Jeff Wilson stayed calm and focused Monday at Santa Barbara Golf Club, shooting a final-round 68 to keep a fairly comfortable lead en route to a four-stroke victory in the City Championship.
“I didn’t play as well today as yesterday, but it was good enough,” said Wilson, who hails from Fairfield.
Levi Garcia, who was well behind after a 78 on Saturday, shot 63 for the second straight day to finish in second place with a total of 204 in the event.
Wilson’s playing partners were Phil Horwith (206) and defending champion Brandon Gama (72), who were both six strokes off the pace heading into the final round. Gama broke the single-round scoring record in last year’s tournament with a 62 and also broke the cumulative record with a 17-under 193. But Wilson said that this year’s different course conditions led to higher scores and less potential for a monster round that would overtake his lead.
“The greens were a little firmer and quicker, which I think made the scores a little higher this year,” he said. “I knew that if I came out and did my job by playing a solid round it was gonna be pretty hard for somebody to come out and catch me.”
It was actually Wilson’s second tournament win of the week, as he and Don DuBois won the Gross Division at the Valley Club Member-Guest Tournament.
Grant Sparkes won the Palmer Flight with a cumulative score of 218, while Shawn Stuerman took the Hogan Flight at 220. Jerry Anderson (227) posted a one-stroke victory over Sean Barbosa in the Nicklaus Flight.
Jim Alzina tied Jerry Peifer with a 236 in the Trevino Flight by nabbing a birdie on the final hole. Alzina then won on the first playoff hole. Jim McConnel (244) won the Snead Flight by an impressive seven strokes, and Jeff Chaffin took the Player Flight at 261.
Championship Flight
Wilson, Jeff…67-65-68—200
Garcia, Levi…78-63-63—204
Flynn Jr, Michael…67-72-66—205
Horwith, Phil…67-70-69—206
Marsh…70-68-68—206
Verna, Anthony…69-69-68—206
Perez, Andrew…68-70-69—207
Pate, John…73-66-69—208
Corral, Albert…73-70-65—208
Gama, Brandon…71-66-72—209
Henno, Johnny…73-65-72—210
Patterson, Scott…70-72-68—210
Duncan Jr, Patrick…74-71-65—210
Cohen, Brandon…68-72-71—211
Lebow, Shane…70-70-71—211
Downing, George…70-72-69—211
Palmer Flight
Sparkes, Grant…69-73-76—218
Postel, Paul…72-71-76—219
Hicks, Jesse…75-73-80—228
King, Mike…77-77-79—228
Pendergrast, Chris…73-76-79—228
Yelman, Brian…76-73-79—228
Hogan Flight
Stuerman, Shawn…70-77-73—220
Williams, Nick…75-72-76—223
Baragona, Matthew…80-74-72—226
Myers, Jeff…76-73-78—227
Rowley, Bill…74-81-77—232
Courter, Justin…75-80-79—234
Nicklaus Flight
Anderson, Jerry…73-77-77—227
Barbosa, Sean…78-74-76—228
Seidl, Tom…74-77-80—231
Spencer, Bill…81-77-74—232
Gonzales, Frank…72-77-85—234
Harris, Al…76-78-81—235
Trevino Flight
Alzina, Jim…82-77-77—236
Peifer, Jerry…76-82-78—236
Smith, Todd…76-83-82—241
Fernandez, Juan…82-78-83—243
Snead Flight
McConnel, Jim…83-83-78—244
Milner, Brian…75-89-87—251
Gonzales, Richard…85-77-93—255
Player Flight
Chaffin, Jeff…86-88-87—261
Dellabarca, Salvi…87-88-88—263
Chavez, Armando…90-85-90—265
Gilles, Aaron…82-95-89—266
Griffin, Tom…83-94-89—266
