Jeffrey Yamaguchi and Michael Jura, teammates at Cal State Stanislaus, rallied down the stretch to win the 52nd Northern California Golf Association Four-Ball Championship by one stroke over Randy Haag of San Francisco and Jason Anthony of Napa in breezy conditions at Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Pebble Beach.
Yamaguchi (pictured right) and Jura (left) posted a score of 69-67-69—205, 11-under-par, while Haag and Anthony finished second in the tournament for the third time in four years with a score of 69-69-68—206.
“It’s awesome to win it,” said Yamaguchi, who like Jura, is from Fresno. “You can’t beat it. The hardest part was not knowing where anybody else stood. You figure you just need to make as many birdies as possible.”
Yamaguchi and Jura were aware they were trailing coming to the final holes, but the 19-year-old Jura sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and chipped in for an unlikely par one hole later, before the 22-year-old Yamaguchi hit a wedge shot to within five feet and made the birdie putt at No. 17.
They won with a par on the final hole, but Jura pointed to eagles by Yamaguchi on the seventh and 11th holes in a second-round 67.
“Those eagles were huge,” Jura said. “When you go 4-under through two holes, you can’t beat that.”
Haag has won the title four times with three partners, but never with Anthony.
“We’re just snakebit here,” Haag said after the team played the front nine in even par all three days and three-putted three times in round two. “We did it to ourselves though too.”
Garett Wagner of Brentwood and Rick Reinsberg of Lafayette totaled 71-67- 69—207 and took third in a card-off with Kevin Huff El Dorado Hills and Austin Fox of Folsom, who wound up at 69-69-69—207, while Danny Paniccia of Fresno and Mike Stieler of Coarsegold, who won the title in 2013 and 2014, were fifth at 70-67-71—208.
Matt Cohn of San Francisco and Nick Moore of Seaside were sixth at 68-72-69—209, followed by Daniel Griffith of Redwood City and Mark Griffiths of La Jolla at 72-69-70—211, while Taylor Hobin of Brentwood and Michael O’Brien of Roseville shot 70-71-71—212 to tie for eighth with Ned Jensen of San Francisco and Zach Lent of San Francisco, who finished at 71-71-70—212.
Scott Gordon of Fair Oaks and Jason Herrera of Sacramento totaled 72-69-72—213 to tie for 10th with Ryan Sloane of Campbell and Ben Peters of Redwood City, who wound up at 68-73-72—213, and Travis Peterson of Santa Rosa and Domingo Jojola of Burlingame, who came in at 74-69-70—213.
For complete results, visit https://www.golfgenius.com/pages/1289361.
