Craig Steinberg of Agoura Hills, one of the best amateur golfers in Southland history, added the Southern California Senior Match Play Championship to his haul by defeating Robert Funk of Canyon Lake, 4 and 3, in the final at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta.
The 60-year-old Steinberg, who won the 1980 Pacific 10 Conference Championship while at USC, has won the SCGA Amateur Championship four times in addition to claiming two SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship and a SCGA Public Links Championship.
Steinberg also won the Pasadena City Men’s Amateur titles in 1994 and 2001, the 1998 Los Angeles City Championship, and more recently captured the 2017 Southern California Senior Tournament of Champions and the 2018 Golfweek Senior Amateur Championship.
In the match play final, Steinberg took two of the first three holes and was 3 up after eight holes, before Funk sank an improbable 25-foot snaking birdie putt to slice into the lead and was only 1 down after Steinberg hit a wild drive en route to a bogey at No. 10.
However, Steinberg regained control by sinking 25-foot birdie putts on the 11th and 12th holes, before adding a two-putt birdie on No. 14 and wrapping things up with a par at No. 15.
Steinberg beat Daniel Sivadge of El Cajon in the semifinals, 2 and 1, after claiming a 1-up victory over Michael Robinson of Fallbrook in the quarterfinals.
Funk, who was low amateur in the 2017 U.S. Senior Open, knocked off medalist and defending champion Craig Davis of Chula Vista in the semifinals, 6 and 5, after slipping past Jeff Burda of Modesto, 1 up, in the quarters.
For complete results, visit https://scga-2018scgaseniormatchplaychampionship.golfgenius.com/pages/1278192
