Jeff Wilson of Fairfield, who captured the United States Senior Amateur Championship in August, is on top of the leaderboard again.
The 55-year-old Wilson shot 3-under-par 69 to take a one-stroke lead over John Pate of Santa Barbara and Randy Haag of Orinda in the 27th California Senior Amateur Championship at The Preserve Golf Club https://www.santaluciapreserve.com/tom-fazio-golf-course in Carmel.
Pate, who claimed the title in 2014 and 2016, is trying to join Jim McMurtrey (1994-95-98) and Jeff Burda 2008-09-10) and the only three-time winners of the tournament.
David Oas of Carlsbad totaled 71 and is tied for fourth with Bruce Hanavan of San Anselmo and Gary Havro of Claremont, while 2007 champion Gary Vanier of Walnut Creek finished at 72 and is tied for seventh with 2013 champion Sunnyvale and Mike Rowley of San Luis Obispo.
Mark Nickeas, of Westlake Village, who won the title in 2011, wound up at 73 to tie for 10th with Joey Ferrari of Stockton, Jim Plotkin of Carlsbad, John Mack of Alta Loma and Craig Davis of ChulaVista.
Defending champion Mark Morgan of Shingle Springs is tied for 26th at 76.
The field of 90 players will be cut to 30 after the second round on Tuesday, with the final round set for Wednesday.
In the Senior Cup, the Northern California Golf Association finished at 2-under 142 and leads the Southern California Golf Association by six strokes.
That competition pits three players from the NCGA (Haag, Knoll and Morgan) against three from the SCGA (Davis, Robert Funk of Canyon Lake, 75, and Jeff Burda of La Quinta, 76), with the best two scores each day counting).
For complete results, visit https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/3920314222298288714
