BUCKINGHAM >> Two-time Lake County Junior champion Matt Wotherspoon took a giant step forward as he produced under-par scores for three rounds in a row while capturing the 21st annual Lake County Match Play Championship on Sunday at Buckingham Golf and Country Club.
Wotherspoon beat Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit (LCAGC) veteran Billy Witt of Clear Lake Riviera 3 and 2 (three holes up with two to play) in a most memorable championship match. With his victory, Wotherspoon, a sophomore at Kelseyville High School, became just the third junior golfer in the 23-year history of the LCAGC to win an open amateur tournament against a field of adult golfers in the championship flight.
Witt struck the first blow in the finals with a birdie on the opening hole, but then Wotherspoon won three of the next five holes to go 2-up on Witt, the Match Play champion in 2014. Witt birdied the par-5 seventh hole to cut the margin to one, but Wotherspoon responded with birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to go three holes up at the turn.
Witt almost drove the 340-yard 10th hole and made birdie to get to two down. Both golfers made matching pars on the 11th and 12th holes. On the par-5 13th hole, Wotherspoon made a birdie from 12 feet while Witt barely missed his birdie putt, and once again Wotherspoon was 3-up. They tied the 14th hole and then Wotherspoon had his only hiccup of the weekend as he bogeyed the 220-yard par-3 15th hole while Witt made par to cut the margin to two holes down.
On the par-5 16th hole, Wotherspoon hit a high and fading 320-yard drive that settled into the left rough. His 8-iron from 162 yards found the front of the green and rolled to 16 feet beyond the cup. Witt had a makeable par putt, but Wotherspoon put ended the match by rolling in an eagle putt.
Wotherspoon was 5-under-par for his finals match while Witt also shot under par. Wotherspoon attributed his win to “Really solid ball striking while making timely putts when I most needed them.”
Wotherspoon joins Brels Solomon, who won the Match Play as a 16-year-old in 1996, and Nick Schaefer, who captured the 2009 Lake County Open as a 17-year-old, as the only junior golfers (age 17 and under) to win individual events on the LCAGC. Solomon and Schaefer were four-time All-Coastal Mountain Conference golfers at Kelseyville High School while Wotherspoon received All-Conference recognition last year as a freshman. Wotherspoon is the fifth-ranked golfer in the CMC this season. Once conference play concludes, he will prepare for the North Coast Sections in early May at Oakmont West and United States Open Qualifying at Yocha de He in the middle of the month.
During Saturday’s semifinal action, Witt defeated Brad Pendleton of Lakepor 1-up, carding a birdie on the 18th hole to seal the victory, while Wotherspoon defeated Wyatt Ferrell of Kelseyville 3 and 1.
In first-round matches Friday, Pendleton defeated Riley Adams of Hidden Valley 8 and 6, Witt beat Max Huff of Kelseyville 5 and 3, Wotherspoon knocked off Dylan Harrison of Cobb 8 and 6, and Ferrell advancd when Juan Lopez of Finley had to withdraw because of illness.
Senior flight
The senior flight for golfers age 50 and older was filled with upsets, but ultimately it was Rick Easter beating Craig Kinser of Lakeport on the 19th hole in the championship match.
In the semifinals, Kinser, a three-time golfer of the year on the LCAGC, defeated Jeorg Abraham of Clearlake Oaks 4 and 3. Easter pulled off the upset of the semis by gutting out a 2 and 1 victory over Jerry Pangle of Lakeport. Like Kinser, Pangle is a former Lake County senior golfer of the year.
Easter, a mathematics teacher at Lower Lake High School, recently turned 50 years and his victory in the Match Play was his first win in the senior championship flight. Easter’s triumphs over Pangle and Kinser were the talk of the tournament as he prevailed over linksters with great golfing resumes.
Net flight
In the net flight, Dylan Harrison went on to beat Bobby Iversen of Lakeport 7 and 5 in the championship match.
Iversen beat John Flynn of Cobb 3 and 2 in the semifinals while Harrison advanced with a victory over Tim Brown of Cobb 5 and 3.
Senior net flight
Scot Lamanuzzi defeated Dr. Bob Jolin of Lakeport 3 and 2 in the senior net flight championship match.
Lamanuzzi reached the finals when Ted Knowles of Kelseyville had to withdraw because of illness. Jolin beat Jesse Santana of Kelseyville 1-up.
