Derek Zellmer
2011 Long Beach Amateur Champion

LONG BEACH, CALIF., (July 10, 2011) –– Derek Zellmer probably wouldn't mind if every hole on every golf course was a par-5.

Zellmer played Skylinks Golf Course's four par-5s in 3 under in Sunday's final round of the Long Beach Men's City Championship and held off a hard back-nine charge by Andrew Roque to win the Championship flight of the amateur tournament for the second year in a row.

The 26-year-old from Huntington Beach closed with an even-par 72 and finished the three-day tournament at 8-under 208, one stroke better than Roque.

Zellmer's good luck on the long holes carried over from Saturday's second round at Recreation Park Golf Course when he double-eagled the par-5 ninth hole. On Sunday, he birdied Nos. 2 and 3 after reaching each green in two shots and left himself a 3-foot birdie putt on 15 when he hit a fantastic 4-iron from 195 yards.

"(The shot at 15) wasn't as good as the deuce I made (Saturday)," Zellmer said, "but under the circumstances, the 15th has to outrank (the double eagle)."

Roque began the day four shots behind Zellmer and five behind 36-hole leader Kevin Lee of Cerritos. The 22-year-old from Monterey Park played one group ahead of Zellmer, Lee and Johnny MacArthur and shot 69. A birdie at No. 12 gave Roque a brief share of the lead with Zellmer and MacArthur, but his putter failed him at other times.

"It was kinda frustrating," said the senior-to-be at the University of La Verne. "I made some putts, but I missed a lot."

Lee opened the day with a one-stroke lead after shooting 67 at El Dorado Park on Friday and 68 at Recreation Park on Saturday. He parred the first four holes before a bogey at No. 5. From the middle of the fairway, Lee hit a poor second shot that landed about 20 feet right of the green. With very little green to work with, Lee decided to putt his third shot but left it in the fringe and took a 5 on the hole.

Lee three-putted on the par-3 eighth hole - his par putt circled the cup before spinning out - and was 2 over at the turn, one shot behind Zellmer.

The round got away from Lee between the 11th and 14th holes, where he was 5 over. On the par-4 12th, Lee incurred a two-stroke penalty for breaking rule 16-1, which forbids touching the line of a putt with the club.

His best shot of the day was on the par-3 16th, where Lee left the ball about 8 feet below the hole before sinking his only birdie of the day.

Lee shot 79 for the day and finished tied for eighth at 214.

In the A Flight, for players with an index between 3.0-4.9, Steve Schiro of Long Beach shot 222 and defeated Dave Slingsby by five shots. Long Beach's Joe De La Fuente shot 226 and edged Matthew McDevitt by two shots in B Flight (5.0-6.9).

In C Flight (7.0-8.9), Alfonso Marquez shot 244 to beat Russell Low and Bob Watanabe by one stroke. Wilmington's Charon Arnold won D Flight (9.0-10.9) by nine strokes. Denny Garrison of Huntington Beach won E Flight (11.0-13.9) by two shots over Anthony Mercado. Les Walker of Huntington Beach won F Flight (14.0+) by eight shots.