Local Notebook: First Tee golfers to play in senior event; Big Valley star selected
Two Stanislaus County golfers will represent First Tee Central Valley at the Pure Insurance Championship senior tournament at Pebble Beach in September.
Adam Cartozian, a Gregori graduate who will attend Cal Lutheran this fall, and Matteo Bonales, who attends Central Valley High of Ceres, will tee it up with members of the PGA Tour Champions, the men’s professional senior golf tour.
Held Sept. 20-26, the 54-hole tournament will be played at Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill Golf Course.
Among the pros listed to compete are Mark Calcavecchia, Lee Janzen, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie, Mark O’Meara and Vijay Singh. Jim Furyk won last year’s tournament.
Cartozian joined the First Tee program as an 8-year-old and is an “ACE” certified participant, having reached the highest level of the program. Bonales is an Eagle level participant and joined at the age of 10.
They are among 81 teens from First Tee chapters around the country who were selected by a national panel of judges. They were chosen based on their playing ability, along with “their personal growth and life skills learned through the First Tee’s programs.”
The Friday-Sunday tournament, which will be televised on The Golf Channel, will feature 81 foursomes with one professional, one junior and two amateurs over the first 36 holes. The low 23 pro-junior teams are among those who will advance to the final round.
Brenna Preap (Bear Creek High), Amelia Garibaldi (Lodi High) and Elyse Argarin (Lincoln High-UC Berkeley) are representing First Tee San Joaquin.
Big Valley Christian standout signs MLB deal: Former Big Valley Christian infielder Cameron Butler signed with the Chicago White Sox, who selected him earlier this month in the 15th round of the Major League Baseball draft.
Although ranked as the 107th best high school shortstop in the country, according to amateur baseball site Perfect Game, Butler was signed as an outfielder by the White Sox.
A 6-foot, 175-pound right-handed hitter, Butler had committed to Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. Although terms of the deal were not announced, a 15th-round pick is generally slotted for a signing bonus of around $150,000, according to the MLB draft tracker.
Ex-Central Catholic star on watch list: Justin Rice, who starred for Central Catholic, was named to the Watch List for the Bednarik Award, given annually to the top defensive player in college football.
A 2016 Central graduate, Rice enrolled at Utah State this spring following a year at Arkansas State, where he led the nation with 18.5 tackles for loss. He began his career at Fresno State but left before last season when the Bulldogs announced they would not be playing fall football due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rice, a linebacker, earned first-team all-Sun Belt Conference honors during the 2020 season.
The Chuck Bednarik Award is named after the former University of Pennsylvania star who went on to play with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Utah State, a member of the Mountain West Conference, opens its season on Sept. 4 at Washington State. The Aggies will make one Northern California trip on Nov. 13 at San Jose State. Utah State and Fresno State do not meet this season.
This story was originally published July 25, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
