The Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit kicks off its 16th season next weekend with the playing of the Lake County Partners Two Man Scramble at Buckingham Golf and Country Club. Scheduled for Saturday, March 21 and Sunday, March 22, the Partners Two Man Scramble is the historical kick off to the start of the local golf circuit”s calendar year.
The Lake County Circuit began in 1994. The circuit”s co-founders, Buckingham”s PGA head professional, Mark Wotherspoon, and this columnist, combined three ongoing tournaments, added a fourth, came up with a points system for a year-round golfer of the year race in four divisions, and tirelessly promoted the concept of a regional golf circuit. At that time, Wotherspoon was the tournament director of the Lake County Open and the Lake County Partners Best Ball, while Berry ran the county”s oldest competitive event, the Lake County Amateur. These three events and a newly added Tournament of Champions comprised those earliest years of the Lake County Circuit.
After a couple of years, the Lake County Circuit was a regional fixture, attracting not only golfers from Lake and Mendocino counties, but also talented linksters from throughout Northern California. Wotherspoon and Berry started to add tournaments, including the Partners Two Man Scramble, the Three Man Scramble, the Match Play Tournament, and the Senior Amateur. Both men were running junior tourneys independently, so in the mid-1990s those two competitions, the Lake County Junior and the Buckingham Junior, were also included under the circuit”s umbrella. The 11th and most recent tournament to be added to the calendar was the Lake County Parent-Junior, a two-person scramble event.
Although Lake County is a relatively small and remote dot on the map of California, its local golf circuit became well known throughout the North State. It is the second-largest regional circuit behind the 14-tournament Sacramento Golf Council amateur golf circuit. A number of talented kids have been circuit regulars during their teenage years, including Shawn Auten, Brels Solomon, Aaron Speed, Jonathan Carlson, Adam Giusti, Brent Hamilton and Doug Quinones. Carlson has been the most successful of the group, qualifying for the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Bandon Dunes and the U.S. Amateur at storied Pinehurst.
The junior pipeline continues to this day. Hidden Valley”s Lisa Copeland is a state-ranked golfer, Middletown”s Blaine Ruggio is an up-and-coming talent, and the trio of Jonathan Bridges, Hipolito Perez Jr., and Nick Schaefer are four-year veterans on Kelseyville High School”s very competitive golf team. In last September”s Parent-Junior, Copeland and her father matched Schaefer and his dad with 9-under-par 63s, setting tournament records in their respective divisions in the process.
The Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit also has had a long list of Northern California golfers of talent come to the region to play in circuit tourneys. Two-time NCGA Senior Golfer of the Year Bob Heaton of Antioch was a familiar face in circuit events as well as 2008 U.S. Open contestant Jeff Wilson of Suisun. Leading Bay Area amateurs such as Chris Curtola of Napa and Steve Molinelli of San Francisco also have competed in Lake County. As an aside, Molinelli is a four-time Olympic Club champion who caddied for Colt Knost when he won the 2007 U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club. Jessica Marksbury, an all-Ivy League golfer at Columbia University, also has played locally.
Of course, the vast majority of contestants on the circuit are Lake County residents who are regulars or members at the county”s five golf courses. The circuit is one of those places where the parochial nature of golf club membership blends, and the local heroes put their games on the line against other local champions.
The Lake County Circuit has four divisions for its open tournaments, namely a championship division for single-digit handicappers, a net division for golfers with USGA and NCGA handicaps of 10 or more, a senior championship division, and a senior net division. The cut-off age for senior golfers is 50 and above although senior-age golfers have the option of competing in the regular championship and net divisions. Jack Lucich of Clearlake, a 70-something net golfer, always competes in the younger division, mainly because he plays with his son in the two-man and three-man events.
Next weekend the Lake County Partners Two Man Scramble opens the circuit season. Next month, specifically April 25-26, will be the first major of the season, the Lake County Open, a 36-hole stroke play tournament. On May 16-17, the circuit will host its Three Man Scramble tournament, an event where birdies are a regular feature and you lose ground with pars.
June is a busy month for the circuit. The NCGA Lake County Partners Best Ball is scheduled for Buckingham on June 6-7. Golfers receive player performance points on both the Northern California Golf Association circuit as well as the Lake County Circuit. The Lake County Match Play Championship is June 27-28.
August is an active time for juniors with the Buckingham Junior contested on Aug. 11 and the Lake County Junior at Adams Springs held on Aug. 12. The Parent-Junior is played Sept. 19.
The circuit runs its course in October with the playing of the Lake County Amateur on Cobb Mountain on Oct. 3-4, the Senior Amateur on Oct. 17, and the season-concluding Tournament of Champions on Oct. 24 at Buckingham.
The Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit tees it up for a 16th season next weekend at Buckingham Golf and Country Club at the base of Mount Konocti. It”s the only game in town for Lake County”s competitive amateur golfers.
