Local Digest: Modesto’s Burda wins senior national golf event

Jeff Burda has built a stellar résumé as one of the nation’s most distinguished senior amateur golfers.

He burnished those credentials last month by winning the Golfweek Senior National at PGA West in La Quinta. He shot 69, 71 and 76 to edge runner-up Steve Hudson of Birmingham, Ala., by two strokes.

“I’m going to the gym more than I ever have and doing a lot of stretching and core work,” Burda said. “I had some back issues five years ago, but now I feel better than I ever have.”

Burda, 63, a bank executive with Wells Fargo, splits time these days between his homes in Modesto and La Quinta. His confidence grew recently after he was fitted with Callaway Apex irons, and his game sharpened.

Burda and Hudson pulled away from the field, and it was virtual match play in the final round. Both started with double bogeys before settling down. The tournament was decided when Burda got up and down from a tough spot on the 16th while Hudson three-putted for a bogey.

The Modestan, a three-time California Senior Amateur champion, called his second-round 71 – despite 40-mph gusts at the difficult TPC Stadium Course – the best competitive round he’s ever played.

“When we started at 9:45 a.m., the wind was blowing 20 mph, gusting to around 35 mph with the desert sand blowing in your face. It was brutal,” he said. “For me to shoot 1-under 71 in those conditions, I just don’t know if I could do that again.”

The win came a week after Hudson edged Burda at the Senior Masters at Indian Wells. Golfweek places Burda fifth in its senior golf rankings.

This summer, Burda plans to play in the Crump Cup at Pine Valley (N.J.) Golf Club, the George C. Thomas Invitational at Los Angeles Country Club and the Golfweek Senior National Match Play at Tobacco Road Golf Club in Sanford, N.C.

“As much as I love playing competitive senior amateur golf, it’s not the most important thing in my life,” he said. “I don’t travel that much, but when I do, I want to play courses I love with people that I like to play with.”

MJC golfer 28th at state – Modesto Junior College’s Justin Schroyer placed 28th out of 60 at the California Community College Championships on Monday at Desert Island CC in Rancho Mirage. Schroyer, a freshman from Bret Harte High School, shot 73 and 82. Reedley, which topped the runner-up Pirates for the Big 8 Conference title, claimed its first state title.

All-America softball honors for Waterford grad – California Baptist softball player London Miller, a Waterford High graduate, was named to the All-America second team, as voted on by NCAA Division II sports information directors.

Miller, a junior catcher and utility player, bounced back after sitting out 2015 because of a knee injury. She batted .373 with a .634 slugging percentage as her team finished 42-13 and reached the D-II regionals for the third straight year. Last week, Miller received a National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-America honor.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 6:26 PM with the headline "Local Digest: Modesto’s Burda wins senior national golf event."