Stephen Hale of Bakersfield captured stroke-play medalist honors in the 109th California Amateur Championship by one stroke over five others on the North and South courses at Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla.
The 31-year-old Hale, who played college golf at Cal, earned the No. 1 seed in match play by posting a score of 66-71—137, 7-under-par.
Mikey Slesinski of Fremont shot 70-68—138 to tie for second with Matt Cohn (69-69—138) of San Francisco, Joshua McCarthy (68-70—138) of Danville, Torey Edwards (66-72—138) of Long Beach and Anthony Truong (71-67—138) of Irvine.
Edwards, who won the 2019 Long Beach City Championship, was tied for the lead with Hale after the first round.
“It was a bit of a struggle early; I had no thoughts about (being the) medalist all day,” Hale, who tied for third in the Northern California Stroke Play Championship earlier this year at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, told Amateurgolf.com.
“I just wanted to get into the match play round and give myself a chance. It’s a huge bonus to be the medalist.”
Donald Kay of San Diego totaled 70-69—139 to tie for seventh with Ian Dahl (70-69—139) of Carmel, Devon Bling (68-71—139) of Ridgecrest, Joey Vrzich (69-72—139) of Ridgecrest and Puwit Anupansuebsai (67-72—139) of San Diego.
The top 32 players in stroke play, 22 of them from Southern California and 10 from NorCal, advanced to the match play portion of the tournament on the famed South Course that will determine the California Amateur champion.
In the North/South Challenge, which pits six Northern California Golf Association players against six from the Southern California Golf Association, the SCGA won the Roger Lapham Cup by six strokes.
For complete results and first-round match play pairings, visit https://calam-109thcaliforniaamateurchampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/5888135611050644047
