Brett Viboch (L) and Bobby Bucey
Coming into this year's NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball Championship, defending champions and friends
Brett Viboch and
Bobby Bucey opted to skip getting in a practice round.
The two recently had spent quite a bit of time moving Bucey into his new home. As a result, they also took most of September off.
So much for practice.
Viboch, 38, and Bucey, 33, looked better than ever, carding an NCGA four-ball record 12-under 59 Tuesday at Poppy Hills to become the first repeat Mid-Amateur Four-Ball champs since Randy Haag and Darryl Donovan in 2010-11.
"It's just chemistry," Viboch said. "Winning these doesn't get old. You cherish them more with each win. They're so hard to get."
On the front nine, the two posted a bogey-free 31 with five birdies. After the turn, they'd card five more birdies and close out the day with an eagle courtesy of a 40-foot hole-out greenside bunker shot from Bucey. The two finished at 17-under 125, one stroke shy of the tourney record low of 124, set by 2020 winners Nick Moore and Matt Cohn.
"After I made birdie on 17, I looked at Bobby and said, 'An eagle on 18 will get us a 59,'" Bucey said.
The 59 is the all-time low for any NCGA scratch Four-Ball event.
The previous 18-hole record for the Mid-Am Four-Ball was 11-under, shot by Danny Paniccia and Mike Stieler at the 2019 championship at Poppy Hills (60) and the teams of Moore and Cohn and Steven Christophel and Brian Jones, who posted a 61 at par-72 Del Monte during the 2020 championship. The low at the NCGA Four-Ball championship is an 11-under 61 posted by 2021 champs Ethan Farnam and Ethan Ashbrook.
For Bucey, it marks his sixth career NCGA title. For Viboch, the 2021 Player of the Year, it's his third.
"It's great. It's more fun to go out and win with Brett," Bucey said.
Second place went to the team of Kevin Price and Troy Armstrong at 129 after a 62. Patrick Jorgensen and Marc Engellenner were third at 131.
View results for NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball
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 numeric handicap index listed on their
club’s
Master Report of 5.4 or less on the date of
registration. Partners need not be members of the
same club.
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