AVIARA INVITATIONAL

 

Carlsbad, CA--The Aviara Invitational was hosted on Sunday just a few weeks prior to the LPGA Kia Classic and just a few more weeks until Aviara shuts down for the year for renovations.  Contestants got a great understanding of just how tough a course can play as Aviara was a stout test with PGA or LPGA Tour conditions.  With thick and lush 3-inch rough, firm and lightning fast greens, and wind on the back nine the players were certainly challenged.  The only Arnold Palmer designed course in San Diego, the Aviara Invitational scores soared in similar fashion to Arnold Palmer's Bay Hill Invitational where only a handful of the world's best players broke par this weekend.  

 

Congratulations to Sid Campa for winning $340 in the 50/50 Raffle and thank you to Aviara for being great hosts with absolutely awesome (albeit difficult) course conditions and surrounding beauty.  

 

 

 

 

 

Tom McKee of Carlsbad, 61 years young, was in Senior Palmer Flight but asked to be moved to Senior Championship.  McKee, who has played some great golf for the majority of his amateur career, struggled a bit the past few years but wanted more of a challenge.  He rose up on Sunday and certainly contended.  McKee went out in even-par 36 and after a birdie on #11 was under par in brutally tough conditions thru 13 holes.  On his heels was San Diego's very own Grant Martens making his 3rd start of the season in defense of his title at Aviara 12 months ago.  Martens went out in 37, a stroke behind Mckee, but a birdie on 10 squared things up.  A quick double on #11 and an ensuing bogey on 12 saw Martens go from tied to the lead to four strokes back after 13 holes.  Kyle Sigmon of Chula Vista went out in 39, but a birdie on 10 and another on 13 got him back to 1-over par on the day and just two strokes back of Mckee.  That is as close as Sigmon would get, making a double on the par-three 14th hole and then a closing bogey on #18 to finish in 3rd place at 4-over par 76.  In a seesaw back nine, Martens would close the gap a birdie on #14 coupled with McKee making consecutive bogeys on #14 and #15.  On 17 tee, McKee clung to a 1-stroke advantage but Martens would make a great birdie to tie things up heading into, arguably, the best finishing hole in all of San Diego.  McKee would close out his round with a double bogey, while Martens would make a bogey to win the event at 2-over par 74.  Great playing in defense of his title and also his first win of the 2019-2020 season.  Shout out to McKee who finished in 2nd place at 3-over par 75....great playing and contending with some talented players.  David Carney of Carlsbad, a Tour rookie making his first start, played incredibly well and will be a great addition to the Tour.  Carney was tied for the lead after nine holes but had difficulty closing out his round.  Carney has lots of firewpower, making four birdies in his first event, but played the par-three holes at Aviara in 6-over par which coincided with his score, finishing in 4th place at 6-over par 78.  Notably, the par-four 18th hole lived up to it's notorious repuation, as the top four in the flight all made bogey or worse on the hole.  

Palmer Flight saw a great performance by Terry Powell, a past Palmer Flight Champion at the Aviara Invitational.  Powell was the only player in the flight to break into the 80's, winning by four shots at 4-over par 77.  The 54-year old headed to 18 at 6-over par for the day but did what no other player did on Sunday from the back tees, making an incredible birdie on the 440-yard par four to close out his round like a champion on arguably the best and most demanding finishing hole in San Diego County.  Way to finish it off like a champion with a great birdie!  Rinako Kurokawa of San Diego had quite a round going.  Kurokawa, who won her first event at La Costa just a few weeks back, went out in 38 strokes and had the lead thru 14 holes of play.  The 22-year old could not close out her round the way she wanted, finishing triple bogey, double bogey, and then two consecutive bogeys to fall into a tie for 2nd place at 81.  Still great playing and with a stronger finish could have hoisted her second consecutive trophy.  36-year old Josh Dollick of San Diego made his first start of the season on Sunday.  Dollick played well and was just a stroke back of Powell heading into 18.  A double bogey finish on the tough hole and three shot swing saw him tie for 2nd place at 81.  Look for Dollick to contend again this season and possibly hoist a trophy or two for the talented player.  Nick Jimas of La Jolla got off to a tough start with a quadruple bogey 8 on the 2nd hole.  Jimas would settle down a bit after that and grab 4th place at 10-over par 82.  

 

Hogan Flight and Sarazen saw the most dominating performance on Sunday.  Nine of the eleven contestants in the Hogan Flight struggled in the tough conditions with scores of 90 or higher.  Finishing in 2nd place was the 2019 San Diego Player of the Year for the Hogan Flight, Chris Murphy.  Murphy was able to gut out six pars on his way to the 2nd place finish at 88.  Ten strokes better than that was our Hogan Flight Champion, Doug Shrader of San Diego who took the lead on the San Diego points list for the flight thanks to his win on Sunday.  Shrader just dominated, winning his first event since moving to San Diego in six tries.  Shrader did not card a birdie on Sunday but kept it out of the rough all day which proved to be the difference.  Shrader made 13 pars, 4 bogeys, and a lone double and was quoted as saying "I was only in the rough once....and that was for a chip shot!".   The most dominating performance in the flight thus far this season, Shrader can hang his hat on the great win thanks to his solid tee shots and something that is rarely done in any flight - winning by 10 shots!  Bradley Lucas of Chula Vista and Soheil Aval of Newport Coast each tied for 3rd at 90.  

 

 

 

Senior Hogan Flight played the same tees as their younger counterparts and, not couting the great round put together by Doug Shrader, dominated the 8 - 11.9 bracket.  Hogan Flight saw only 4 players at 90 or better, while Senior Hogan Flight saw 7 players at 90 or better on this day!  Lance Gildea, a former Southern California resident who now resides in Washington State, took the trip down to San Diego and walked away with the victory thanks to his 42 on the front nine (his back nine).  Gildea went out in 40 on the back nine and was tied heading into the front nine with Steve Jacobsen of Encinitas who, notably, birdied the great 18th hole at Aviara.  Jacobsen would take the lead after five consecutive pars on the front, but a disastrous two-hole stretch saw him go from the lead to trailing Gildea.  Jacobsen went quadruple bogey on #6 and then triple bogey on #7 to go from four up to one down heading into the last two holes.  Gildea and Jacobsen would both close out their round with consecutive pars with Gildea hoisting the trophy at 10-over par 82 and Jacobsen in 2nd place at 11-over par 83.  Congratulations to Lance on the win and good to see Jacobsen in contention as the duo battled it out in what became a 2-player race.  Robert Parent of Sun City got off to a cold start, going out in 45, but played better on the front nine, closing in 41 to tie for 3rd place at 86.  While it wasn't Parent's low round of the season, it was his best finish thus far tying for 3rd place.  Also at T3 was Phil Goswitz.  The Tour rookie competing in just his first event played well, but the par-five holes got the best of him.  Finishing at 14-over par, Goswitz played the par-five holes in 8-over par on Sunday.  Had he cleaned those holes up, Goswitz very easily could have shot a sub-80 round!

Sarazen Flight, just like Hogan Flight, saw a dominating performance.  Ten of the eleven players in the Flight all struggled, shooting 92 or worse as the golf course played brutally tough with PGA Tour-like conditions of rough, fast greens, and a little wind.  None of that seemed to bother Tim Bias.  Bias plays frequently in Southern California and picked up his first win in ten attempts on Sunday with a performance for the ages.  Bias fired his best round of the season by four shots and on the most difficult setup he has seen all year.  Bias would not make a birdie but that didn't matter much, as he fired an incredible 82 which was good for the win by ten shots!  Bias, who got paired with Rob Salazar and Palmer Flight player Rinako Kurokawa must have benefitted by playing with the better player, as his game rose up to compete with her and he said as much in the scoring area on Sunday.  Absolutely great round of golf and congratulations on your incredible play on a great track!  Rick Brown of the Atlanta, GA Tour was in town to compete in the event and held the clubhouse lead for awhile, ultimately finishing in 2nd place at 92.  Ricardo Fonseca continues to play well.  The 2019 Snead Flight Player of the Year - San Diego and 2019 Jones Flight National Champion finished in 3rd place at 93.  

 

Senior Sarazen Flight saw three very good performances on Sunday and the most notable might not be by the eventual champion.  Mark Sensano of San Diego was promoted a few years back to Senior Sarazen Flight from Senior Jones Flight and has had his ups and downs in the new flight with better competition.  Sensano, the great competitor that he is, has stuck with it.  With very limited (if any) warm up time prior to his round thanks to daylight savings, Sensano started early and got off to a fast start, opening with par-birdie-par-birdie to be 2-under par after four holes!  Sensano would bogey 4 and 5 but then close out the front nine with three consecutive pars to go out in even-par 36!  Playing really well can often times have mental challenges that go along with it.  Just ask PGA Tour Player Matt Every who held the lead after the first round of the PGA Tour Bay Hill Invitational.  Every had a 1-shot lead after a 65 and then followed it up with an 83 in the second round to go from leading to missing the cut.  Sensano's round was similiar.  Sensano would only make one par on the back nine but held it together, nursing a three shot lead heading into the most picturesque and most diabolical finishing hole in San Diego.  Sensano would unfortunately suffer a "9" on the closing hole to finish in 2nd place at 86, just a stroke back.  Sensano has the game to compete in Senior Sarazen Flight and he likely proved that to himself on Sunday.  Guy Hall of Bend, OR would win his 3rd event of the season and qualify for the National Championship in his hometown.  Hall played almost as well as Sensano on the front nine, going out in 39 strokes.  The back nine was the difference, as Hall made a pretty good bogey on the finishing hole to come from 3 behind to a win by a single shot at 85.  Chang Hong, playing alongside Hall on Sunday was right there himself.  Two double bogeys and a quadruple bogey on the back nine hurt his chances, but he still managed to finish in 3rd place at 87 which is a good score especially considering the difficult conditions.  

Jones Flight, like all other flights as a whole, struggled in the PGA Tour like conditions on Sunday with only three players breaking the century mark and maybe having an even better appreciation for just how good professional players are at golf.  Luis Rodriguez of San Juan Capistrano mitigated the damage better than the rest of his flight and played some consistent golf on his way to his first win on Tour this season in five attempts.  Rodriguez went out in 46 and came home in 46 to claim the win by three shots at 92!  For the round Rodriguez only made one score higher than double bogey, a quadruple bogey on his starting hole, and that proved to be the difference on Sunday.  Congratulations on the win!  Ike Ellis of San Diego carded a birdie on the 13th hole but also made three quadruple bogeys which kept him from serious contention.  Staying away from high scores can be tough to do in any flight but especially true in Jones and Snead.  Other than those three quads, Ellis played really well and still finished in 2nd place at 95.  Rounding out the top three was Mark Cherry, a past champion here at Aviara.  Cherry, like Ellis and unlike Rodriguez, could not stay away from the high number.  Three 8's and two 9's, while a good poker hand, can keep the score high no matter what.  Still, Cherry was able to brake the century mark and finish in 3rd place at 98.  

 

 

Snead Flight saw a battle between the #1 ranked Snead Flight player in San Diego and the #2 ranked Senior Snead Flight player, with each player going for their first win of the 2019-2020 season.  Ramses Ruiz of Mexico and Dale Frank of San Marcos were neck and neck all the way around the golf course with some big lead changes going on.  It is always how you close and not necessarily how you start and that rang true on Sunday.  Both players were tied for the lead heading into their last hole, the 328-yard par-four 9th hole at Aviara.   Ruiz would finish the hole with a bogey, while Frank would make a double bogey to finish in 2nd place at 96.  Ruiz would claim the trophy just a shot better at 95 in a round that included five solid pars on it to Frank's four pars.  Michael Kiefer carded a nice birdie on the 8th hole and that helped him get into double digits, finishing in 3rd place at 99.