The 2013 SCGA Match Play and Senior Match
Play Championships will begin Monday, August
5 at
Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena, moving
away from Sandpiper Golf Club for the first
time in the
event’s six-year history. This 6,612-yard
William Bell and Brian Silva design provides
the perfect
venue for a match play tournament, with
drivable par 4s and par 5s that will surely test
competitors,
as the finest SCGA tournament players battle
it out against one another. A wide variety of
teeing
grounds and hole locations will be used over
the three-day event, which will welcome 32
competitors
in the Championship field and 32 in the Senior
Championship field.
With the venue change also came a format
change, as the SCGA conducted its first ever
Match Play
and Senior Match Play qualifiers on Thursday
at Brookside GC. Approximately 175 players
battled it
out for the championship’s final 16 spots -
eight in each bracket. The initial 24 players in
each
championship were exempt into the field
based off their position on the SCGA Match
Play and Senior
Match Play Points Lists.
The top 24 players in the Match Play
Championship were seeded based on each
player’s average rank
relative to the rest of the field using three
ranking systems: the SCGA Match Play Points
List, the
World Amateur Golf Rankings, and the Scratch
Players World Amateur Rankings. The top 24
players in
the Senior Match Play Championship were
seeded based solely off the SCGA Senior
Match Play Points
List. The eight qualifiers in each bracket were
seeded based on their finish at the qualifier.
Heading into the Championship as the No. 1
seed, Niall Platt will look to defend his title
after
defeating USC golfer Stewart Hagestad 2 & 1
in last year’s finals. Platt, a rising senior at
the
University of Notre Dame, secured the first
seed with impressive play at the recent SCGA
Amateur
Championship, where he finished T3. He will
face Brian Song in the first round of play.
Taking the No. 1 seed in the Senior
Championship is David Delich, who won the
2012 SCGA Senior
Amateur Championship at Pauma Valley CC.
He will face off against Jeffrey Gipner of
Carlsbad in an
opening-round matchup.
Featured First-Round Matchups
10:10 (1) Niall Platt vs. (32) Brian
Song
Platt, the No. 1 seed, will face San Diego
State golfer Brian Song Monday. Song
qualified for the
championship with a round of even par at the
event’ qualifier at Brookside. Platt will look to
be the
first golfer since Nick Delio to repeat as SCGA
Match Play Champion.
10:50 (4) Tim Hogarth vs. (29) Jeffrey
Fortson
One of the most decorated golfers in SCGA
Tournament history, Hogarth has won five
SCGA Mid-
Amateur Championships as well as the SCGA
Amateur Championship in 2004. He will face
Fortson, who
had an epic finish in qualifying at Brookside,
recording a birdie on two of his last three
holes to end
the hope of a playoff for five other
participants.
10:20 (16) Brandon Gama vs. (17) Brett
Silvernail
Santa Barbara golfers will have an interest in
this match, as UCSB golfer Silvernail goes up
against
Gama of Santa Barbara.
12:30 (6) Manav Shah vs. (27) Joshua
Park
A great collegiate battle awaits Shah of UCLA
and Park of Cal State Fullerton, as the Pac 12
will face
off against the Big West.
Featured First-Round Senior
Matchups
7:30 (1) David Delich vs. (32) Jeffrey
Gipner
Delich, who will be entering into this
championship as the No. 1 seed, was the 2012
SCGA Senior
Amateur Champion. Gipner qualified at
Brookside … his reward? A match against
Delich.
8:20 (13) Mel Collins vs. (20) Dan
Pouliot
Collins and Pouliot will battle it out as both
players have won the Senior Four-Ball
Championship.
Collins won the Championship in 2012 and
Pouliot in 2008.
8:50 (2) Greg Hetzer vs. (31) Thomas
Hofman
Hetzer won last year’s event, defeating Jim
Knoll in the final match 2&1.
9:10 (7) Mark Nickeas vs. (26) Jim
Vanwyck
Nickeas won the CGA Senior Amateur
Championship in 2011.
ABOUT THE
Southern California Match Play
The Match Play and Senior Match Play
championships
began in 2008 as a means of bringing new credence
and incentive to the SCGA points program. The
SCGA
points program awards points to golfers who give
strong performances in SCGA, USGA, CGA and other
selected outside tournaments. This Championship is
open to SCGA members with a
Handicap index of 5.4 or below. Players must qualify
or earn an exemption into the
championship field.
The championship format is single-elimination match
play.
View Complete Tournament Information