A 10-month battle of amateur golfers across the Southland concluded this week in the 5th SCGA One-Day Series Match Play Championship held at Bear Creek GC in Murrieta, California.
Michael Keane, of Lakewood GC, held off Mark Pizano (3&2) in Thursday’s afternoon championship round to win the One-Day Series Match Play Championship to go with a crystal trophy and $500 Roger Dunn gift card.
“This is huge,” Keane emphasized. “Because the amount of time spent and the culmination of a grueling four-round match play. I got to take a step back and breathe a little, just cause I got to soak this in before I start hooting and hollering.”
The top-16 players of the 2019 SCGA One-Day Series Points List competed in the event. Keane took down some notable competitors in his four-round journey that include a former One-Day Series Player of the Year, Allen Black, and 2015 Match Play Champion, David Fuji.
“Allen, that guy competes from beginning to end. I thought that guy was going to be the toughest opponent,” Keane said. “What made it happen was I had some good consistency.”
In Thursday morning's semifinal matchup, Keane acknowledged his rough start with an errant tee-shot on the first hole that led to trailing his competitor Mark Larson down 2 holes through three.
“That 20-yard drive off the first tee, a total of 20 yards, amounted to a wake-up call right away,” Keane confessed. “I had to re-group after three holes and I was starting to peck away.”
Keane was able to run away from Larson to win 3&2, winning all of his match play rounds by at least three holes or better.
A Jack Nicklaus staple, Bear Creek GC was a fight for the field, but a fight that was circled on the calendars in all of 2019. Frosty and chilly mornings or bright and sunny afternoons, Bear Creek still showed its claws.
“It feels fantastic, because on this kind of golf course, par is actually a great score to get,” Keane said. “There’s so many bogeys and double-bogeys and higher out there. To get this kind of win against players where you got strokes or gave strokes and the course conditions were phenomenal, it’s really-really rewarding.”
Rounding out the 2019 SCGA One-Day Series season, Kelly Faulkner with four tournament wins this year secured himself Player of the Year and a $750 Roger Dunn gift card. Mark Pizano as the championship’s runner-up went home with a $250 gift card.
SCGA One-Day Series is open to all SCGA members, regardless of Handicap Index. Events contain both net and gross flights and range from individual to team competitions. Learn more about the program here.