Casey Scott and Austin Fox (NCGA/Twitter photo)
A pair of Pacific teammates came through for an NCGA Four-Ball win on Sunday at Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach, Calif., and also became the third straight pair of college teammates to win the event.
University of Pacific seniors and Youth on Course alums Austin Fox and Casey Scott came roaring out of the gates and never looked back, posting a final-round 8-under 64. The duo finished with a 54-hole total of 18-under 198 to defeat Jason Anthony and Randy Haag by two shots.
“This is pretty awesome,” said Fox, who was joined by among others his mother, Tammy, who got up at 4:30 a.m. to make the drive down from their home in Folsom.
The Pacific guys counted seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch from Nos. 4-11. Fox had four in a row from Nos. 5-8. The team’s only mistake was on No. 12, where both made double bogey on the par 3 guarded by a pond.
“It was a very back and forth effort,” said Scott, who had never played Spyglass Hill before Friday’s first round. “We came into the day with the mindset to just make as many birdies as possible.”
Another runner-up finish for Haag, who has won this title four other times but with two different partners, and Anthony is a familiar storyline.The two have now finished second four of the last five years.
“We thought we were in the lead and in good shape,” Anthony said. “I even laid up off the 17th tee. We thought, just don’t make any big mistakes.”
Anthony and Haag received word of Scott and Fox’s day as they stepped on the 18th tee, where they closed out a final-round 68 with one last par.
“We didn’t see anyone shooting 8 under out there today,” Haag said. “What they (Scott and Fox) did was impressive.”
Former Cal teammates Jeff Hamm and Ian Dahl and the tandem of Domingo Jojola and Travis Peterson finished tied for third at 201 after rounds of 68 and 67, respectively. Dahl and Hamm earned third in a card-off.
Information from NCGA used in this report
ROUND TWO
Randy Haag and Jason Anthony will take the lead into the final round of the NCGA Four-Ball, but it’s a tight leaderboard entering Sunday’s round. Then again, what else would you expect with so much talent floating around Northern California?
Haag and Anthony combined for rounds of 65-67 to start the weekend at Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach, Calif. On Saturday, Anthony, the 2018 San Francisco City Amateur champion, played a crucial role in getting his team to the top of the leaderboard at 12 under. Anthony logged four birdies in the last eight holes at Spyglass.
Haag has won this title before, but not with Anthony. He paired with Darryl Donovan to win in 2000 and 2010, and before that, won the 1987 and 1993 titles alongside Bob Blomberg.
On Sunday morning, Haag and Anthony will only have a one-shot advantage on Jeff Hamm and Ian Dahl. The latter team, made up of former Cal teammates, had 65 on Saturday, which was the best round of the day.
Three teams are two shots back at 10 under. Behind that, first-round leaders Bobby Bucey and Brett Viboch, the team that won this event in 2016, are 9 under. Bucey and Viboch followed an opening71 64 with a second-round to fall off the pace, but left themselves enough room to author a comeback.
The top 40 teams and ties made the cut to play the third and final round on Sunday.
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ABOUT THE
NCGA Four-Ball
The NCGA Four-Ball Championship began in 1967 at
Spyglass
Hill golf course and has been played the Robert
Trent
Jones
layout ever since. The 54-hole competition consists
of two-man
teams in which both players play their own ball and
the lowest
score of the two is counted on each hole.
18 holes qualifying four-ball stroke play. The
championship
proper will be 54 holes of four-ball stroke play, 18
holes per day.
After 36 holes, the field is cut to 40 teams and ties.
Both
partners must meet eligibility requirements, holding
a handicap
index of 5.4 or less.
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