Nick Moore of Seaside captured the 40th Northern California Golf Association Stroke Play Amateur Championship by one stroke over Alex Chin of Pleasanton and USF at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach.
The 38-year-old Moore claimed the title for the second time in three years and collected his eighth NCGA title, third on the all-time list behind NCGA Hall of Famers Randy Haag and Casey Boyns, who both have 16.
“It means a lot to me to be alone in third,” said Moore, who also has won the NCGA Valley Amateur and the NCGA Public Links Championship three times each. “When I got to five wins, I started thinking about getting to third place. I’m halfway to catching Casey and Randy.
“ … It was fun. That’s why we’re out here. It’s pretty close to one of my best tournament rounds out here. The key is to continue to believe in yourself.”
Chin tapped in a three-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole to put the pressure on Moore, who sank a nine-foot birdie putt to wrap up the title.
Moore, the 2015 NCGA Player of the Year, posted a score of 69-69-67—205, 8-under-par, while Chin finished at 66-72-68—206.
Daniel Connolly of San Francisco, the 2017 champion, shot 68-69-70—207 to tie for third with Stephen Hale of Bakersfield, who finished at 69-69-69—207, and Matt Cohn of San Francisco, who wound up at 69-68-70—207.
Joshua McCarthy of Danville was sixth at 69-71-70—210, while Ethan Davidson of Calabasas shot 69-73-72—214 to tie for seventh with Daniel Griffiths of Redwood City, who finished at 70-69-75—214, and Samuel Echikson of San Francisco totaled 75-71-69—215, to tie for ninth with Drake Mendenhall of Granite Bay, who came in at 72-74-69—215.
The tournament was first played in 1944, but was discontinued in 1967, before being revived in 2004.
Former champions include Johnny Miller, Ken Venturi, George Archer, E. Harvie Ward, John Lotz, Jim Wiechers, Talbert Smith, Eli Bariteau, Verne Callison, Casey Boyns and Ernie Pieper Jr.
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