At the Masters, there are the famous roars at amen corner, like the one that Seve Ballesteros heard from Jack Nicklaus’ gallery ahead before dumping a four-iron into the water on No. 15 back in 1986. At other PGA Tour events, there are leader boards everywhere and word travels fast amongst the gallery. While most players seem to want to know their status, many work hard to stay calmly unaware and often credit their strategy with helping them win the event.

So it was interesting to observe Dave Capel on Sunday at the amateurgolf.com California Mid Amateur at Stevinson Ranch. As the low man in the final group on the last hole, he briefly eyed spectators and fellow competitors before approaching a delicate short-side pitch to the slick green.

”You don’t want to know, do you?” Rhetorically asked fellow competitor Mike Vera.

”Nope.” Calmly answered Capel, 39.

Up to that point, Capel had played steady golf, after opening with a 72 on Saturday, one stroke off the pace set by Jerry Ledzinski of Carmel, who fired 71. He avoided a near-disaster at No. 9, where a four iron approach he described as “a quick diver” buried itself into the lip of the cross bunker 20 yards in front of the narrow green.

”I had no idea where I was going to hit it, but I figured I could at least get it out,” explained Capel. “The ball then landed 10 feet left of the pin, and spun straight right to tap-in distance – it was the shot of my life.”

The unlikely par save helped Capel to an even-par front nine, and the ‘leader board-free’ environment of amateur golf kept him unaware that he was losing ground to a red-hot Rob Adolph, of Fresno’s San Joaquin Country Club – playing a group in front of him with Randy Haag, John Driver, and Gary Young.

Adolph’s charge started with a birdie at No. 9. He made par on No. 10, then eagled the par-5 11th and birdied the par-3 12th to get to 4-under on the day and 3-under for the tournament. A standout athlete at USC, playing Baseball and Football, Adolph knows how to conduct himself under pressure. But a lost drive to the right of the treacherous 17th took Adolph back to even par on the day, and his birdie try at the par-5 18th narrowly missed the cup. Young also found red numbers for the tournament on the back nine, but a double bogey on the 15th cost the defending champ dearly.

Stevinson Ranch’s stretch of holes from Nos. 15 to 18 make even multi-shot leads no guarantee in medal play events such as this one, which makes Capel’s finish even stronger.

On the par-3 16th, where Ocean Honda was sponsoring a hole-in-one competition, Capel wanted no part of the tucked right pin, just a bad bounce away from the hazard. He threaded a four-iron to the front of the green, then hit the back of the cup with a 20-footer that was moving at Arnold Palmer speed. On No. 17, Capel smartly avoided the water with his tee shot, missed the green right and made a solid 5-footer for par.

That set up the scenario at 18, where the blissfully unaware Capel crisply ran his pitch towards the hole, and gave it a good chance to go in. The come-backer (5 feet) was no cinch, and Capel drained it like a tour player for the victory.

TRUE WINS HIS FIRST NET TITLE
8-handicapper Jeff True is also a Senior, so he has to decide which division to play in before entering each event, Senior Scratch or Net. He made the right choice this week, and played some of his best golf ever on Saturday with an even par gross round of 72.

”The swing felt great, nothing like Shadow Lakes in March when I was trying to swing through a muscle-pull,” said True, who called the event his first tournament victory.

On Sunday, True did a great job handling the role of front-runner, as he extended his margin of victory to a whopping 12 strokes – an amateurgolf.com record.

YAVORSKY ENJOYING HIS SENIOR MOMENTS
Steve Yavorsky of Capistrano Beach has made the most of turning 55, which he did last summer. Yavorsky not only qualified for the US Senior Open in 2004 (minimum age in that one is 50) he later made it all the way to the round-of-16 in the US Senior Amateur (minimum age 55) at Los Angeles’ Bel Air Country Club. And that’s not to mention three straight Los Angeles City Senior titles.

Yavorsky made his trip from Southern California worthwhile this weekend, and he had to best a tough field of Northern California ‘regulars’ (including the always tough George Kelley of Stevinson Ranch, who just turned 55) to do it.

Kelley had opened with a 71, which gave him a 1 stroke lead over Yavorsky and 2 stroke lead over Carl Selkirk of Chico heading into the final round. But a balky putter on Sunday cost Kelley 6 three-putts and crucial strokes against the steady Yavorsky, who Kelley called a “great player” after the round. Yavorsky finished with a 73 for a total of 1-over-par 145 for the victory, while Kelley (76) and Selkirk (74) tied for second at 147.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:

- Karen Capel, Dave’s wife, and two children watched the final hole, tan from a recent trip to Jamaica. That trip was cut a day short so Capel could play in this important tournament at his home club. “What can I say, this meant a lot to me,” quipped Capel.

- Rob Adolph, who tied for 2nd in the overall competition, was low in the Master’s Division with his total of 145 edging Randy Haag of The Olympic Club. Haag started bogey-bogey on Sunday, then made an ace on the lets-get-the-water-carry-overwith par-3 4th where most players are hoping to escape with a par… it wasn't the Ocean Honda-sponsored 'Win a Honda Ridgeline' hole (Ken Helwig came within inches of acing that one by the way!) but Haag will still get a TaylorMade R7 Driver for his effort.

- Bob Olds eagled the toughest hole on the course on Saturday in the first round, knocking a Callaway 7-wood into the cup for a deuce.

- Special thanks to George Kelley and the entire staff at Stevinson Ranch for hosting us again this year and making everyone happy from the fine course conditions to the great food and hospitality all around.

- Our next tournament is at Bandon Dunes April 16-20 (hey, we could use one more team for an even 64 players…) and then it’s the Monterey Bay Championship at the end of May. Visit the Tour site at www.amateurgolf.com/tour to register now.


- Capel scored a special exemption to the Stocker Cup for his victory, but all other players with a 2.4 handicap or less can enter the open qualifier on September 19th at Harding Park, right before the Amex World Golf Championship event. We'll soon start accepting registrations. The top 5 players received exemptions into the Trans Miss Amateur, being played July 18-23 at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kansas. Thanks to George Kelley and Stocker Cup Committee, as well as the Trans Miss Golf Association, for providing these wonderfuly 'fringe benefits' to the top players.

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Final Results from the California Mid Amateur, played at the 7060 yard, par-72 Stevinson Ranch Golf Club: