DALY CITY (August 8, 2006) -- Adam Ichikawa of Los Altos and Jordon Ontiveros of Alamo seized respective NCGA Junior Championships Tuesday at Lake Merced GC.
Long-hitting Ichikawa essentially won the tournament by posting a three-under 69 in the first round of the three-round event, and then letting the rest of the field try to catch him. The 73 and 72 the Castlewood member produced in the final two rounds left the rising Mountain View High sophomore with a two-stroke win. The slight, 5’7, 135-pound 15 –year-old dominated a tough Lake Merced course (only five sup-par rounds were recorded by the entire field), never once using a fairway wood to approach a green. “I’ve been playing well all year. I could’ve played better today (during the final round), but at least I was consistent,” he said.
Ichikawa is no stranger to playing with older players, having captured an impressive 11th seed in the CGA State Amateur this year. Ichikawa lost in the first round of match play to NCGA Amateur Stroke Play champion Erick Justesen, 3 and 2. The aspiring PGA Tour player was obviously pleased with the outcome: “This is a big one. I looked at the back of the NCGA Bluebook and it’s great to get my name on that list.”
Jordan Ontiveros grabbed the Girls’ Championship on the strength of a 73 in the final round, the lowest round by a female in the championship. The 16-year-old made an incredible charge to overcome the seven-stroke deficit she faced starting the day. Four birdies propelled the Monte Vista High School student and Round Hill member to a two-stroke win. “I was just really, really focused,” the champion explained. “I had a $50 bet with my dad so I really wanted to win.” The NCGA Junior Championship is her first ever title. First-round leader Marina Martinez slipped to second after a final-round 82.
Runner-up and Class A flight (for boys aged 16-17) winner Eric Pitcaithley of Pleasanton almost tied the champion, lipping out an eagle chip on the final hole. Pitcaithley took the flight by nine strokes over runner-up Amit Odaiyar of Lodi.
The Class B title (for boys aged 14-15) was won by Eric Kim of San Jose after a one-hole playoff with runner-up Alexander Duvivier of San Mateo. The Class C championship was won in most impressive fashion by first-round leader Walter Kaneshiro of Castro Valley. Kaneshiro's final round 68 was the low round of anyone for the entire tournament and left him nine shots clear of runner-up Luke Vivolo of Carmel.
 Junior Champions Adam Ichikawa and Jordon Ontiveros |
 Tournament official Sandra Hinzmann with champion Jordan Ontiveros, runner-up Marina Martinez and third-place finisher Cristina Corpus, San Leandro |
 NCGA Director Lou Carpine with Class B champion Eric Kim, runner-up Alexander Duvivier and third-place finisher Cory McElyea. |
 Tournament official Robert Read with Class C flight winner Walter Kaneshiro, runner-up Luke Vivolo and third-place finisher Bryson Dechambeau. |
View scorecards for the Boys' 16-17 flight.
View scorecards for
the Boys' 14-15 flight.
View scorecards for
the Boy's 12-13 flight.
View scorecards for
the Girls' flight.
Final Results
| Girls | |||
| Jordan Ontiveros, Alamo | 82 | 73 | 155 |
| Marina Martinez, Modesto | 75 | 82 | 157 |
| Cristina Corpus, San Leandro | 80 | 79 | 159 |
| Dorothy Schwartz, San Jose | 79 | 81 | 160 |
| Ariana Patterson, Carmel | 79 | 85 | 164 |
| Katrina Delen Briones, San Francisco | 87 | 83 | 170 |
| L. Andrea Castellanos, Union City | 85 | 88 | 173 |
| Meaghan Kari, Windsor | 88 | 85 | 173 |
| Rachel Sibbitt, Mill Valley | 89 | 84 | 173 |
| Candace Chan, Sacramento | 93 | 83 | 176 |
| Class C | |||
| Walter Kaneshiro, Castro Valley | 72 | 68 | 140 |
| Luke Vivolo, Carmel | 75 | 74 | 149 |
| Bryson Dechambeau, Clovis | 76 | 74 | 150 |
| Carlos Briones, San Lorenzo | 77 | 76 | 153 |
| Patrick Grimes, Palo Alto | 79 | 79 | 158 |
| Paul Smith, Turlock | 79 | 80 | 159 |
| Tommy Economou, Hillsborough | 77 | 82 | 159 |
| Austin Breunig, Petaluma | 81 | 82 | 163 |
| Bryan Odaiyar, Lodi | 82 | 83 | 165 |
| Kurt S. Kitayama, Chico | 87 | 81 | 168 |
| Mikey McGinn, Springville | 83 | 91 | 174 |
| Nicolas Noya, So. San Francisco | 88 | 93 | 181 |
| Class B | ||||
| Adam Ichikawa, Los Altos | 69 | 73 | 72 | 214 |
| Eric Kim, San Jose (Flight Champion) | 77 | 78 | 78 | 233 |
| Alexander Duvivier, San Mateo | 78 | 77 | 78 | 233 |
| Cory McElyea, Santa Cruz | 79 | 73 | 82 | 234 |
| Sam Smith, Turlock | 81 | 77 | 76 | 234 |
| Taylor Travis, Fremont | 78 | 82 | 75 | 235 |
| Jared Huss, Atascadero | 76 | 85 | 75 | 236 |
| Martin Trainer, Palo Alto | 80 | 76 | 80 | 236 |
| Mark Wyllie, San Jose | 79 | 82 | 77 | 238 |
| Daniel Covrig, Modesto | 81 | 79 | 81 | 241 |
| Michael Weaver, Fresno | 76 | 82 | 83 | 241 |
| Nick Sako, Menlo Park | 80 | 79 | 82 | 241 |
| Class A | ||||
| Eric Pitcaithley, Pleasanton | 76 | 70 | 70 | 216 |
| Amit Odaiyar, Lodi | 79 | 73 | 73 | 225 |
| Chad Vivolo, Carmel | 74 | 73 | 79 | 226 |
| Colby Smith, Auburn | 81 | 75 | 71 | 227 |
| Derek Ernst, Clovis | 74 | 76 | 77 | 227 |
| Tyler Raber, El Macero | 80 | 75 | 73 | 228 |
| Dennis Carson, Burlingame | 74 | 77 | 78 | 229 |
| Spencer Fletcher, Los Altos | 76 | 78 | 75 | 229 |
| Anthony Machi, Pleasanton | 76 | 76 | 79 | 231 |
| Greg Auer, Santa Cruz | 74 | 78 | 80 | 232 |
| Kevin Rei, Sonora | 77 | 77 | 78 | 232 |
| Tyler Ichikawa, Los Altos | 76 | 80 | 76 | 232 |
| Eric Leeworthy, Galt | 74 | 77 | 82 | 233 |
| Travis Peterson, Santa Rosa | 75 | 77 | 81 | 233 |
| Jake Bieber, Alamo | 79 | 78 | 77 | 234 |
| Jimmy Cacho, Fairfield | 75 | 77 | 82 | 234 |
| Keith Okasaki, Sacramento | 79 | 79 | 76 | 234 |
| Matthew Garcia, Burlingame | 76 | 79 | 79 | 234 |
| Weston Payne, Menlo Park | 73 | 79 | 82 | 234 |
| Bobby Kent, Los Gatos | 75 | 80 | 80 | 235 |
| Kevin Smith, San Jose | 82 | 78 | 75 | 235 |
| Samuel Weeks, San Mateo | 79 | 76 | 80 | 235 |
| Peter Gibbs, Granite Bay | 79 | 74 | 83 | 236 |
| Niall Conn, Auburn | 82 | 78 | 78 | 238 |
| Andrew Tilton, San Mateo | 77 | 78 | 84 | 239 |
| Brennen S. Ramey, Tracy | 78 | 82 | 79 | 239 |
| Riley Kriebel, Menlo Park | 73 | 82 | 84 | 239 |
| Greg Poos, Fremont | 78 | 77 | 86 | 241 |
| D. J. Milligan, Cedar Ridge | 79 | 81 | 82 | 242 |
| Daniel Neben, Walnut Creek | 82 | 77 | 84 | 243 |
| Joell Coloma, Sacramento | 80 | 80 | 83 | 243 |
| Michael F Walter, Fresno | 80 | 80 | 83 | 243 |