On Tuesday, Boyns followed up an opening round 74 with a 72 at always tough Spyglass Hill Golf Course to capture the NCGA Masters Division (ages 40-54) championship. The win marks Boyns' sixth different NCGA championship title in more than 25 years, and pushes the veteran Pebble Beach caddie into the lead in the race for NCGA Player of the Year honors. Boyns, 51, last earned POY honors in 1996.
Poppy Hills Golf Course is offering a number of specials running through Sunday as part of National "Bring Your Daughter to the Course Week." Under the program, the rate (including cart) for adults after 3:30 p.m.
will be $42 today and Thursday and $47 Friday through Sunday. Kids 17 and under play for free. There will also be two free, one-hour clinics for parents and their kids.
One will be today at 5:30 p.m. and another will be Saturday at 3 p.
m. For more information on the clinics and available tee times, please call 622-8239. Mina Harigae wasn't the only one walking away from the recent U.
S. While Harigae was busy winning the championship, longtime NCGA Director of Education Gail Rogers was busy acting as chairman of the event. It was the first time Rogers, who was named to the USGA Women's Committee in 2002, had chaired a national championship.
"The sense of honor I felt at being asked to serve as chairman of the Women's Amateur Public Links championship was amazing," said Rogers, who first started volunteering for the USGA in 1994. In her NCGA role, Rogers leads nearly 20 rules seminars throughout the year and coordinates quarterly women's summits which focus on broadening opportunities for women in golf. Military personnel, firefighters and law enforcement officials (plus one accompanied guest) will get free admission to this year's Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.
Eligible personnel must only present their active official department ID or badge at any ticket booth. "We are proud to support our local military as well as law enforcement and firefighters," Ollie Nutt, president and CEO of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation which stages the event, said in a prepared statement. "We encourage them to come out to Pebble Beach and see the legends of golf compete alongside top juniors from First Tee programs across the country.
" This year's First Tee Open will be played Aug. 2 at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Del Monte Golf Course. For more information on the event or tickets call (800) 541-9091 or go to www.
thefirstteeopen.com. A quartet of locals will be on the tee when the prestigious Junior World championships get underway Tuesday at a number of different sites in the San Diego region.
Jay Burlison of Salinas and Michael Decker of Pebble Beach will play in the boys' 11-12 championship at Lake San Marcos Country Club, while Matthew Ogden of Salinas and Luke Vivolo of Carmel will compete in the boys' 13-14 championship at Riverwalk Golf Cpirse. Past champions of the event include Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson. Open qualifying for this year's NCGA Amateur Match Play championship will be held Friday at eight different sites including Coyote Creek Golf Course and San Juan Oaks Golf Course outside of Hollister.
Locals in the field at Coyote Creek include Ryan Bohning and Brian Thompson, while those who will be at San Juan Oaks include Steve Donnelly, Jack Hoenes and Andrew Rodriguez. This year's championship will be held Aug. 14-18 at Spyglass Hill.
Nine locals will be in the field when a qualifier for this year's NCGA Junior Championship is held Thursday at Coyote Creek Golf Course outside of Gilroy. Boys slated to tee off include Bryan Kurnoff (Monterey), Zack Chinn, Kraig McLeod and Michael Jacobs (Pebble Beach), Kyle John (Carmel), Matthew Ogden (Salinas) and Christopher Boyns (Pacific Grove). Those who will be aiming for spots in the girls championship include Ariana Patterson (Carmel) and Haley Andreas (Pacific Grove).
This year's championship will be held July 30-31 at Lake Merced Golf Course in Daly City. The teams of Monterey Peninsula CC members John Young and Marty Ruberry and Laguna Seca Golf Ranch members John Ecklund and David Trayford both earned spots into next month's NCGA Four-Ball Net Championship via qualifying held last week. Young and Ruberry teamed up to shoot 62 in a qualifier held at Poppy Hills, while Ecklund and Trayford moved on after shooting 60 in a qualifier at Seascape Golf Course in Aptos.
This year's championship will be held Aug. 6-7 at Spyglass Hill. Herald correspondent Jerry Stewart can be reached at 644-0319.
On Tuesday, Boyns followed up an opening round 74 with a 72 at always tough Spyglass Hill Golf Course to capture the NCGA Masters Division (ages 40-54) championship.
