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Columnists - Columnists: Ron Agostini

Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009

Agostini: 'People's Tournament' starts Saturday

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The Modesto City Golf Championship is about you and me.

The tournament steams ahead to its 27th renewal this weekend, and nothing really has changed since its beginning in 1983. The City belongs to the people.

It's contested on Modesto's two 18-hole municipal layouts, Creekside and Dryden Park. It's open to anyone holding a handicap index. And, most important, it's won by people who love golf.

The City has been won by nurses, telephone repairmen, bank presidents, school supply purchasing agents, conveyor belt salesmen, coaches, print shop managers, students, nurses and diabetics.

Three players -- Jeff Thomas in 1991, Bob Niger in '93 and J.D. Padget de Regt in '05 -- have won sudden-death playoffs by driving Dryden's 326-yard par-4 first. Others such as Mike Lane ('85), Peter Canevari ('07) won after barely missing in previous years. Then there's Walnut Creek's Marsha Lutz, who's swung a long putter to six women's titles, a number that could have swelled to nine or 10 with a holed putt here or there.

Families cling to the event as though they're clutching priceless heir looms. It wasn't unusual for as many as five members of the Krogness family to tee it up during the early years and, in 1991, Sue Krogness won while her mother Neva captured the second flight.

Fathers have beaten sons, and sisters have dominated. Dana Arnold Ebster, a teaching pro at McHenry Golf Center, watched her sister Keri win in 1985. Dana's response? Victories in '86, '88, '89 and '90. Doug Crowther, who cut his golf teeth at Modesto Junior College and Cal State Stanislaus, won three of the first of five City championships and was a perennial contender.

Keri eventually spent a year on the LPGA Tour. Joe Acosta Jr., a Fresno State star from Visalia, won in '94 and eventually advanced to the PGA Tour. Matt Bettencourt finally reached the Tour this year but not until he'd won the City four times, the first as an 18-year-old Beyer High grad in '93. Hughson graduate Katy Joslin, a former Women's State Amateur finalist, won in '01 and 03.

The City has sweated through 106-degree heat, drifted in 30-mph gusts and basked in Chamber of Commerce-approved sunshine. Simply, the tournament is a piece of Modesto.

Here are the tournament's top five finishes:

1 Tony Pitts of Pittsburg walked off Dryden's 18th green with a two-shot lead in 1991. "Someone said, 'I guess you've won the thing,'" Pitts said.

Not so fast, partner.

Jeff Thomas, chain-smoking with gold bling jangling from his neck, saw a chance at Dryden's reachable 18th. He ripped a 230-yard 1-iron second shot --no 17-degree or utility clubs back then -- to within eight feet and holed the putt for the tying eagle.

Thomas then marched to No. 1 and pounded a downwind tee shot to four feet, and a shaken Pitts pushed his drive into the rough. Thomas birdied for the win.

"All I need is to get height on the shot and let the gulf stream take over," Thomas said of his tournament-winning shot. "When I hit it good, it's always home."

2 USC standout Nick Webb of Turlock rode a front nine of 32 into a two-stroke lead over his father, Ken Webb, with six holes left at Creekside in 1998. After that, father knew best. Nick pulled his second shot out of bounds at the 13th while Ken (66-69 -- 135) scorched the back nine in 34 and edged Gary Ard by one. Nick placed third, three behind Ken.

"Mixed emotions," the father said. "I was pulling for him."

3 Earl Cross Jr. of Grass Valley, a star at Cal State Stanislaus, needed something special to overtake fellow Warrior Vince Venard in 2006. His response was a record 64, spiced by a holed 20-foot pitch for eagle at Creekside's sixth, to nip Venard by one. Cross' 68-64 -- 132 (12 under par) remains the tournament record.

4 Bob Niger positioned himself for a second straight City win in 2004 at Creekside until Modesto's Jeff Burda reversed the momentum with his putter. The multi-time champion at Del Rio Country Club rolled in a 16-footer for birdie at the 17th and then won it by holing a 30-foot double-breaker at the 18th. It was Niger's third runner-up finish since '99.

5 Modesto Junior College coach Gary Ard, 44, (73-67 -- 140) birdied four holes on the back nine in 1990 to overtake Glenn Andrade by one. It was a milestone victory for Ard, who remains the City's oldest winner and its only African American champion.