The 33rd edition of the Lake County Amateur Golf Championship tees it up in exactly 14 days on Cobb Mountain at the Adams Springs Golf Course. The 36-hole stroke play event is the longest-running golf tournament of note. For more than 20 years it has historically been contested during the first weekend of October on beautiful Cobb Mountain.
What is newsworthy about the Amateur being played in another two weeks is the fact that there was no Lake County Amateur played just 12 months ago. As most Lake County residents recall, the Valley Fire ravaged the Cobb Mountain and Middletown areas a year ago and Adams Springs was within a drive and a 5-iron from the fire’s ground zero. While the golf course at Adams Springs was able to re-open in late October of 2015 and had to adapt to the loss of some 800 trees, there were other issues that resulted in the long-running tournament’s cancellation last year. Adams Springs’ pro shop and clubhouse was nothing more than rubble last year. On top of that, perhaps as much as half of the typical field in the Amateur included local golfers who were not only displaced by the Valley Fire, but also were without golf clubs, having lost them in the fire as well.
The Amateur returns after its 24-month hiatus on Oct. 1-2. Brad Pendleton is the defending champion, having won the 2014 Lake County Amateur. Pendleton shot rounds of 65 and 70 for a 1-under-par 135 total to beat runner-up Billy Witt by four shots. Pendleton’s 2014 Amateur triumph was his fifth consecutive victory in the county’s premier golf tournament. Five wins in the Amateur put Pendleton one victory ahead of Jonathan Carlson (2006-09) and left him one Amateur title behind the late George Hoberg Jr., who won six Amateurs during a 17-year span. Hoberg won the inaugural Lake County Amateur in 1975, won back-to-back tourneys in 1978 and 1979, and then ran off three consecutive Amateur titles in 1984, 1985 and 1992. For those of you who think you just saw a typo, the truth is that the Lake County Amateur wasn’t held during the period from 1986-1991. Lake County golf’s leadership and management at the golf course level was erratic and inconsistent during that time frame and it wasn’t until this columnist brought the Amateur back to life in October of 1992 that the event became a constant part of the Lake County golfing scene. It’s now one of three major tournaments on the newly formed Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit.
While there is a distinct possibility Brad Pendleton will win a sixth consecutive Amateur title, he will most probably remain tied with Hoberg in the Lake County golf record books. Following the completion of the 2016 Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit season in late October at the Tournament of Champions, Pendleton intends to return to the play-for-pay ranks and enter the PGA of America program as a professional. Pendleton’s goal is to become an assistant golf professional at Buckingham Golf and Country Club, begin giving lessons there, and upon serving his apprenticeship to become a PGA Class A pro. From my distant perspective, Pendleton has a great working knowledge of the golf swing, is friendly and affable, and will be an outstanding professional as well as a teacher of the game.
Of course, there is a contingent of local Lake County golfers who hope to derail Pendleton’s attempt to win that sixth Lake County Amateur title. Juan Lopez of Finley has had great success in the Amateur, having won in 1997, 2002 and 2005. Lopez doesn’t bash the ball as far as he used to, but he is a solid ball striker, has a rock-solid putting stroke, and is probably a better course manager than he was 19 years ago. Lopez has always played well at Adams Springs.
Matt Wotherspoon, the reigning Lake County Junior champion, should also be a factor in this year’s Amateur. Although Wotherspoon has just started his junior year at Kelseyville High School, he has shown the ability to play golf at a high level against adults. This past April he won the Lake County Match Play at Buckingham and was 5-under-par through 16 holes in his finals match. Wotherspoon also has great knowledge of Adams Springs and all its quirks as his high school team practices there. He also carries a handicap at Adams so that he can compete in its club tourneys.
While Wotherspoon was the County Match Play champion, his under-par accomplishments didn’t result in a runaway because Billy Witt was hanging in there with an equally great golf performance last April. Witt won the Amateur at Adams Springs in 2004, was runner-up to Pendleton in 2014, and has a trio of Adams Springs club championships on his golfing resume.
Other local golfers of note who have had past success in the Amateur at Adams Springs include Chip Bowlin, who shot a first-round 66 at Adams in the ’14 Amateur and has had runner-up finishes in the event. Three recent Adams Springs’ club champions, Jim DeCristofaro, Jerry Pendleton and Dylan Harrison, could also be factors based on their course familiarity and past successes. Of course, only time will tell with how this all plays out. That’s why they’ll be teeing it up on Cobb Mountain in 14 days.
The 33rd annual Lake County Amateur Golf Championship returns to Adams Springs Golf Course over the weekend of Oct. 1-2. There are also flights for net golfers with handicaps of 10 and higher, senior golfers age 50 and older, senior net golfers, and juniors age 17 and younger. Tournament information and entry forms can be acquired by contacting this columnist at 245-5047 or via email at berrygolf@aol.com. The entry deadline is Sept. 26.
Simultaneous to the playing of the Lake County Amateur, the biennial Ryder Cup Matches between Team USA and Europe commence at Hazeltine in Minneapolis from Friday through Sunday. Next week’s column will feature the build up to the Ryder Cup as well as have great insights into the matches by five-time PGA Tour winner and three-time Ryder Cupper Johnny Pott. Pott was a member of winning Ryder Cup teams in 1963, 1965 and 1967, and was front and center during golf’s golden era. I figure any professional who had guys named Arnie, Byron and Ben as his Ryder Cup captains knows his stuff.
