Dan Sullivan
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. (August 5, 2014) -- It's the mid-ams versus the young collegiate guns in the semifinals of the 2014 SCGA Match Play Championship, as veteran Tim Hogarth will take on Brett Silvernail of UC Santa Barbara and Mid-Am Dan Sullivan will face recent Loyola Marymount University graduate Tyler Torano Wednesday morning. The finals will be held immediately after.
Tuesday's action saw a lot of close matches in both the Rd. of 16 as well as the quarterfinals, with notable names advancing on as well as a few upsets, including a defeat of defending runner-up Sean Crocker, who was beat by Silvernail 3&1 in the Rd. of 16. Silvernail defeated Crocker with an onslaught of birdies, playing his 17-hole round in an impressive 7-under-par. Crocker was defeated despite a 4-under-par bid of his own.
Silvernail advances to face five-time SCGA Mid-Amateur Champion Tim Hogarth, who despite his long list of SCGA accomplishments has yet to win the Match Play title. Hogarth defeated both Cass Traub of Long Beach and Kyle Pollema of Lakewood Tuesday, despite admittedly not playing his best golf.
"I've lost in this event before in some tough, extra-hole matches, so I felt like today the tournament gods were with me," said Hogarth. "I'm happy to pull out two wins without having my best stuff. Tonight I really need to work on my swing and get my putter going again."
Hogarth was pushed to 19 holes in his Rd. of 16 match, losing the 18th hole to Traub. The veteran however was able to take care of Pollema in 17 holes later in the afternoon. Pollema had set a tournament record earlier in the day, defeating his Rd. of 16 opponent David Gazzolo 9&8, the most lop-sided win in SCGA Match Play history.
On the other side of the bracket Torano escaped with two wins of his own in narrow fashion, beating Carter Pool 1up in the morning and defeating Michael Brockington 2&1 in the afternoon. Despite jumping out to an early 3up lead, playing the first eight holes of the quarterfinals in 3-under-par, Torano allowed his opponent to get back into the match, with things going to All Square through 14 holes. Torano, who is coming off of a T2 finish at the SCGA Amateur Championship, was able to win holes 15 and 17 with a birdie and a par, respectively, to put away the match.
Torano will face 2012 SCGA Public Links Champion Dan Sullivan in the semifinals, who is coming off of a 3&2 victory over Gunn Yang of San Diego State. Sullivan took a 1up lead after the first hole of play and never looked back, extending his lead to 3up before eventually closing things out with a par on No. 16.
Semifinal action will kick off at 7:50 a.m. Wednesday morning. Live, hole-by-hole scoring is available below.
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.
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