In what was a repeat of day one's end, co-leaders Joe Sanders and Kevin Marsh tied with defending champions Don DuBois and Jeff Wilson at the conclusion of the SCGA Foursomes Championship, however the team of Marsh-Sanders broke through on the first playoff hole to take the crown at Glendora Country Club.
Sanders, of La Quinta, and Marsh, of Henderson, Nev., tied with DuBois and Wilson at 1-under-par 71 after the first round of play, then again at 3-over 76, to end with a three-shot lead of 147 over third-place teams. However, Marsh and Sanders won the first playoff hole, No. 10, with a par 4, in what was the duo's first team win in the eighth playing of the event.
"I work the ball from right to left," said Marsh, a two-time SCGA Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur champion after the round. "That seemed to work well on a course like this."
The duo's strategy in the alternate-shot format was for Marsh to hit tee shots on the even holes and Sanders the odd, a condition of the competition and a tactic that worked well as they built their lead to three shots through four holes after DuBois-Wilson made double bogey on the fourth. In turnabout, however, bogeys on holes seven, eight and nine by Marsh-Sanders, and a birdie for DuBois-Wilson on No. 9, left the defending champions just one shot back at the turn.
"It felt like we went from up by three to down by one just like that," Marsh said later, "without really even playing that bad."
Both Marsh and Sanders identified hole 14 as the turning point for the round, though. Wilson hit his tee shot down the middle of the fairway while Marsh hit his tee shot left. Sanders was forced to pitch out to 40 yards short of the green, and DuBois hit his approach shot to 25 feet from the hole. While Marsh hit his pitch shot to about five feet, Wilson hit his putt to about two feet from the hole, but DuBois missed the par putt, for a bogey 5. Sanders made the 5 footer for par.
"We knew if we could hit a good tee shot on 15 [a par 3], we really could apply the pressure to DuBois and Wilson," Sanders said. They did make par to DuBois-Wilson's double bogey, tying the teams going into the last three holes.
In the back and forth of pars and bogeys, both teams approached 18 and parred the hole, leading to a playoff. Marsh and Wilson hit tee shots in the fairway, but on the approach, Sanders hit his second shot into the greenside bunker, and DuBois missed the green. Wilson's pitch shot to about 15 feet was short to Marsh's bunker shot to five feet, and DuBois missed the par putt while Sanders knocked it in for the victory.
Three teams tied for third: multiple champions John Pate and Tim Hogarth, the team of Mark Anguiano and George Gonzalez, and the pair of Tyler Crawford and Bryson Groat, who ended the championship with 6-over-par 150s.For complete, hole-by-hole scores, click here.
