Domingo Jojola captured the Alameda Commuters Tournament after 20 years of trying.
The 35-year-old Jojola, of San Francisco, won the 94th edition of the tournament by five strokes over Marc Engellenner of Rocklin and Eric Yun of Menlo Park on the South Course at Corica Park Complex in Alameda.
“I’ve been playing in this tournament since I was 15-years old,” said Jojola, who played college golf at the University of San Francisco. “Growing up seeing both golf courses, it’s super cool to join this list of champions. It’s been a long time, probably since my college days, that I’ve put up a meaningful round like this.
“It’s fun to know that deep down in these bones there’s a special round every once in a while. The greens are fantastic here. I was talking with a few friends and we were commenting on how impressively these greens roll and how fast they are. They’re probably some of the better greens we play in amateur golf in Northern California.”
Jojola, who also won the 2019 Sonoma County Amateur and the 2018 Vallejo City Amateur, posted a score of 70-65—135, 9-under-par, while Engellener finished at 71-69—140 to tie for second with Yun, who also wound up at 71-69—140, and Matthew Lin of Orinda shot 71-70—141 to tie for fourth with Chris Goin of Alameda, who totaled 68-73—141.
Engellenner, who will team with Jojola in the upcoming Northern California Golf Association Four-Ball Championship, was thrilled for his partner.
“In an alternate universe, I’m not getting to 9-under,” said Engellenner, who won the Amateur Golf.Com San Diego Amateur earlier this season in addition to the Sacramento City and the Tony Lema Amateur last year.
“(Jojola) beat us handily today. I’m really excited for Spyglass (in the NCGA Four-Ball Championship) knowing I’ve got a horse as a partner. It was a little loose yesterday in the 71 and I’m still not 100 percent tight. There’s still some things I can clean up.”
Leonardo Viera of San Leandro shot 73-69—142 to tie for sixth with Aidan Tran of Fresno (71-71—142), Moses Greene of Hayward (70-72—142), Luke Dugger of Davis (68-74—142) and Beau Forest of Redding (69-73—142).
William West of Monterey totaled 70 to claim the Seniors Division title by two strokes over Tony Padilla of Sacramento, while Scott Anderson of Danville took the Super Seniors crown with a 73 to win by one stroke over Herb Jensen of Carmichael, David Hemrick of Aptos and Ray Kong of San Jose, and Nikita Jadhav of Pleasanton had a 70 to take home the Women’s Division title by two shots over Penny Chai of Alameda.
The tournament was not played last year because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Past winners of the Alameda Commuters include Bob Rosburg, Tal Smith, John Lotz, Dick Lotz, Gary Vanier, Forest Fezler, Randy Haag, Sandy Galbraith, Bob Blomberg, Jeff Burda, Rick Reinsberg and Bob Smith.
For complete results, visit https://ncgaclub.bluegolf.com/bluegolfw/ncgaclubchuckcoricagc21/event/ncgaclubchuckcoricagc2124/contest/10/leaderboard.htm
