Rancho Murieta Golf Tournament Results

After seeing temperatures in the triple digits during the week leading up to the Rancho Murieta Championship, the Amateur Players Tour of Northern California was greeted with a “cool” day where the high barely touched 90 degrees. The wind was calm and just strong enough to offer relief, but not cause too many problems for the players. 

Division 1 was won by Kent Kao with his solid 76. It was a close battle after the front nine with Ony Velez leading the way with a 38 while Dillon Rafferty & Kent Kao were one back with matching 39s. Ony had difficulty on the 10th which opened the door for both Kent and Dillon to jump ahead. The three battled through the 12th where Kent made birdie to jump ahead of the pack for the final time. Kent would finish the last six holes even par which secured the win.  Kent, who many of you know as our local assistant and first tee starter, has played a few times over the past two years but never reached the winner’s circle until this event. Congrats, Kent! 

Division 2 was won by Matt Fegley with a solid 81. Matt jumped out to an early five shot lead over UT Ganaprakasam & Felix Monjes with an opening nine 39. UT cut the lead down to three after a strong birdie on the par 5 12th with Matt making a bogey on the hole. However, Matt would recover and finish the last six holes two over which was good enough for the win. 

Division 3 took extra holes to decide the winner after Rob Steves and Nate Berumen shot matching 85s and were tied up after 18. Things looked good for Nate as he was in the clubhouse waiting for Rob to finish.  Rob trailed by one on the 18th tee and needed a birdie to tie things up. Rob would hit the fairway off the tee, then a great nine iron to about 6 feet and would roll in the birdie to tie things up. The playoff hole would be quite a roller coaster as Nate hit his second shot out of play and Rob found himself on the green with a lengthy birdie putt.  Nate would miss the green with his fourth shot and, as things looked to be well in hand for Rob, Nate put the pressure back on after his chip for bogey dropped in the hole! Even though circumstances changed quickly, Rob met the challenge after his first putt left him with a testy three-footer which he rolled into the middle of the cup for his par and first APT Victory!  

The excitement continued as Division 4 also took extra holes to decide the winner.  Jeff Albritton and Tracy Castro scored matching 87s and were tied up after 18.  Both players started the playoff hole strong, hitting the fairway. Things were not ideal after the approaches as Jeff left himself a 30-yard pitch and Tracy missed the green. Tracy ran into some trouble around the green and would settle for a double bogey. Jeff would hit his pitch on the green and two-putted for his bogey and victory! Congrats Jeff on your second APT win! 

Division 5 was won by Northern California ironman John Spradling. For the first time ever, John was uncontested in Division 5, playing his most challenging competitor to date, himself. Regardless of circumstances, John has been a loyal member of our tour, making every 2022 event in Northern California and will be at the Tour Championship at Corica Park to close out the 2022 season and his well-deserved player of the year title.