Two-time winner Brady Exber
-Story by Scott SewardCARMEL, Calif. — Brady Exber wanted that asterisk gone. The 2015 Stocker Cup champion came into the event with the motivation to capture the tile at the event’s home course, The Preserve Golf Club in Carmel.
“Winning last year at Sonoma was great, and I had a great year,” Exber said. “But there’s an asterisk when you win at a different course.”
Indeed, the Stocker Cup returned to the Tom Fazio design in the hills above Carmel after a year’s absence, and perhaps the tournament’s strongest field came with it.
Exber had been a perennial contender in Stocker Cups past, and in fact won the Tatum Trophy – presented to the player over 50 with the lowest score – four times, but finally broke through with the championship last year.
He tore into the final round looking to repeat the title, making birdie on the opening three holes. “I felt someone else was playing golf in my body,” the champion said of his hot start.
After his second shot landed up against a divot on No.5, Exber made bogey. His round became something of a grind then as he played even-par golf for the next 12 holes.
Coming up the final hole, the seven-time Southern Nevada Golf Association player of the year thought he needed a little more to pull away. “I was in the fairway thinking I might need birdie,” he said. “So I didn’t want to be too safe.” Exber’s approach was short, and his chip left a little too much work to make par. His third bogey of the round (and only seventh overall for the event) mattered not. He won by three shots. Exber was the only player in red numbers in all three rounds.
Exber became the first repeat champion since 2009-10 (Kevin Marsh). The champion won in wire-to-wire fashion in 2014. Except for being out of the lead after the first round in 2015 – Brad Wilder held that advantage – Exber has held the lead in the past five of six Stocker Cup rounds. At age 59.
“For me to win a mid-am event (for players aged 25 and older) with the great players here….it’s a huge thrill,” the TPC Summerlin member said.
Gene Elliott of Glen Oaks CC and first-round leader Brad Wilder tied for second. Elliott earned the Tatum Award for the low senior in the event. Elliott had the low round of the tournament, a second-round, 6-under 66.
TEAM GROSS EVENT
Jason and Jack Anthony held onto their second-round lead to capture the team gross championship. The father-son duo posted a 198 total, powered by a final-round 65 that matched their second round. Jason Anthony has been a factor in NCGA events for years, but it was his father that drive the team early in the final round, making five birdies to card a stellar 31 on the front nine.
“I didn’t hit the ball very well yesterday so my son gave me a tip and it made a big difference,” the elder Anthony said. And the magic tip that would produce a 31 on the stout Tom Fazio-designed Preserve GC: “Drop it in the slot.”
Exber and partner Dusty Allen took second with a 203 total. Third went to Brad Wilder of Valhalla GC in Louisville and Nick Fezcko of Sharon Woods in Cincinnati at 206.
TEAM NET EVENT
The team of Jerry Ledzinski of Monterey Peninsula CC and AmateurGolf.com’s Pete Wlodkowski captured the team net event with a 195 total. Tyler Crawford and Brandt Kuhn of the Plantation GC took second, two back of the champions while Mark Sear and Michael Lebbin of Los Angeles CC took third.
ABOUT THE
Stocker Cup
The Stocker Cup was founded in 1991 to
honor
the
memory of Peter Stocker. Peter and his
partners Bill
Harlan and John Montgomery founded San
Francisco's
Pacific Union Company, a highly successful
real
estate
development company. The firm initiated the
development of The Santa Lucia Preserve, a
20,000
acre residential and golf community located
above
Carmel. Meandering through the winding road
to
The
Preserve's centerpiece -- the top-100 rated
golf
course -- has been described as "driving
through a California postcard." The Stocker
Cup
was played from 1991 to 1999 at Pebble
Beach
and
its
surrounding golf courses, before moving to
the
Tom
Fazio and Sandy Tatum designed Preserve
G.C.
In
the
words of former USGA President Tatum:
"Peter
Stocker was the quintessential amateur golfer.
He
loved golf with a passion. He would have
loved
this
tournament."
FORMAT:
54-hole individual
competition
with
a
simultaneous best-ball event, similar to the
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Invited Mid-
Amateur
players are either paired with a single digit
amateur
or
can propose their own partner to be
introduced
and
invited by the Committee.
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