Our Southern California Tour stop was the LA Public Links Championship at Los Verdes Golf Club Sunday August 13. 32 players from 4 states merged upon Palos Verdes California a coastal city close to Long Beach. The day was overcast and was supposed to clear off by 11am but the sun never was able to poke through, but the temperature was a great 72. All Divisions were tightly contested, and Division 2 went to a playoff to determine our Champion.

Division 1

In Division 1, we had players from Georgia, Arizona, and California competing. Top Arizona Player of the year participant John Hernandez was on his normal consistent playing streak until he hit the last 3 holes in which he went double bogey, bogey, bogey, to drop to second place. Dallas Georgia resident and apt member Kyle Campbell was in California on a mini vacation and joined our event. He played a good round and shot 74 closing with 4 straight pars to seal the win!

Division 2

Division 2 tour member and The Rose Bowl Champion Aaron Alvarado (Montebello, CA) was on fire through 9 holes going -2 after 3 birdies and 1 bogey. It looked like a runaway tournament for Aaron as he was still -2 after 14 holes and was cruising until the signature hole #15. Aaron hooked his driver OB in route to a triple bogey and throwing his round off course. Aaron proceeded to triple bogey par 3 17 and bogey par 4 18th to finish at 77 and 6 over. Playing alongside Aaron was Hunter Thain (Lakewood, CA) Aviara champion back in May of this year. Hunter has had some struggles recently but today was shooting his best round of the season. Hunter trying to stay close to Aaron was able to birdie hole 16 to move him ahead of Aaron and finish with par on 18 to shoot a great round of 75. Only SoCal chapter owner and The Open champion was still on the course to better Hunter. Troy Shedeed (Temecula, CA) was able to make 2 birdies on the front nine, one was a 40-foot putt and finished 9 holes at +1. He missed a short putt on 10 but made a birdie at 13 to stay in contention. Troy made a great bunker save on 15 and was able to secure par on the 18th hole to also finish at 75 and tie Hunter. Starting on par 5 hole 1 for the playoff, Hunter found the tree’s on the right and the rough on his second shot. Troy hit the left side with 3 wood that kicked right into the center fairway. His approach to the green from 210 out went left into the rough. Meanwhile Hunter had to hit over trees with a great shot to land in the rough on the back side of the hole in 3. He proceeded to hit his chip a bit short leaving him with a 10-foot putt to try and save par. Troy hit his chip shot to 10 feet and had a putt for birdie and the win. Hunter just inside Troy gave Troy the putt first in which he was able to drain and secure the playoff win with a birdie.

Division 3

Scott Christensen and Scott Chalayan Cessna (Anaheim, CA) both in contention for Division 3 player of the year were paired together for this round. Also playing the field representing NorCal was Felix Monjes, (Tracy, CA) a consistent winner in the 2022 season. Both Scott’s had struggles on the front nine, but Scott Christensen (San Diego, CA) got it going on the back nine with a 38 and total 81, which normally gets it done in division 3. However, Felix had other plans and was playing well himself shooting a 1 over 37 on the front nine with all pars and 1 bogey. He kept it going with a birdie on 11 and had a comfortable lead with 4 holes to play. Maybe too comfortable as Felix had to take triple bogey max on 15 as he couldn’t get it out of a bunker. He then hit his tee shot way right on 17 but was able to find it and after a couple of hits settled for a double bogey and finally finished off the win shooting a great round of 78 in Division 3, taking home the trophy to NorCal!

Division 4

It was a 3-man race in division 4 on this day. Sean Butterfield (Las Vegas, NV), Ron Araiza (Ventura, CA) and Marty Rhinehart (Upland, CA) all were in contention. Sean playing out of the Las Vegas chapter has made a couple of trips over to California this year. It all came down to the last few holes, Marty had to take two double bogeys on 16 and 17 while finishing with par on 18, Ron played bogey golf, literally making bogey on every hole on the back nine, and Sean was able to make 3 pars on the back nine but a double bogey on 17 almost cost him the tournament but he was able to escape with a 1 shot victory over Ron and 2 shots over Marty who took third. What a great battle all day, and congrats to Sean for his win!

Division 5

Division 5 Had one of its smaller fields of the season but a 90 by tour regular Teddy Abat (Porter Ranch CA.) was a 9-shot win for first place. Current leader for player of the year in Division 5 Tommy Weatherby (Sun City, CA) just couldn’t get it going on the scorecard and finished second with a 99.

Senior net

Our Senior net division saw Division 1 player Julius Benton (Glendale, CA) finish his round with a 78 and a net score of 71. Scott Christensen (San Diego, CA) with his great back nine, caused him to rally and shoot an 81 gross, net 72 for a plus 1 round. However Troy Shedeed (Temecula, CA) with his gross round of 75, was able to net him a 1 under 70 score and the win in Senior Net and the two Bourbon glasses for the trophy!

TOURNAMENT RESULTS