David Gazzolo of Riverside repeated as champion in the 118th California State Open, but he had to sweat it out for a while.
Gazzolo birdied five of his last nine holes to close with a 7-under-par 65 at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta and had to wait for the last four groups to finish before he wound up winning by one stroke over Tyler Torano of Chula Vista.
When Gazzolo holed out on the 18th hole, he was tied for the lead with Torano, who was still on the course and stumbled with a bogey on the 17th hole to finish as runner-up for the second straight year.
Gazzolo posted with a score of 75-67-70-65—277, 11-under, while Torano wound up at 66-73-71-68—278.
Michael Weaver of Fresno was third at 71-69-67-72—279, followed by Trevor Simsby of Carlsbad at 72-71-71-66—280 and amateur Tyler Moore of Escondido at 69-70-71-71—281.
Michael McCabe of Moorpark totaled 73-72-71-66—282 to tie for sixth with Josh Anderson of Murrieta, who wound up at 76-68-68-70—282.
Michael Block of Aliso Viejo shot 72-69-71-71—283 to tie for eighth with Kyle Mendoza of Glendora, who finished at 72-70-70-71—283, while Sam Gillis of Riverside carded a score of 73-66-72-73—284 to tie for 10th with Kevin Dougherty of Murrieta, who came in at 73-69-69-73—284.
