PACIFIC GROVE, CALIFORNIA (March 5, 2006) -- Twenty years later, a couple of old pals from the University of the Pacific Golf Team, (class of '85) Todd Barsotti and Jeff Wilson, still enjoy getting the competitive juices flowing. They have partnered together in Northern California four-ball events many times -- picking up a victory in the biggest one of them all, the NCGA Four-Ball at Spyglass in 2003. Barsotti and Wilson have done pretty well a wee bit down the 17-mile-drive in the seaside hamlet of Pacific Grove as well.

Today at the short-but-tricky Pacific Grove Golf Links Barsotti and Wilson captured the title of the Monterey County Four-Ball for the second time in the last five years (they also lost one in a playoff) with a 5-under-par front nine and a momentum-saving birdie at No. 11 good enough to hold off playing companions Tyler Crawford and Cory Lathern and the rest of the Championship Division field.

"I hit it left on No. 11, and left my partner hanging," said Wilson, whose storied amateur resume includes being low amateur at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach. "But Todd came through in a pinch with a birdie to put us 7-under - from there it was just 'keep it out of the ice plant.'"

(And anyone who has played the spectacular back nine on the course affectionately referred to as "The Poor Man's Pebble Beach" can attest to the fact that the ice plant which grows wild among the sand dunes is nice to look at from a distance, but it is almost impossible to hit out of.)

Crawford and Lathern -- who traveled to Monterey from Palm Desert and tied Barsotti and Wilson with a round one 63 despite never having seen the course -- briefly made things interesting on the front nine Sunday with a three birdie run, but they quickly gave it back with three straight bogeys as they rounded the turn.

Brady Baguio and Tony Denesha of Bakersfield snuck into second place with a final round 63, while Tom Koster and John Desantis, who play at nearby Coral de Tierra, fired a 64 to tie Lathern and Crawford, plus the long-time golf partnership of Bob Fulton and Dan Bieber at 10-under-par 130 on the tournament.

NET DIVISION
There is a sign at Kiawah Island, in one of the villas we stayed in last week, that says "If you wonder if you have any friends, just buy a place at Kiawah!" Here's another one. "If you aren't getting any attention, just post a sub-60 round in a net golf tournament." That's what Glenn Lee of Fairfax and Wes Tom of Sacramento did in the first round, creating a buzz around the leaderboard. Fact is, 12-under-par net is far from unreasonable in a net four-ball format, even at 80 percent handicap. If you applied handicaps to the scratch division numbers, you would see at least one team under 60 and many very close. (It is only 5700 yards, remember, at the far-from-daunting Pacific Grove G.L. which carries a course rating of 67.5)

Bill Foley of San Ramon and Rob McCourt of Alamo, paired with the leaders, did everything they could to catch up, including a beautiful pitch-in at the par-5 sixth by McCourt (which was answered with a high-five from Lee). In the end, Lee and Tom's final round 66 was good enough to hold off McCourt and Foley, who posted a 64 to take third at 128. Trevor Healy and Tom McGrane, two game players whose Irish accent fits in perfectly at the Pacific Grove Golf Links, fired a final round 63 to take grab second place at 127.

SENIOR DIVISION
Chip Campion of Salinas and Doug Dusenbury of Monterey, after a tournament low first round of 63, came out strong on Sunday. The duo appeared ready to run away from the field when they got to 10-under par on the tournament with 5 holes left to play (with an eagle on No. 4) before a team bogey on the par-5 fifth hole derailed their train. They finished with 68 to tie for third with Terry Ackerman (newly of Monterey!) and Tom O'Grady of Los Altos. David Hemrick of Aptos and Frank Pieper of Carmel, playing in the final group with the leaders, posted a solid 6-under-par 64 in the final round to win by one over Marshall Raymer of Pleasanton and Bob Rowland of Danville, who snuck up the leaderboard into second place with a final round of 64 as well.

To view complete results, scroll to the bottom of the page.

TOURNAMENT NOTES:

- Special thanks to longtime Pacific Grove Golf Links Professional Peter Vitarisi, PGA for entrusting amateurgolf.com with an event he has run for the past 20 years. We presented Mr. Vitarisi with an engraved clock on Sunday to thank him for his support of amateur golf and we hope to continue the tradition he started for many years.

- Congratulations to Jerry Ledzinski of Carmel, who made an ace on the 1st hole (his 10th) with a nine iron. Ledzinski flushed a 9-iron that landed just feet past the hole and spun in, much to the delight of his partner Frank Pokigo, Jr. And while the Ocean Honda-supplied hole-in-one car was in view, Ledzinski would have needed his ace on the longer 9th hole to qualify for the free car.

- While we're talking about holing shots, kudos to Andrew Biggadike of Palo Alto for scoring an eagle on the difficult 8th hole, his first hole of the day! Biggadike, formerly of New Jersey, has become a regular at amateurgolf.com events and was quickly picked up as a partner by the savvy Tak Taoyama. That hot start resulted in enough momentum to carry the team up the leaderboard after an even par start as they closed with a 63.

- Thanks to the entire staff of Pacific Grove Golf Links for hosting us, to the weatherman for holding off the rain, and to Tournament Director Liz McQueen, Bill Biermann, and Trisha Williams of amateurgolf.com for running the event so smoothly. Our next tournament is next weekend at Shadow Lakes in Brentwood - we still have a few spots left in the field which you can grab by visiting www.amateurgolf.com/tour/schedule.asp

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Final results from the amateurgolf.com Monterey County Four Ball, played at the Par-72, 5727 yard Pacific Grove Golf Links:

		Championship
Pos		Team	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1		Barsotti / Wilson	63	62	125
2		Baguio / Denesha	65	63	128
T3		DeSantis / Koster	66	64	130
T3		Crawford / Lathern	63	67	130
T3		Bieber / Fulton	67	63	130
T6		Looper / Peterson	65	66	131
T6		Ledzinski / Pokigo Jr.	67	64	131
T6		Erbez / McBroom	65	66	131
T6		Boyns / Moore	64	67	131
T10		Foreman / Miller	69	63	132
T10		Couch / Moore	65	67	132
T12		Hallgrimson / Melvin	65	68	133
T12		Biggadike / Taoyama	70	63	133
T12		Anthony / Pryor	67	66	133
T15		Davis / Davis	67	67	134
T15		Affinito / Harding	68	66	134
T15		Miller / Smithburger	66	68	134
T15		Tessler / Wlodkowski	67	67	134
19		Furth / Whittemore	68	69	137
20		Hatfield / Ravazza	68	70	138
21		Bass / Debellis	68	71	139
22		Allison / Allison	67	73	140
T23		Harris / Tonge	69	73	142
T23		Campbell / Moore	71	71	142
T25		Dieker / Simas	72	72	144
T25		Bauer / Weeks	75	69	144
		Senior
Pos		Team	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1		Hemrick / Pieper	65	64	129
2		Raymer / Rowland	66	64	130
T3		Campion / Dusenbury	63	68	131
T3		Ackerman / O'Grady	68	63	131
5		Goettsch / Rhodes	66	69	135
6		Black / Cayton	70	71	141
7		Hamilton / Massier	74	68	142
		NET
Pos		Team	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1		Lee / Tom	58	66	124
2		Healy / McGrane	64	63	127
3		Foley / McCourt	64	64	128
4		Knapp / Silacci	66	63	129
T5		Blaney / Lee	69	62	131
T5		Houde / Randesi	64	67	131
T5		Anderson / Biason	68	63	131
T8		Aschenbrenner / Wilbur	68	64	132
T8		House / Strahan	64	68	132
T10		Farino / Minkoff	67	66	133
T10		Steele / Vieira	66	67	133
T10		Hollstien / Loveless	67	66	133
T13		Lerner / Pittenger	70	65	135
T13		Richardson / Thurman	69	66	135
T15		Blake / Loftus	70	66	136
T15		Balisha / Balisha	68	68	136
17		Albaugh / Tudhope	71	66	137
18		Gray / Morais	74	64	138
T19		Staszko / Staszko	70	69	139
T19		Behling / Caputo	68	71	139
T19		Allison Sr / Beshwate	68	71	139

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