The match was far from over, but you would certainly rather be on Reiter's side of the lunch table with that kind of cushion.

In the afternoon, things got worse for Huff before they got better. He bogeyed Nos. 2 and 3 to go 8-down, then dropped another hole at No. 5. By the match's 26th hole (No. 8) Huff faced a 9-down deficit with just 10 holes left.

Match over, right? Not so fast.

The mountain Reiter had built was so incredibly high that even when Huff went on an amazing afternoon run, he didn’t even summit half of it. Reiter also had honors for 24 of the 32 holes played in the final.

Reiter displayed some short game wizardry (SCGA)

Huff, from El Dorado Hills near Sacramento, had been playing amazing golf all week. And he dug deep to find a birdie on the 27th hole. When the pair tied the 28th hole with a par, the match was dormie. One tie and it's over. That didn't stop Huff from running three-straight birdies and getting through the 31st hole. The match wasn't supposed to go this far, many spectators may have thought. But Huff had now birdied four of the last five holes and turned a rout into something more reasonable.

Alas, a tie someplace was inevitable and when the pair both made par on No 14, the match had ended. The record will show a 5-and-4 victory for Reiter the first winner of the trophy from the Coachella Valley in many years.

Asked how he was going to celebrate, Reiter said with a big smile and a laugh, "I don't know yet. But I'm sure something will go down that I won't remember."

A TROPHY ETCHED WITH FAMOUS NAMES, WITH ONE BIG NAME MISSING

Reiter's name is (or will soon be) on the California Amateur trophy alongside past winners Xander Schauffele, Jason Gore, Mark O’Meara, John Cook, plus two-time winners Bobby Clampett and Ken Venturi.

The most noticeable name missing from the trophy is Tiger Woods -- a then 32--year-old Ed Cuff famously ended his match play run in 1994. At the time, the Los Angeles Times headline read: "Woods Upset in Semifinals of State Amateur Golf Play" and the story said:

Cuff, 32, was the oldest of the four semifinalists. He failed to yield to the pressure of Woods, 18, who fired a 2-under-par 34 on the front nine but was only 1-up.

Woods went 2-up with a par at the 10th but lost the 11th. Cuff evened the match with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 13th. He went 1-up for the first time in the match with a 10-foot birdie putt at the 15th. Then, Woods three-putted the 16th and lost to a par. Both players parred the last hole.

As it turned out, another Woods won the title in 1994 -- Steve Woods. He defeated Cuff in the final match. But Cuff's amateur golf career has forever been associated with perhaps the greatest player of all time, and it's made great conversation for him on the course over the years.

Results: California Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts
Win	Charlie Reiter	Palm Desert, CA	600
Runner-up	Kevin Huff	El Dorado Hills, CA	400
Semifinals	Kuangyu (Tony) Chen	, China	300
Semifinals	Alexander Yang	Carlsbad, CA	300
Quarterfinals	Casey Leebrick	San Luis Obispo, CA	200

View full results for California Amateur

About the California Amateur

Charlie Reiter wins the California Amateur Championship

The Championship is open to amateur golfers who have established current indexes of 4.4 and are members in good standing of the Southern California Golf Association, the Northern California Golf Association, or the Public Links Golf Association of So...