Griffin and Chin team up to win NCGA Four-Ball title

Not long after the final group came in to make things official, Alex Chin shared a celebratory moment with his mom and grandmother. Jalen Griffin, meanwhile stepped away to call his mom.

The pair, who've been connected by University of San Francisco the last few years, delivered a special Mother's Day gift, posting a sensational final round 9-under 63 at Spyglass Hill to win the annual NCGA Four-Ball Championship by four shots over the runner-up tandem of brothers Jimmy and Johnny Castles. The 63 was the low round of the 54-hole event and was just two shy of the championship, a 61 posted by 2021 winners Ethan Farnham and Ethan Ashbrook.

Chin, the 2020 NCGA Player of the Year, is a 23-year-old graduate student playing at USF. The elder Griffin, 26, is an assistant for the Dons. The two, who finished at 18-under 198, were Dons teammates when Griffin was a senior and Chin was a freshman.

"It was a pretty electric weekend," Griffin said. "The first day we were ham-and-egging it. the second day we had no bogeys and today was solid. Spyglass can eat you up real quick."

Congrats to Jalen Griffin and Alex Chin on their win at the annual NCGA Four-Ball Championship. They’d cards final round 9-under 63 at Spyglass Hill pic.twitter.com/yo0mHojr48

— NCGA (@ncga1901) May 8, 2022

Having entered the final round three shots behind the Castles and the team of Lewis Simon and Keith Okasaki, Chin and Griffin made their initial charge with a front-nine 32. After the turn, they'd post a 31. They'd go 6-under through holes Nos. 6-12 to take over the lead and never looked back.

"We play off of each other well," Chin said. "Keep the ball in play. If the first player is in the middle of the green, the second person can play aggressively."

The Castles, who both formerly played at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, finished second at 202 after a final round 70. Third place went to the team of Griffin Long and Matthew Sutherland at 203. Sutherland is the nephew of PGA Champions Tour member Kevin Sutherland.

The team of Garrett Wagner and Rick Reinsberg had the second-lowest score of the day, a 64 that pushed them 26 spots up the leaderboard to 12th place. The team of Jeff Hamm and Ian Dahl had the day's third-lowest score with a 65.

Fresno's Keith Rodriguez had the shot of the tournament, acing the par-3 15th in the final round using a gap wedge. It was his first career ace.