MISSION VIEJO, CALIF. (Sept 25, 2005) -- The first time we play a tournament golf course, the amateurgolf.com staff likes 'pick a number' for the winner. In most cases, we come eerily close. At the Inaugural Mission Viejo Championship played this weekend, however, we weren't even in the ballpark. amateurgolf.com Founder Pete Wlodkowski called the potential winning score at 141, and Tournament Director Art Law thought 142.

Jason Pridmore of Ventura had his own ideas.

Pridmore, 35, a professional motorcycle racer who rides for Michael Jordan Motorsports, opened on Saturday with a 68. Pridmore was paired with first round leader Daniel Wax, and got a chance to witness Wax's shot-making first hand including a birdie-birdie-birdie start and final tally of 5-under-par 67.

"He's got tons of talent," said Pridmore. "I was really impressed with his swing and the shots he pulls off time after time."

But there wasn't anything in Pridmore's Saturday conversation about who would come out on top - this is a guy who has all the shots and the strong mental game required to win.

Sunday's final pairing of Wax, Pridmore, Eugene Choi (who double-eagled the 18th hole on Saturday) and Justin Gray saw a battle develop between Pridmore on Wax, with Wax striking first with birdie at No. 1 to extend his overnight lead to 2. Pridmore answered that with a birdie on the tough par-4 2nd, and when Wax 3-putted they were all square. Pridmore birdied Nos. 3 and 5, and his lead was 2, then extended it to 3 when Wax bogeyed No. 6, the short par-4 that tempts you to hit driver, at 295 yards, but where environmental areas around the green cause most people to think better of it and lay up.

Wax gained a stroke back with a birdie at the ninth, but, as he prognosticated during the round, "This course really suits Jason's eye."

Champion Jason Pridmore (center) with runners-up Daniel Wax (left) and Justin Gray

Starting with No. 11, Pridmore must have really liked what he saw, because he made four straight birdies - and this run occurred on a stretch of holes that could just be Arroyo Trabuco's version of Amen Corner. The 11th is a 180 yard par-3, and the 12th is the longest par-4 on the course, at 495 yards. Granted, it's downhill, but a massive environmentally-sensitive area guards the right side of the hole from tee to green like the border patrol.

Standing on the water-guarded par-3 13th with a four shot lead in hand, Pridmore had the perfect chance to be defensive, if he was a defensive kind of guy.

He laced a 5-iron to six feet. Drained the left-to-righter for birdie. "This guy's lighting it up," whispered Wax as Pridmore was about to stroke the putt. (Wax would finish with a 74 for 141, tied with Justin Gray, who fired a solid 72 on Sunday after a 69 at Saturday)

Pridmore grabbed his fourth straight birdie at No. 14, then birdied No. 16 for good measure. This wasn't just a tournament victory like he got at The Camarillo City Championship last weekend in sudden-death. This was the round of a lifetime (Pridmore said it was his best tournament round ever) and certainly the best individual tournament round in the 5-year history of amateurgolf.com's Tournament Series.

The fact that he didn't equal the course-record of 64 didn't seem to bother him. The fact that he made a bogey did.

"It would have been great to play a round without a bogey, but I'm not complaining," he said.

"He's tough, mentally, no doubt about it," said close friend Lincoln James, who was by Pridmore's side after a ruptured spleen left him in critical condition at a race in Birmingham in April. Pridmore says that James may have saved his life by insisting that he be moved to the hospital after 45 minutes at the track. This doesn't stop the two pals from constantly giving each other a hard time.

"Of course, he had to go an bogey the 17th hole while I was watching him, and screw up tying the course record," joked James.

Senior Champ Peter Daley with runner-up Conrad Lawrence (left) and Eugene Medlock, who was 3rd

SENIOR DIVISION
In the Senior Division, Peter Daley overcame an 8-stroke deficit to win the title by 2 over Conrad Lawrence, the first round leader who fired the wonderful 69 in round 1. Daley has some experience with winning tournaments - he won the competitive Club Championship at Mesa Verde CC 4 years in a row.

"And, might I add," said Daley proudly. "I'm 65."

Lawrence, who will soon try his luck on the Senior Tour, struggled to a 46 on the front nine on Sunday, but managed to retain his lead (and smile) through 12 holes as he birdied No. 11 and 16 to get to 2-under-par on the back nine. A double-triple finish on 17 and 18 dashed his hopes, as the steady Daley finished par-par to capture the title. We could all take a page from the playbook of the jovial final group who all seemed to realize that win or lose, it was just another great day of golf.

Net Champ Tom Jablonowski (c) with Craig Iverson (rt) and Robert Riley

NET DIVISION
Tom Jablonowski is now an amateurgolf.com 'veteran,' having played the Two Man Links Championship at Bandon Dunes in 2004 and now winning the Net Division of this event.

"I just played like I always, do, not too worried about the lead and trying to score the best I can on each hole," said Jablonowski, an accountant who resides not far from LAX.

"There was a worrisome moment on 18 when I hit it in the junk on the right," he added with a smile. "But I made a nice putt for par so that was nice."

* * * *

Final results from the amateurgolf.com Mission Viejo Championship, played at the 7011 yard, par-72 Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club:

	CHAMPIONSHIP
	First	Last	City	St	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1st	Jason	Pridmore	Ventura	CA	68	65	133
T2	Daniel	Wax	Pacific Palisades	CA	67	74	141
T2	Justin	Gray	Westminster	CA	69	72	141
4th	Micah	Burke	San Bernardino	CA	72	71	143
T5	Jeffrey	Chen	walnut	CA	74	73	147
T5	Frank	Chiu	Morongo Valley	CA	72	75	147
T7	Joel	Fieri	San Diego	CA	76	72	148
T7	David	Hahn	Henderson	NV	77	71	148
T7	David	Pichon	Ventura	CA	73	75	148
T7	Derek	Zellmer	Huntington Beach	CA	71	77	148
T7	Chris	Balster	Milpitas	CA	78	70	149
T12	Todd	Palmaer	Corona Del Mar	CA	77	72	149
T12	Brian	Kim	Yorba Linda	CA	76	73	149
T14	Eugene	Choi	Diamond Bar	CA	69	81	150
T14	Joe	Johnson	Carlsbad	CA	74	76	150
	Johnny	Ferreira	San Diego	CA	76	76	152
	Yung	Kim	Wilmington	CA	77	75	152
	Kris	Assawapimonporn	Huntington Beach	CA	79	74	153
	Andy	Chao	San Diego	CA	75	78	153
	Bo	DeHuff	Coto De Caza	CA	78	75	153
	Joshua	Walsh	Milpitas	CA	76	78	154
	Rob	Douglas	Downey	CA	80	75	155
	Tyler	Smith	San Juan Capistrano	CA	76	79	155
	Brian	Barre	Garden Grove	CA	73	83	156
	Patrick	MacMichael	Santa Barbara	CA	76	80	156
	Alexander	Resurreccion	Long Beach	CA	75	81	156
	Issei	Suenaga	Rancho Santa Margarita	CA	81	75	156
	Nick	Lindesay	Newport Beach	CA	80	77	157
	Will	Ritter	Aliso Viejo	CA	78	79	157
	Matt	Marshall	Los Gatos	CA	78	80	158
	Adam	Rodriguez	Lake Forest	CA	75	83	158
	Dylan	Pelletier-Ross	Claremont	CA	78	81	159
	Josh	Mecouch	Portland	OR	80	80	160
	Carl	Chang	RSM	CA	77	84	161
	Eric	Akeson	Peoria	IL	83	80	163
	James	Lynch	Placentia	CA	79	84	163
	John	Lavery	Mission Viejo	CA	78	86	164
	Chris	Moreno-Hunt	Berkeley	CA	77	87	164
	Pete	Wlodkowski	Carlsbad	CA	85	80	165
	Jack	Kim	Los Angeles	CA	83	83	166
	Kevin	McKelvie	Aliso Viejo	CA	85	81	166
	Tyler	Smith	Irvine	CA	88	79	167
	John	Fluman	San Clemente	CA	89	78	167
	Kevin	Hartsoch	Playa del Rey	CA	82	86	168
	Rick	Holguin	Dove Canyon	CA	83	87	170
	Kevin	Klatt	San Diego	CA	89	84	173
	George	Jackson	Murrieta	CA	88	90	178
	William	Ellis	Hermosa Beach	CA	85	97	182
	Stephen	Motte	Perris	CA	81	dns	dns
	Andrew	Varela	San Diego	CA	82	dns	dns
	David	Lebowitz	Santa Monica	CA	79	dns	dns
	Lincoln	James	Ventura	CA	77	nc	nc
	Tyler	Todhunter	Mission Viejo	CA	89	wd	wd
	Ryan	Kahl	Palmdale	CA	dns	dns	dns
	Patrick	Walker	San CLemente	CA	dns	dns	dns
	SENIOR
	First	Last	City	St	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1st	Peter	Daley	Newport Beach	CA	77	75	152
2nd	Conrad	Lawrence	Marina Del Rey	CA	69	85	154
3rd	Eugene	Medlock	Westlake Village	CA	76	79	155
	Mike	Marcus	Dana Point	CA	82	77	159
	Patrick	Reynolds	Irvine	CA	84	79	163
	Gregory	Waller	Tustin	CA	89	81	170
	Steve	Spiva	Solana Beach	CA	87	87	174
	James	Brickey Jr.	Danville	CA	dns
	NET DIVISION
	First	Last	City	St	Rd1	Rd2	Tot
1st	Tom	Jablonowski	Santa Monica	CA	74	71	145
2nd	Craig	Iverson	Arroyo Grande	CA	72	75	147
3rd	Robert	Riley	R.S.M	CA	78	73	151
	Thomas	Marr	Newport Beach	CA	77	75	152
	Robby	Gau	Coto de Caza	CA	79	75	154
	Barbara	Thomas	San Diego	CA	80	75	155
	Peter	Hlavin	Trabuco Canyon	CA	79	81	160
	Travis	Corcoran	Laguna Niguel	CA	75	88	163
	Michael	Brown	Aliso Viejo	CA	87	76	163
	Robert	Eliseo	Victorville	CA	84	82	166
	John	Sawicki	Corona del Mar	CA	88	dns	dns

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