BUCKINGHAM >> Brels Solomon of Upper Lake moved swiftly up the leader board, highlighted by a pair of 2-under par eagles during the final six holes, to capture the fourth annual Lake County One-Man Scramble on Saturday at Buckingham Golf and Country Club.
Solomon, a four-time all-conference golfer at Kelseyville High School who is a reinstated amateur, shot a 9-under-par 63 to record a one-stroke victory over the duo of Brad Pendleton of Lakeport and Billy Witt of Kelseyville.
The One-Man Scramble is often called the ultimate mulligan-fest as the golfer is allowed to take two shots throughout the course of his round and choose the better of the two. This allows the golfer to make up for errant shots such as balls that go out of bounds or into the water and it also gives him the capability to improve upon a good first shot by aggressively firing at the flagstick on the second shot or rapping your downhill putt.
Behind Witt, Pendleton and Hipolito Perez Jr. of Kelseyville through the first 12 holes, Solomon eagled the par-5 13th hole, eagled the par-5 16th hole, and threw in two more birdies for good measure to secure the season-opening event on the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit. Solomon, a businessman who has a 3-year-old son, isn’t able to play in as many tournaments or to practice as much as he’d like to these days, but on Saturday he was able to dig deep during the homestretch and play outstanding golf.
Paired alongside two-time Lake County Junior champion Matt Wotherspoon, Solomon had an interesting take on his late-round success. He stated at the conclusion of his round that he “was motivated by playing with Matt. It brought back great memories of my youth when I played golf for the sheer joy of the game and I found myself enjoying the setting and the pairing. I beat some pretty talented golfers today because I was in a positive state mentally.”
In a tie for second place at 8-under-par 64 were Witt and Pendleton. Witt was the On the Links Golfer of the Year in 2014 and Pendleton won the prestigious Lake County Amateur last October.
Perez Jr. finished in solo fourth place with a 65 while Rick Easter of Lower Lake and Juan Lopez of Finley tied for fifth place with scores of 4-under-par 68.
Among the other five golfers in the championship flight, Dylan Harrison, Matt Wotherspoon and Max Huff tied for seventh place with scores of 70 while Jason Laveglia came in with a 71 and Wyatt Ferrell carded an even-par 72.
Net flight
In the net flight for golfers with handicaps of 10 and higher, Jack Lucich of Clearlake, the oldest golfer in the field at age 77, shot an 88, which combined with his handicap of 34 gave him a net score of 54 and a one-stroke victory. Lucich, a golf rules official for the NCGA, USGA, Web.com Tour Q School and the North Coast Section, steadfastly refuses to compete in the senior flight. He won his first individual net flight title since capturing the inaugural One-Man Scramble in 2012.
Rick Easter, who had the fifth lowest overall score in the tournament with a round of 68, shot a net 55 to finish one stroke behind Lucich. Gary Cisneros of Napa settled into third place with a net score of 56 while Crissy Jolin of Lakeport, Scot Lamanuzzi of Buckingham and John Flynn of Cobb found themselves in a three-way tie for fourth place after carding net scores of 57.
Cliff Morris of Cobb shot net 58 while Arvin Persaud of Napa, Peter Wotherspoon of Buckingham, Todd Colbrandt of Middletown and Dave Lovitt of Willits finished in a four-way tie for eighth place with net scores of 59.
A total of 19 golfers competed in the net flight.
Senior division
In last year’s tournament, Jerry Pangle and Craig Kinser, both Lakeport residents, were involved in a four-way playoff in the senior division. It looked as if they were in a similar situation alongside Gary Leonard of Ukiah as all three golfers posted early scores of 2-under-par 70. It stayed that way until the final pairing of the day completed its round with Tom Jolin of Lakeport posting a 4-under-par 68 to win the flight for golfers age 50 and older.
Jolin was atop the senior leader board early in his round as he carded a 3-under-par 33 during the front nine. He shot 35 over the inward nine to win by two strokes. Dr. Bob Jolin of Lakeport shot 74, Manny Mendoza of Buckingham carded a 75, Armond Urbano of Middletown came in with a 77, and Tim Sherell of Lower Lake finished with a 78.
Senior net
In the senior net division, Ted Knowles, a 10-year resident of Kelseyville, carded a net score of 55 to win his flight by two strokes. Knowles, an 18-handicapper, shot a gross score of 73. Lamanuzzi came in with a 57 as did Flynn.
A total of 17 active seniors competed in the One-Man Scramble.
This year’s kickoff to the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit’s calendar season was contested under conditions that were more like late April than mid-February. Even if some of the contestants expressed frustration with the rustiness of their golf games, they definitely didn’t have the excuse of tough weather conditions to explain their scores. The next event on the local circuit is the Lake County Two Person Partners Scramble that will be contested at Buckingham the weekend of March 21-22. Information and entry forms are available by contacting the Buckingham Pro Shop at 279-4863.
Finally, in the world of one degree of separation, Solomon used to compete on the high school and junior golf level with James Hahn of Alameda High School. Hahn played college golf at UC Berkeley, turned professional and has been on the PGA Tour for the past three years. A bubble boy, Hahn finished in 125th place on the Fed Ex Cup points list in 2014, the last exempt player on tour for 2015. On Sunday at the Riviera Country Club, Hahn birdied the third playoff hole to win the Northern Trust Los Angeles Open in a playoff over Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey. A bubble boy no more, Hahn has punched his ticket to the Masters and will be fully exempt on the PGA Tour through 2017. Hahn was a great kid in the late 1990s as a junior golfer and has demonstrated nothing but class in his jump to the exclusive space of the PGA Tour.
