Nick Geyer of Carlsbad captured the 40th Southern California Golf Association Mid-Amateur Championship by three strokes over 2021 champion Stephen Hale of Bakersfield at Bakersfield Country Club.
Geyer, who won the SCGA Public Links Championship among his three victories in 2016, put an exclamation point on his victory with a birdie on the last hole.
“This has been one I’ve been thinking about for a while,” said Geyer, who finished second in the 2021 George Thomas Invitational among five top-10 finishes in recent years. “It’s early in the season, so the date is always good and some of my best golfing buddies have won this tournament. I’m really, really excited. Being patient was really, really helpful this week.
“Torey (Edwards) and Stephen are excellent players so it was a good group and certainly a little back and forth. I knew if I could be patient, I’d hang around. Maybe not win, but be close and I was patient enough. I’ve got a really supportive corps around me. … I haven’t had as much practice as I’d like and not as much play as I’d like, but I think the beautiful thing about Mid-Am golf is everybody out here has got a job. I’m not the only one out here who still has to go to work tomorrow morning.”
Geyer, who played at New Mexico State and also severed for a while as an assistant coach for the Lobos, recorded a winning score of 71-70-71—212, while Hale finished second at 73-66-76—215, followed by Ryan Slater of Los Angeles at 71-72-73—216.
The victory for Geyer means a 10-year exemption to the SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship, an exemption into the SCGA Amateur Championship and an exemption to the California Amateur Championship.
Edwards, the 2020 winner, shot 69-73-75—217 to tie for fourth with Satchel Hermann of Los Angeles, who finished at 72-75-70—217, while Nick Ellis of Palm Desert wound up sixth at 71-74-73—218.
Daniel Katz of Simi Valley was seventh at 71-73-76—220, followed by Tongun Lako LoSarah of Upland at 74-73-75—222, while Patrick Pockels of Huntington Beach totaled 75-75-73—223 to tie for ninth with Mark Strickland of San Diego, who came in at 71-74-78—223.
Damon Krause of Los Angeles, the 2019 champion, tied for 14th at 74-79-72—225, while defending champion Taylor Haden of Manhattan Beach tied for 29th at 77-74-78—229, and 2017 champ Dan Sullivan was solo 33rd at 77-79-74—230.
Other former winners of the SCGA Mid-Amateur include five-time winner Tim Hogarth, three-time champion Jeff Wilson, three-time champ Mark Johnson, two-time champion Robert Funk, two-time winner Greg Steinberg, two-time champ Sandy Galbraith, John Pate, Scott McGihon and Mitch Voges.
For complete results, visit: https://scga-2023scgamidamateurchampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/3953771
