Jason Melvin of Carmel captured the Northern California Golf Association Valley Amateur Championship by three strokes over Grant Johnson of Walnut Creek, JJ West of Pacific Grove, Ryan Meyer of Oakdale and Drake Mendenhall of Granite Bay at Oakdale Golf and Country Club www.oakdalegcc.org.
Melvin, the men’s club champion at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Carmel, carded a winning score of 71-69—140, 4-under-par, and was the only player in the Amateur field to break 70 in the two rounds.
“I fell into it,” the 47-year-old Melvin said after recording four birdies in the final round. “I haven’t been playing particularly well lately, so I’m very excited. I’ve got a lot of the bag tags to prove that I’ve played a long time. So yeah, I’m excited.”
Johnson, a sophomore at Gonzaga, shot 71-72—143 to tie for second with West and Meyer, who both posted that some score, and Mendenhall, who finished at 72-71—143.
Garett Wagner of Brentwood totaled 72-72—144 to tie for sixth with Max Holm of Walnut Creek and Princeton, who wound up at 73-71—144.
Kyle Hopkins of Santa Rosa posted a score of 74-71—145 to tie for eighth with Kyle Kuest of Fresno, who finished at 75-70—145, while first-round leader and 2017 champion Jason Anthony of Fairfield shot 70-76—146 to tie for 10th with Alex Chin of Pleasanton and USF, who came on a 71-75—146.
Mark Morgan of Shingle Springs, the 2017 California Senior Amateur champion, claimed the Senior Division title for the second straight year with a score of 71-68—139, while Randy Haag of Orinda was second at 71-70—141, and Scott Anderson of San Ramon shot 74-75—145 to tie for third with Tony Padilla of Sacramento, who finished at 75-74—149.
“I’ve been on a roll lately,” said Morgan, 59, who joined Gary Vanier (2006-07) as the only players to win the Senior title two years. “I made some putts.”
Morgan, who also won in 2016, joined Vanier (who also won in 2013) as the only three-time winners of the tournament.
Jim Knoll of Sunnyvale was fifth at 72-78—150, followed by Casey Boyns of Monterey at 76-75—151, while Ken Noonan of Pacific Grove totaled 75-77—152 to tie for seventh with Ron Johnson of Walnut Creek, who wound up at 76-76—152.
Jim Williams of Orinda was ninth at 78-75—153, followed by Bob Johnson of American Canyon at 78-76—154.
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