2020 Underway on LA Tour


 

 

Irvine, CA--Oak Creek Golf Club hosted the 2020 Los Angeles Kickoff Classic on Sunday.  Great course conditions and a beautiful Southern California day helped make a great competition....one that saw each Palmer Flight group play in 4 hours or better!  Congratulations to the Palmer Flight on the excellent pace of play and setting a great pace for the event.  Steven Gill of Tustin was all smiles as well as he won the 50/50 Raffle and $440!  Thank you to everyone who helped contribute.  

 

The LA Kickoff Classic was very competitive with the top-10 all within six shots of the lead.  Geoff Carnevale of Toronto, Canada posted a great round of 1-over par 72, his lowest round on Tour so far in just four attempts.  Carnevale posted four birdies on the round and played his last nine holes in 1-under par to take the clubhouse lead.  Bryan Pinkham of Costa Mesa is back in action after taking 2019 off and it is great to see him back in the mix.  Pinkham was tied with Carnevale heading into #18 and a solid birdie saw him take the clubhouse lead with a very solid round of even-par 71.  2018 Los Angeles Player of the year Travis Hunter of Coto De Caza hit the ball beautifully on Sunday and was the leader deep into the back nine.  A bogey on the 17th hole saw him one behind Pinkham but he made a solid birdie on the last to tie the lead as the two headed into a sudden death playoff starting on #1.  Both players tied with solid pars on #1 and #2 and Pinkham prevailed by making his third consecutive par on the par-three 3rd hole and in doing so earned his first win on the Golf Channel Amateur Tour in 2+ years!  James Baek of Fullerton pulled off three consecutive birdies on holes 10, 11, and 12 which helped him finish in 2-under par 34.  His round of 73 was good for 4th place.  Matthew Robbart of Los Alamitos, competing in his first event, got off to a rough start and was 3-over par after five holes.  He settled down and played his last 13 holes in even par to hold the last spot on the leaderboard, finishing with a good round of 74.  

 

A second shout-out to the Palmer Flight for their excellent pace of play on Sunday as they competed at Oak Creek.  Scott Henrikson of Laguna Niguel, competing in the first group of the day, completed his round in approximately 3 hours 45 minutes which is amazing in and of itself.  Henrikson struggled early, turning in 7-over par, and then made a triple bogey 7 on the par-four 12th.  A streaky player who can really get it going, Henrikson finally settled in and made six consecutive pars to close out his round and take the clubhouse lead at 81.  Vipul Patel of Laguna Niguel and Kenton Howerton of Hermosa Beach also got off to tough starts on Sunday.  Howerton turned in 41 strokes and Patel turned in 44 strokes but both players would seperate themselves from the field on the back nine.  Patel played holes 9 - 16 in 2-under par and was tied for the lead with Howerton after Kenton birdied the 16th hole.  With two holes to play Howerton made two consecutive pars, while Patel closed double bogey-bogey.  After the dust settled Howerton was the only player to break into the 70's, winning his first event of the season and first event in 11 months dating back to Black Gold in February of 2019.  Brian Oblak of Studio City did not card a birdie but made four consecutive pars to close out his first event of the young season and finish in 4th place at 82.  

The Hogan Flight was the largest competition on Sunday and arguably had the best performances.  Gary Fisher of Stevenson Ranch doubled 2 and 3 and was on the fourth tee at 4-over par.  Amazingly, he would finish at 3-over par on the day after an incredible round of golf which he has been known to do from time to time.  Fisher would par 4, 5, 6, and then make another double bogey on 7 before rattling off birdies on 9, 10, 13, and 15 to play that 8-hole stretch in an unconcious 4-under par.  A bogey on 16 and then two consecutive pars saw him take home the trophy with an outstanding round of 3-over par 74.  This is Fisher's first round in six attempts this season breaking the 80 barrier, with his previous low this season being 83.  Great performance!  Soheil Aval of Newport Coast has really upped his game the past six month.  Aval carded two deuces on the back nine to help him into the 80's and a very solid round of 7-over par 78.  Also at 78 was Kevin Talwar of Irvine.  Playing in his hometown and making his first start of the season, Talwar was a little rusty to start and was 7-over par after seven holes.  Talwar would play his last 11 holes in even par which is a great way to finish and good for a T2 today.  Renato Sison of Riverside waited until the 18th hole to make a birdie which always makes your next meal taste a little better.  Sison was the last player in the 70's thanks to that closing birdie, finishing in 4th at 79.  Mike Fumagalli of Lancaster bogeyed the par-five 18th to drop into 5th place at 80, still three shots better than 6th place.  

Sarazen Flight saw Tim Bias hold a tenuous one-shot lead heading into the 18th hole over Michael Grant of Canada and Mick Corwin of Canyon Lake.  Bias would finish with a double bogey while Grant and Corwin both made par and tied for the lead at 14-over par 85 with Bias just a shot back and in 3rd place at 15-over par 86.  Heading into the playoff, both Grant and Corwin hit great drives on the par-four 1st hole but both players had some trouble from there.  In the end, Corwin was able to two-putt for bogey and earn his first win on the LA Tour this season! Vinnie Kaufmann of Santa Monica carded two birdies on holes 3 and 16 which helped him into a 4th place finish at 89.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior Sarazen Flight saw a good race to the finish on Sunday, with eight players all within six shots of the lead.  Knox Johnson of Anaheim and Chang Hong of San Diego (by way of Korea) both tied the clubhouse lead at 83.  In the playoff Johnson would prevail, winning with a solid par on the first playoff hole.  During the round, Johnson carded two birdies while Chang carded three, including consecutive birdies on holes 12 and 13.  John Olson of Mission Viejo birdied the last hole to jump up into 3rd place and just a stroke out of the playoff in what was a two-shot swing with the leaders as they both bogeyed the final hole.  Donald Bebout of Laguna Beach posted a round of 14-over par 85 to finish in 4th place.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jones Flight saw a commanding performance by a player with his sights and goals firmly planted on reaching the Sarazen Flight early this season.  Ilyas Ahmed, competing in his hometown of Irvine, made nothing worse than a double bogey and finished his round with two consecutive pars to earn the win by four shots at 85.  Ahmed, who was close at the end of last season to getting to Sarazen Flight, has struggled a bit to start this season coming off two consecutive events with scores over 100.  It looks like he is back on track of his goal with a very good round of 85.  There was only one other player to break the 90 mark and that was Olumide Akingbemi of Los Angeles.  Akingbemi the #2 ranked Jones flight player currently in LA, played well and earned 125 points thanks to his second place finish.  Third place went to David Dittlinger of Los Angeles at 92, while Jerome Ballard from Colorado finished in 4th at 94.  

 

 

 

Snead Flight saw Ron Burnette of Irvine, the #1 ranked Snead Flight player in LA, earn his second win of the young season.  Burnette made four pars on the day and coincidentally earned the win by four shots at 91 which is also his best score of the season thus far!  Robert Randles of Pomona is playing well after earning his first win at Mission Viejo back in November.  Randles earned his second consecutive 2nd place finish on Sunday.  Monty White of Dana Point, currently ranked as the #1 Senior Snead Flight Player in LA, finished in 3rd place at 97.  

 

The Tour returns to action on Saturday, February 1 with the Rose Bowl Championship at Brookside Golf Club.