By Pete Wlodkowski, amateurgolf.com

YORBA LINDA, Calif. (August 13, 2006) -- Marvin Dumandan sat at the scoring table reading aloud from his scorecard as he checked his numbers before turning it in.

"Bogey-par-bogey-birdie-par-birdie ... BOGEY-BOGEY-BOGEY," his voice getting louder as he finished the front nine.

There was a hint of self deprecation, as opposed to anger, in the animated Dumandan's voice (this is a guy who carries a squeaking bird headcover on his driver). And while his front nine score of 3-over-par 39 had turned a two stroke lead over Freddy Wolfe at the beginning of the day into a two stroke deficit at the turn, the back nine numbers looked a lot better.

"Par-par-birdie-eagle-par-birdie-bogey-par-birdie," Dumandan went on, the closing nine adding up to a much-improved 4-under-par 32, and a final round total of 71. Dumandan's 36-hole total of 4-under-par 140 -- he opened with a 69 -- was good for a one stroke victory over Wolfe, who birdied the final two holes to shoot 70 and finish one behind at 3-under-par 141 for the tournament.

Wolfe looked over at Dumandan and smiled.

"That was a pretty good battle," he said. "Yes, it was," replied the top Philippine finisher in an event where three of the top four places went to members of the Philippine National team, who decided to enter this event after failing to qualify for the U.S. Amateur, which starts August 21 in Minnesota.

Wolfe, 20, a member of the Cal Berkeley golf team who resides with his parents in Palm Springs when not at school, has been a regular player in amateurgolf.com events as he works to find a regular spot on the team's roster. The likeable 6,' 5" fluid-swinger doesn't try to dominate the course with his distance, but he is good for one 350-yard drive per round (In Saturday's first round he hit wedge into the 485-yard par-5 sixth hole, from 135 yards out).

Dumandan is a control player who got caught up in trying to stay with Wolfe off the tee on Sunday's front nine.

"I tried to kill the ball on the front nine playing with Freddy," said Dumandan. "On the back nine, I stayed with my game plan to keep the ball low, out of the wind."

Whatever the reason, there was no question that Dumandan, 25, managed to turn things around after making a string of 3-straight bogeys to close the front nine, falling 2-behind Wolfe. Dumandan gained four strokes in as many holes as Wolfe bogeyed No's. 10 and 12 and he made birdie at No. 12 and followed it with an eagle on the Par-5 13th, where he hit 6-iron to the hillside-tucked green for his second shot, and made the putt.

Freddy Wolfe has steadily improved his performance in amateurgolf.com events

Wolfe responded with a birdie at No. 14 to close the gap to one stroke, but Dumandan continued on his back nine roll with a birdie at No. 15, where Wolfe was forced to make a 10-foot par putt to stay two back. The players both bogeyed the 216-yard 16th, an example of Black Gold's give and take layout where several reachable par 4's are balanced by one of Orange County's toughest string of par 3's.

Wolfe wouldn't go away quietly.

Faced with a downhill lie in the right-hand rough with a tricky shot to the elevated 17th green, Wolfe's wedge shot struck the flag cleanly, echoing off the canyon surrounding the green. The ball settled four feet away and Wolfe's birdie narrowed the gap to one with a reachable par 5 to close the round. Both players hit solid drives, and Dumandan was first to hit to the water-guarded green, with the clubhouse and scoring area framing the scene. His 4-iron shot from 200 yards found the surface, 20-feet from the hole.

"That was my big shot," said Dumandan. "If I miss that shot, hit it in the water, maybe I'm lost."

Wolfe followed with a 6-iron from 180 yards that hit the green, and when he failed to hole the eagle putt, the tournament belonged to Dumandan, who safely two-putted to close out a stellar back nine of 32.

"No. 18 is a tough hole to make three," said Wolfe, who seemed satisfied to have applied the pressure with two closing birdies.

Senior Division: High School Golf Coach Enjoys his First "Senior Moment"
Dave Baydala, 50, of Murrieta, coach of the Temescal Canyon H.S. golf team in Lake Elsinore, scored his first senior victory after posting a final round 69 on blue-tee layout playing just 300 yards shorter than the black tees the championship division used.

"My wife laughs at me for being excited about playing senior golf, but it's great," said Baydala, holding the crystal trophy and first place prize certificate.

Baydala's 4-birdie, 1-bogey round -- punctuated by a nearly-holed 5-iron on his 17th hole, No. 8 -- was enough to make up four strokes on first round leader James Lynch of Placentia, who posted solid rounds of 73 and 75 to finish two strokes back at 148. Steve Pircher of Manhattan Beach, winner of the amateurgolf.com San Diego County Amateur earlier this month in Fallbrook, fell victim to No. 18 both days, taking a double bogey on Saturday, when he shot 75, and a triple on Sunday's round of 76. Pircher still finished in 3rd place at 151.

Senior Champ Dave Baydala (left) with Net Winner Randy Eck (right) and Net Runner-up Rick Cook (c)

Net Division: "Even-par Cashes" at amateurgolf.com
Randy Eck of San Juan Capistrano, a Customer Service Staff Manager for SCG&E, posted steady rounds of 87 and 84 to win the Net Division title at 1-under-par 143.

The 12-handicapper was inspired by a comment made by Pete Wlodkowski of amateurgolf.com at the beginning of the day on Sunday.

"I heard, 'even par makes money in these events' and I tried my best to post that number," said Eck.

Unlike many tournaments, where inflated handicaps are the rule rather than the exception, amateurgolf.com has a reputation for attracting players serious about their game who enjoy competing in the Net Division on the same course where a scratch championship is taking place. If the handicap system is working, even par net should be a good score.

"It's hard to shoot your handicap, the system isn't set up for it," explained Art Law, PGA, amateurgolf.com's Tournament Director and Website Content Editor.

The 12-handicap Eck edged Rick Cook of Mission Viejo by one stroke. Cook, a Mortgage Consultant for Wells Fargo, carries an 11. Ken Schwoerer of Villa Park finished solo third at 145 after matching the lowest net round of the tournament with a 3-under-par 69 on Sunday.

Tournament Notes:
- The game to backup the outfits: The tournament field became much more competitive (and colorful!) thanks to the presence of the Philippine National Golf Team, who took three of the top four Championship positions. The lowest round of the tournament, a 68, was fired by Michael Bibat on Sunday. Bibat tied his teammate Gene Bondoc at 143. The team's orange and black matching outfits would make Jesper Parnevik look like a conservative dresser. (ok, maybe not...) The team will head to the Singapore Amateur next, and we wish them the best of luck.

Members of the Philippine National Golf Team stopped for a photo on Saturday. Champion Marvin Dumandan is on the far right.

- Most improved department: Karl Katnik of Santa Ana jumped way up the leaderboard into a tie for 9th after bettering his first round 79 by 10 strokes. His 69 on Sunday tied champion Dumandan for second-lowest of the tournament.

- A tough start but an excellent finish: The tournament got off to a delayed start on Saturday due to following a, shall we say nicely, "less serious" even than ours. The staff at Black Gold apologized to players and promised a different setup next year. As a gesture of their interest in having us back, they offered all players a 50% discount certificate for a game in the next 30 days for up to four players. If you didn't get yours, please email petewl@yahoo.com and we'll forward it on to you.

* * *
Final results from the amateurgolf.com North Orange County Amateur, played at Black Gold Golf Club follow. Note: A story and photos will be posted Sunday evening.

- Championship Division: Par 72, 6756 yards
- Senior (Scratch) and Net Divisions: Par 72, 6439 yards

		CHAMPIONSHIP
Pos	First	Last	Hometown		Div	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1st	Marvin	Dumandan	Philippines		CH	69	71	140
2nd	Freddy	Wolfe	Piedmont	CA	CH	71	70	141
T3	Gene	Bondoc	Philippines		CH	72	71	143
T3	Michael	Bibat	Philippines		CH	75	68	143
5	David	Staszko	San Jose	CA	CH	72	72	144
T6	Chris	Lavery	Mission Viejo	CA	CH	72	75	147
T6	Ryan	Bailey	moorpark	CA	CH	75	72	147
T6	Darren	Schwartz	Westlake Village	CA	CH	77	70	147
T9	John	Yeun	brea	CA	CH	73	75	148
T9	Karl	Katnik	Santa Ana	CA	CH	79	69	148
	Jay	Bayron	Philippines		CH	78	71	149
	Tim	Cha	Chino Hills	CA	CH	76	74	150
	Louie	Pullen	Roanoke	TX	CH	75	76	151
	Patrick	Sklarski	Lafayette	CA	CH	79	72	151
	John	Lorenzo	Laguna Hills	CA	CH	79	75	154
	Erick	Thorson	Westlake Village	CA	CH	78	77	155
	Andrew	Nelsen	Laguna Niguel	CA	CH	79	76	155
	Peter	Israel	santa monica	CA	CH	82	75	157
	Danny	Min	Cypress	CA	CH	75	83	158
	Michael	Fajardo	Lafayette	CA	CH	78	80	158
	Mike	Leibfried	Rolling Hills	CA	CH	77	82	159
	Joe	Drago	Tracy	CA	CH	82	77	159
	Jonathan	Noori	Tarzana	CA	CH	83	76	159
	Mason	Mallory	Hillsboro	CA	CH	81	79	160
	William	Clayton	San Bernardino	CA	CH	81	81	162
	matt	montford	Orange	CA	CH	82	87	169
	Geoff	Rill	Santa Cruz	CA	CH	84	87	171
	Amer	Taha	irvine	CA	CH	88	88	176
	Jacob	Herold	Tustin	CA	CH	91	88	179
	Brendan	Wong	Orange	CA	CH	83	wd	wd
	Michael	Reese	Apple Valley	CA	CH	84	wd	wd
	Jin	Han	La Jolla	CA	CH	86	wd	wd
	Jeff	Stewart	San Ramon	CA	CH	86	wd	wd
	First	Last	Hometown		Div	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1st	Randy	Eck	San Juan Capistrano	CA	HC	73	70	143
2nd	Rick	Cook	Mission Viejo	CA	HC	74	70	144
3rd	Ken	Schwoerer	Villa Park	CA	HC	76	69	145
T4	Charles	Adams	Huntington Beach	CA	HC	71	75	146
T4	Garry	Regier	los angeles	CA	HC	70	76	146
6	John	Johnson	Perris	CA	HC	78	69	147
	Bryan	Dailey	Signal Hill	CA	HC	73	75	148
	Jay	Ware	villa park	CA	HC	74	75	149
	William	Easley	Hesperia	CA	HC	69	84	153
	James	Griffin	Long Beach	CA	HC	78	80	158
	Corey	Milbrandt	la quinta	CA	HC	76	84	160
	John	Priem	orange	CA	HC	86	76	162
	Ron	Staley	Huntington Beach	CA	HC	76	86	162
	Thomas	Marr	Newport Beach	CA	HC	88	75	163
	Jeff	DeHart	Altadena	CA	HC	70	93	163
	I. Joe	Ceniceros	La Mirada	CA	HC	89	wd	wd
	Jay	Patterson	Lawrence	KS	HC	80	wd	wd
Pos	First	Last	Hometown		Div	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1st	Dave	Baydala	Murrieta	CA	SR	77	69	146
2nd	James	Lynch	Placentia	CA	SR	73	75	148
3rd	Steve	Pircher	Manhattan Beach	CA	SR	75	76	151
	John	Lavery	Mission Viejo	CA	SR	82	78	160
	Charlie	Eastman	Laguna Beach	CA	SR	84	79	163
	Lee	Mason	San Diego	CA	SR	83	84	167
	Wayne	Spencer	San Bernardino	CA	SR	82	88	170
	Dave	Patty	Newport Coast	CA	SR	89	85	174
	Gary	Gable	Huntington Beach	CA	SR	89	86	175
	Gilbert	Hanson	Yorba Linda	CA	SR	88	wd	wd

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