Hathcoat-Slesinski Capture Billy Bell Cup

Teammates Blake Hathcoat and Mikey Slesinski of St. Mary’s College in Moraga combined to win the Billy Bell Cup at Del Rio Country Club in Modesto.

Hathcoat (pictured left), of Fresno, and Slesinski, of La Quinta, posted a score of 64-68—132, 12-under-par, to win the four-ball event by two strokes over Matt Cohn of San Francisco and Nick Moore of Monterey, and Paul Smith and Teddy Schrier, both of Turlock.

“Both of us were able to buckle down and come through when the other wasn’t having a great hole,” Slesinski told Amateurgolf.com. “We both knew going into the tournament that the nine holes on the Bluff were more suited for scoring low so we made it our goal to play those holes well.

“A combination of hard visualization and tough pins made (the River Nine) harder to score on. We really had to focus on where the best leave was after our approach shots because as the greens got firmer, leaving it above the hole was a no-go.”

In the first round, Slesinski carded five birdies on the first six holes, and Hathcoat added three birdies later as they both shot the equivalent of 64.

Day two was more difficult, as neither could even match the par of 72, but Slesinski and Hathcoat combined for the 68 that gave them the victory.

Moore and Cohn finished at 64-69—133, while Smith and Schrier wound up at 67-66—133.

Randy Haag Orinda and Joey Ferrari of Stockton claimed the Senior Division title by beating Jeff Wilson of Fairfield and Todd Barsotti of Fresno on the second hole of a playoff. Haag and Ferrari carded a score of 67-70—137, while Wilson and Barsotti finished at 66-71—137.

Jeff Burda of Modesto and Ron Johnson of Walnut Creek took the Super Senior title by four strokes with a score of 65-69—134, while Chuck Richesin of Lodi and Scott Anderson of Bakersfield were second at 70-68—138.

For complete results, https://www.amateurgolf.com/images/uploads/00060693.pdf