Gregor Main (left) and John Murphy
SAN JOSE, Calif. (Jan. 18, 2008) -- John Murphy approached the 18th hole with the rest of the final group at the amateurgolf.com Silicon Valley Amateur thinking the battle for the title would be between leader Gregor Main and Cameron Rappleye, who trailed by a stroke.
Three strokes off the pace, the Cal Berkeley golfer knew he'd have to do something spectacular to have a shot at forcing a playoff.
But spectacular is exactly the word for what he pulled off.
"We all hit the fairway off the tee, and I just looked at it and said 'I need to go for the pin, I need to dunk it,'" said Murphy, who lined up his 8-iron from 160 yards. "I'm always in it to win it, and it looked great in the air. It just landed perfect, three feet in front of the pin, two bounces and in."
A sizable crowd had gathered by that point to watch the final group come in, and cheered the clutch shot. It was Murphy's second hole-out of the day, the first coming on 11, good for another eagle.
Main, who plays for UCLA, found himself above the hole with his approach shot, and ended up three-putting for bogey, tying the pair at 6-under 138.
Rappleye also bogeyed, and finished in third at 139.
Main and Murphy gamely replayed the 18th three more times, parring each time, before daylight gave way and the two settled on a hard-fought tie.
In the senior flight, Rich Morrison was the victor at 1-under 143.
Tony Wilmer had the shot of the tourney in that flight, burying a 150-yard eagle shot on the 17th hole of the Valley Course, which was the site of play on Saturday.
In the net flight, Noel Rush was tops with a final score of 2-over 146.
Full results follow:
|
Championship |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Player |
Hometown |
Rd1 |
Rd2 |
Tot |
T1 |
Gregor Main |
Danville |
67 |
71 |
138 |
T1 |
John Murphy |
Wilton |
68 |
70 |
138 |
3 |
Cameron Rappleye |
Elk Grove |
68 |
71 |
139 |
4 |
Daniel Cone |
Moraga |
69 |
72 |
141 |
5 |
Eric Mina |
Fremont |
70 |
73 |
143 |
T6 |
Darryl Donovan |
Morgan Hill |
73 |
71 |
144 |
T6 |
George Gandranata |
Emeryville |
72 |
72 |
144 |
T6 |
Michael Weaver |
Fresno |
72 |
72 |
144 |
T9 |
Brandon McNally |
Burlingame |
69 |
76 |
145 |
T9 |
Jeffrey Hamm |
Danville |
73 |
72 |
145 |
T9 |
Mat Miller |
Pleasanton |
76 |
69 |
145 |
T12 |
Brett Mormann |
Santa Barbara |
71 |
75 |
146 |
T12 |
Ian Dahl |
Berkeley |
71 |
75 |
146 |
T12 |
Kent Yamane |
San Jose |
73 |
73 |
146 |
T12 |
Shaun Pienkos |
Saratoga |
72 |
74 |
146 |
T16 |
Andrew Moren |
Turlock |
72 |
75 |
147 |
T16 |
Brent Booth |
Los Altos |
72 |
75 |
147 |
T16 |
Devin Hexner |
San Francisco |
73 |
74 |
147 |
T16 |
Grant Norton |
Rancho Murieta |
73 |
74 |
147 |
T16 |
Stephen Hale |
Berkeley |
70 |
77 |
147 |
21 |
Jamie Core |
Berkeley |
76 |
72 |
148 |
T22 |
Erick Thorson |
Westlake Village |
71 |
78 |
149 |
T22 |
Kyle Candlish |
Rancho Murieta |
75 |
74 |
149 |
T22 |
Mark Wyllie |
San Jose |
74 |
75 |
149 |
T22 |
Robert McRae |
Moraga |
68 |
81 |
149 |
T26 |
Brandon Van Goethen |
Huntington Beach |
74 |
76 |
150 |
T26 |
Henrik Holm |
Moraga |
75 |
75 |
150 |
T26 |
Spencer Fletcher |
Los Altos |
74 |
76 |
150 |
T29 |
Alexander Schmitt |
Tiburon |
73 |
78 |
151 |
T29 |
Andrey Mindirgasov |
Pacific Grove |
77 |
74 |
151 |
T31 |
Adam Loran |
San Jose |
73 |
79 |
152 |
T31 |
Chris Marin |
Monterey |
78 |
74 |
152 |
T31 |
Grant Rappleye |
Elk Grove |
75 |
77 |
152 |
T34 |
Andrew Nottenkamper |
Pacific Grove |
76 |
77 |
153 |
T34 |
Brian Swenson |
Dublin |
71 |
82 |
153 |
T34 |
Colt Knedler |
Beverly Hills |
79 |
74 |
153 |
T34 |
Dennis Carson |
Burlingame |
73 |
80 |
153 |
T38 |
Anthony Machi |
Pleasanton |
78 |
76 |
154 |
T38 |
David Staszko |
San Jose |
78 |
76 |
154 |
T38 |
Jake Johnson |
Cameron Park |
72 |
82 |
154 |
T38 |
Phillip Huffman |
Villa Park |
71 |
83 |
154 |
T38 |
Ray Le Yang |
Rowland Heights |
70 |
84 |
154 |
T38 |
Scott Lacrosse |
San Jose |
77 |
77 |
154 |
T44 |
Jonny Baxter |
Pleasanton |
80 |
75 |
155 |
T44 |
Kevin Smith |
San Jose |
76 |
79 |
155 |
46 |
Jay Weiss |
Santa Clara |
78 |
78 |
156 |
T47 |
Matt Montez |
Sacramento |
77 |
80 |
157 |
T47 |
Stephen Jahncke |
San Jose |
77 |
80 |
157 |
T49 |
Albert Conceicao |
San Jose |
82 |
76 |
158 |
T49 |
Dan Potter |
Irvine |
75 |
83 |
158 |
T49 |
Jeff Petroff |
Tualatin |
76 |
82 |
158 |
T49 |
Robert Goodwin |
Atherton |
74 |
84 |
158 |
T53 |
Brian O'Regan |
Walnut Creek |
76 |
83 |
159 |
T53 |
Kyle Souza |
Livermore |
75 |
84 |
159 |
T53 |
Marcus Briscoe |
Valencia |
76 |
83 |
159 |
T53 |
Richard Conlin |
Vancouver, BC |
82 |
77 |
159 |
T57 |
Ahron Valverde |
Whittier |
82 |
78 |
160 |
T57 |
Keith Schwartz |
San Mateo |
82 |
78 |
160 |
T57 |
Robbie Garcia |
Pleasanton |
75 |
85 |
160 |
T57 |
Steve Wilson |
Martinez |
77 |
83 |
160 |
T57 |
Teddy Schrier |
Atwater |
76 |
84 |
160 |
T57 |
Travis Bregman |
Newhall |
80 |
80 |
160 |
63 |
Mike Granelli |
Clayton |
86 |
75 |
161 |
64 |
Tim Honeycutt |
Placerville |
81 |
81 |
162 |
65 |
Matt Williams |
San Jose |
80 |
84 |
164 |
66 |
John Allison |
Pismo Beach |
80 |
87 |
167 |
67 |
Lance Bishop |
Wilton |
84 |
86 |
170 |
68 |
Mike Connealy |
Danville |
87 |
91 |
178 |
69 |
Tim Yager |
San Jose |
85 |
95 |
180 |
T70 |
Gary Young |
Mississauga, ON |
75 |
NC |
NC |
T70 |
John Giffin |
San Rafael |
NC |
NC |
NC |
T70 |
Justin Cecil |
Sunnyvale |
NC |
NC |
NC |
T70 |
Mike Murphy |
Oakland |
NC |
NC |
NC |
T70 |
Pete Fukuhara |
Palo Alto |
NC |
NC |
NC |
T70 |
Phillip Herrera |
Stockton |
NC |
NC |
NC |
T70 |
Samuel Petke |
San Francisco |
NC |
NC |
NC |
T70 |
Sean Nadir |
Los Altos |
86 |
WD |
WD |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior Division |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Player |
Hometown |
Rd1 |
Rd2 |
Tot |
1 |
Rich Morrison |
Los Gatos |
69 |
74 |
143 |
2 |
Mark Miller |
Antioch |
73 |
79 |
152 |
3 |
Michael Donnelly |
Clayton |
70 |
83 |
153 |
T4 |
Clem Richardson |
Salinas |
77 |
78 |
155 |
T4 |
Tony Wilmer |
San Mateo |
72 |
83 |
155 |
6 |
Tom O'Grady |
Los Altos |
75 |
81 |
156 |
7 |
Bob Reed |
Fremont |
73 |
84 |
157 |
T8 |
Harlan Karnofsky |
Sacramento |
74 |
85 |
159 |
T8 |
Neil Duffy |
Santa Cruz |
74 |
85 |
159 |
10 |
Rob Thompson |
Merced |
79 |
84 |
163 |
11 |
Tom Lyons |
Pleasanton |
78 |
86 |
164 |
12 |
Bob Schoenherr |
San Jose |
82 |
88 |
170 |
13 |
Norm Hall |
Atherton |
86 |
85 |
171 |
14 |
Thomas Hitchcock |
San Mateo |
90 |
87 |
177 |
15 |
Al Richardson |
Santa Clara |
93 |
94 |
187 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net Division |
|
|
|
|
Pos |
Player |
Hometown |
Rd1 |
Rd2 |
Tot |
1 |
Noel Rush |
Pacifica |
73 |
73 |
146 |
2 |
Bill Strahan |
Burlingame |
74 |
78 |
152 |
3 |
Lyle Covino |
san francisco |
75 |
78 |
153 |
T4 |
James Grensted |
Belmont |
74 |
80 |
154 |
T4 |
Mike Sly |
Mountain View |
76 |
78 |
154 |
6 |
Del Hocker |
San Jose |
70 |
85 |
155 |
7 |
Sunil Bhalla |
Fremont |
76 |
82 |
158 |
8 |
John Gomez |
San Jose |
75 |
85 |
160 |
9 |
Bart Goldie |
Oakland |
79 |
84 |
163 |
10 |
Scott Carelli |
San Francisco |
82 |
82 |
167 |
11 |
Chris Parker |
Danville |
75 |
92 |
167 |
|
Scott Rhine |
San Jose |
85 |
WD |
WD |
ABOUT THE
AGC Silicon Valley Amateur
The Silicon Valley Amateur is now a 54-hole, limited-field WAGR points event! The field will consist of 64 scratch players and 18 invited scratch seniors. After 36 holes are contested (one round on Monday, one on Tuesday), the field will be cut to the low 30 scratch amateurs and ties, and the low nine scratch seniors and ties. These players will be eligible for the final round on Wednesday. We expect to gain exemptions for winners into several top tournaments - details forthcoming. Past champions of this tournament include PGA Tour stars Collin Morikawa and Max Homa.
DIVISIONS
CHAMPIONSHIP
For players aged 16 and over with a USGA or
equivalent index of 1.9 or less.
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
For players age 50 and over (as of the tournament
date) with a handicap index of 3.9 or less. Note:
Must be 55 and over for NCGA Senior Points.
MID-AM (subdivision of Championship)
For players age
25-
49. Compete alongside the younger players in the
Championship Division, (same tees, same prize
opportunities) and if there are at least six Mid-Ams,
a
separate prize and trophy will be awarded.
WOMEN (subdivision of Championship)
Will play in the
Championship
Division but
from a shorter tee. If there are at least six women in
the field, a separate prize and trophy will be
awarded.
View Complete Tournament Information