Nick Moore and Matt Cohn
Nick Moore and Matt Cohn had knocked on the door before at the NCGA Four-Ball Championship, finishing in the top 3 three times.
This time, the two finally broke through.
Moore and Cohn, who first met back in 2012 when they played each other in a match at the NCGA Amateur, carded a final round 5-under 67 to come in at 12-under 204, good enough for a one-stroke win over the runner-up tandem of Mike Perchak and Mikey Burkland.
"It feels amazing," said Moore, who recently changed his last name to Randazzo, in honor of his late maternal grandfather, Vincent Randazzo. "We wanted it, and it came to fruition. We willed our way to this one."
The duo had previously won as a team at the 2020 NCGA Mid-Amateur Four-Ball Championship. For Moore, 40, the win marked his 11th career NCGA title. The 42-year-old Cohn, meanwhile, moved up to six career NCGA wins.
"This one was 75% Nick," Cohn said. "Nick played some incredible golf. And he motivated me when I wasn't my best."
While he gave his partner a hat-tip, it was Cohn who delivered in a critical spot. Coming off a bogey on the par-5 14th that saw their lead trimmed to one, Cohn responded on the ensuing 15th hole by draining a 30-foot birdie putt.
Until the bogey on No.14, neither Cohn nor Moore had snuck a peek at what was still a crowded leaderboard.
"We had no idea where we stood. We knew we had played well on the front nine (they carded a 4-under 32) so we figured we'd be near the top. Only when we looked did we find out we were the leaders," Moore said. "We just got hot a few times, that's how Four-Ball is. And when we got cold, we tried to minimize the mistakes."
It was on the front nine that Moore and Cohn won the tournament. Over the three days, they went 9-under on the front, best in the field.
Perchak and Burkland certainly put the pressure on. The two, who grew up together at Round Hill CC and later re-connected when Perchak coached Burkland at San Ramon Valley High, played their final 12 holes at 5-under thanks in part to an eagle on the par-5 7th.
They would play the back nine at 8-under for the 54 holes, which was best in the field.
"We played great together," Perchak said. "There were some holes where one of us was off, but then the other guy would pick it up."
The teams of Reid Buzby and Daniel Connolly and Marc Engellenner and Domingo Jojola finished tied for third at 206 after final rounds of 70 and 69, respectively. Engellenner and Jojola were awarded third place in a card-off.
ABOUT THE NCGA Four-Ball
The NCGA Four-Ball Championship began in 1967 at
Spyglass
Hill golf course and has been played the Robert
Trent
Jones
layout ever since. The 54-hole competition consists
of two-man
teams in which both players play their own ball and
the lowest
score of the two is counted on each hole.
18 holes qualifying four-ball stroke play. The
championship
proper will be 54 holes of four-ball stroke play, 18
holes per day.
After 36 holes, the field is cut to 40 teams and ties.
Both
partners must meet eligibility requirements, holding
a handicap
index of 5.4 or less.
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