BUCKINGHAM >> Juan Lopez of Finley and Brels Solomon of Upper Lake shot a 6-under-par 66 to win the 25th annual Lake County Partners Golf Tournament on Saturday at Buckingham Golf and Country Club. The Partners is contested under the fourball or better ball format. Both golfers play the hole and the low score is the team score.
Lopez and Solomon opened up their front nine with a 2-under-par 34 and had a one-stroke lead over Brad Pendleton of Lakeport and Hidden Valley Lake superintendent Billy Witt at the tourney’s midway point. Throughout the final nine, it was punch and counter-punch between the top two duos. Lopez-Solomon birdied the 10th hole to take a two-stroke lead, then Pendleton-Witt birdied the par-3 11th hole to get within one stroke of the leaders. Both teams birdied the par-5 13th hole. Lopez-Solomon extended their lead to two with a par on the difficult par-3 15th hole. Both teams birdied the 16th hole and Pendleton-Witt once again cut the margin to one shot when they birdied the watery par-5 17th hole.
With the tournament on the line coming into the long par-4 18th hole, Lopez-Solomon finished the Partners with a fury as they birdied the final hole to shoot a 4-under-par 32 on the back nine for a 66 total and a two-stroke win.
Lopez, who is active in the lives of his two teenage sons, doesn’t compete anywhere near as much as he used to on the Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit, yet this time around he showed great form as he shot a 3-under-par 69 on his own ball. Lopez and Solomon have played in two-man team events since 1994 and teamed up to win the Lake County Partners in 2012.
Witt and Pendleton shot a second-nine 3-under-par 33 to finish with a total of 4-under-par 68 to finish in solo second place. Mike Griggs of Willits and Jason Laveglia of Kelseyville came in third following a better ball score of 1-under-par 71.
Senior flight
In the senior flight for golfers ages 50 and older, Rick Easter of Lower Lake and Todd Colbrandt of Middletown shot a 6-over-par 78 to win by three shots. They trailed by one stroke through nine holes but then carded a solid 2-over-par 38 over the final nine to prevail.
Manny Mendoza of Buckingham and Ted Knowles of Kelseyville finished in second place with a score of 81. One stroke behind them in third place was the team of Jesse Santana of Kelseyville and Dr. Bob Jolin of Lakeport with 82.
Schedule
The Lake County Amateur Golf Circuit takes the rest of the summer off to accommodate family vacations and local club championships. The circuit regulars won’t tee it up again until the first week of October with the playing of the county’s longest-running tournament, the Lake County Amateur Golf Championship. The Amateur is a 36-hole stroke play tournament that will be contested Oct. 7-8 at Adams Springs Golf Course on Cobb Mountain. In the interim, the Lake County Circuit hosts its two junior tourneys during the summer. The Buckingham Summer Junior Classic is scheduled for July 31 and the Lake County Junior Golf Championship is scheduled for the following day, Aug. 1, at Adams Springs.
