Canyons Earns State Title, Chabot's Sanchez Posts New State Record
by Patrick Kelly, Merced College Sports Information
KINGSBURG - College of the Canyons earns the 2015 men's golf State title on Monday, one week after taking home the Southern CA regional championship. This is their second State title in the last three years. With a big first round lead they appeared to be in control throughout the second winning with a score of 733. COC was paced by very consistent scoring with four players shooting in the 140's in this 36-hole Staet championship. Reedley had an outstanding second round and jumped from fourth after the first round to second with a 741. A tiebreaker had to be used to determine third place as defending State champion, Riverside City, and Santa Rosa both tied with a 743. It came down to each team's sixth person over the second round. Santa Rosa won by six strokes with a 78 to 84 in the last with their sixth member Corey Giringhelli.
The CCCAA individual State champion is Chabot College's Jeremy Sanchez who shot a new CCCAA State championship low, 8-under par 136 (65-71). Sanchez's 8-under breaks a State record set back in 1999 by Long Beach City's Denny Kim, who posted a 7-under 137 at Yolo Fliers Country Club in Woodland, CA.
Coming in second place was Riverside's Chad Humbright who carded a tournament low of 64 in the second round to finish with a 141 (-3). Third place went to Zack Sims of Santa Rosa with a 143 (-1). Fourth and fifth was determined by a tiebreaker with fourth going to West Hill Lemoore's Gareth Evans shooting a 144 (even par) and fifth to Raymon Tira of San Joaquin Delta. Sixth had to go to a tiebreaker between seven players. Ben Hallam of Reedley had the best back nine holes to earn sixth and the final All-State honors.
Early going of round one Riverside came out with a statement hanging around the four over par mark. Then with a combination of scores from Canyons coming in and a fade of early leader Wes Hatton, Riverside fell to second place, eight strokes behind COC. Canyons played a very consistent first round with two golfers under par (Eric Kim, and Matt Murray both at 71), and Braden Lewis shooting par. Their lowest counting score was a three over par 75 by Noa Yap. Right behind Riverside in third and fourth place was Santa Rosa and Reedley at 373 and 375 respectively. From there it is another jump down to the last four teams all shooting within six strokes of each other. Santa Barbara CC in fifth with 381, Desert with 385, Folsom Lake 386, and Monterey Peninsula 387.
Individually Wes Hatton (Riverside) got off to a lightening start by going 3 under par for the first twelve holes and then three bogeys in a row put him at even after 18 holes. Chabot's Jeremy Sanchez played a very consistent first round that saw him shoot three under par in the first nine, and four under par in the back nine to card a first round low of 65 (-7). Sanchez finished the day with a 71, totalling his 8-under 136.
The State championships were held at Kings River Country Club in Kingsburg, CA.