October 28, 2018
Dragonfly GC made it back-to-back. The Dragonfly GC squad, winners of the Thursday finals, won their second straight NCGA Team Match title Sunday at par-71 Poppy Hills GC, knocking off runner-up Oakhurst GC, 26-10.
This year’s Dragonfly GC team had three new players. Everyone else was a returnee from 2017.
“It was harder to win it this year for sure,” said captain Steve Neer. “The playoffs were harder. We lucked out a few times.”
One close call was a 20-16 win over Silverado Resort. On Saturday, they’d edge Stonetree GC in a playoff.
For the second day in a row, Dragonfly got off to a hot start. Stephen Perez and Todd Barsotti swept their Singles and Four-Ball matches, to take a 6-0 lead. The rout was on from there.
Doug Johnson later won his Singles match to make it 8-2. Johnson and partner Steve Neer, the team’s captain, also won their Four-Ball match for a 10-2 lead.
Later, Marc Watts won his Singles match and he and partner Bill Howard got a halve to make it 15-5. Clint Jones would win in Singles, and partner Steve Foster won in Four-Ball to earn a clinching 19th point.
The last and only team to three-peat was Whitney Oaks GC, who did it from 2012-2014.
“The guys are already talking about it. It’s hard to just win one,’ Neer said.
The championship uses a format where two players from a side face off against two players from an opposing side in four-ball and individual matches concurrently, with players earning two points for a win and one point for a halve.
3rd Place Match: Stonetree GC vs. Ancil Hoffman GC
Stonetree GC rolled to a 26-10 win over Ancil Hoffman GC.
Chris Hyland won his Singles match and he and partner Miguel Bunting won Four-Ball, and Stonetree GC also got early wins from Skip Foppert and Roy Gulick to take the early lead.
Later, Allen Suzuki and Darren Reiter got wins to make it 10-6. A Four-Ball victory by Foppert and Doug Nickels would give Stonetree 16 points. Nickels also got a win in Singles for the clinching points.
October 27, 2018
Thursday Finals-Stonetree GC vs. Dragonfly GC
Defending champion Dragonfly GC will have a shot at repeating after escaping with a win against Stonetree GC.
The two teams finished the Thursday Finals tied at 18. Dragonfly would go on to win the playoff.
Dragonfly had jumped out to an early 12-0 lead thanks to Singles wins by Stephen Perez, Todd Barsotti, Steve Neer and Doug Johnson. Both Perez and Barsotti, and Neer and Johnson also won their Four-Ball match.
Stonetree, who won the overall title in 2016, however, came storming back. They’d get five straight wins from Skip Foppert, Doug Nickels, Brian Rigney, Allen Suzuki and Jose Luis to take the lead. Both teams matched one another winning six singles matches and three four-ball matches apiece.
Saturday Finals-Oakhurst Vs. Ancil Hoffman GC
Oakhurst GC, who won the overall title in 2015, took a step further towards another crown with a convincing 25-11 victory over Ancil Hoffman GC to claim the Saturday Finals.
Oakhurst sprinted to an early 10-2 lead thanks to Singles wins by Timothy Sands, Mitchell Bialosky and Gary Jones. Bialosky and Sands also won their Four-Ball match, as did Jones and partner George Erbez.
The lead later grew to 19-5 after Oakhurst got wins from Ryan Hogan and Bob Bucey. Bucey, the father of 2018 California Amateur champ Bobby Bucey, would win, 7 and 5.
The championship uses a format where two players from a side face off against two players from an opposing side in four-ball and individual matches concurrently, with players earning two points for a win and one point for a halve.