Johnson, Roberts, Foggia, Bartels, Miller, Zuniga Win Nye County SNGA Titles
Daren Johnson (Championship), Todd Roberts (Senior) and David Foggia (Silver) won gross titles at the 2024 Nye County Amateur. Aaron Bartels (Net), Artie Miller (Senior) and Ian Zuniga (Silver) captured net titles in the tournament held Feb. 24-25, 2024, at Mountain Falls Golf Club in Pahrump. –by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider
Championship
Daren Johnson is back in the winner’s circle after not posting a victory in 2023.
Johnson, who played his final eight holes of the second round in two-under-par, last was in the winner’s circle at the Winter Classic in December of 2022.
“I’m really glad to get this win…it’s been over a year,” he said.
He said he’s looking forward to the 2024 season.
“I’ve been working hard on my game,” he said. “This last year, I was bouncing between jobs and now I have a good schedule and it’s opening up more time for me to practice and get a feel for my short game which I was really lacking…which you can see from my scores last year.”
He said the hard work has also helped his mental approach.
“I’m a lot more confident around the greens and that’s freed up my iron play,” he said. “There’s less pressure and I’m hitting it closer and making more birdies.”
He did say the final round was a good test of that confidence.
“It was a good grind today,” he said. “It was good to be grinding out there over the final nine holes for a win. It feels great that it worked out well.”
Now, he’s looking for a bigger and better 2024.
“I’m hoping this year goes skyward after this win,” he said. “I’m hoping to have a lot more conversations with you as the year goes along.”
Championship
Daren Johnson, 68-71—139
Jonathan Minkoff, 72-69—141
Garret Kieffer, 76-68—144
Net
It took a scorecard playoff but Aaron Bartels is back in the winner’s circle after a two-year absence.
Bartels, the 2021 SNGA Net Player of the Year when he won three times, said it’s good to win again.
“I had a good run in 2021 but not so good in 2022 and 2023,” he said.
Now, the drive is back.
“To be in the last group and know I had a chance to win was great,” he said.
Overall he said his game was solid…with one exception.
“My putting was solid and my driving was fantastic,” he said. “I think I may have missed one drive and it was just slightly off the fairway.”
But there was that one exception.
“I had a bad second shot on the second hole,” he said. “I made double there but I was able to brush it off.”
He added that approach has helped his game.
“I just tried to play one shot at a time…stay present,” he said. “I was two shots down going into the final round and I just tried to concentrate on each shot. It definitely worked and I thought if I could keep that up I just might be able to pull it out.”
Net
x-Aaron Bartels, 73-73—146
Brent Thomas, 73-73—146
Chris Rice, 71-75—146
x-Won in a scorecard playoff
Senior
A par on the final hole was the difference as Todd Roberts won the Senior Division title by one stroke.
Roberts, who was tied with Kelly Knievel and Robert Futrell with one hole remaining, put a par on the scorecard while the other two bogeyed the hole.
But for Roberts, it was anything but an easy par.
“It was a little exciting,” Roberts said. “John Bobrowski, who I was playing with, asked if I wanted to know where we stood. I said, nah. I figured I had to make a birdie and I didn’t want to get out of that frame of mind.”
He striped a drive but an errant second shot left him scrambling.
“I had a seven-iron in and didn’t hit a good shot at all,” he said. “I hit it into a grass bunker pin high. I went up to John and said, OK, where do I stand? He said I was a shot ahead.”
All of a sudden, his approach changed.
“I had a good lie in the grass bunker but the shot landed soft,” he said. “The one thing I didn’t want to do was leave it above the hole and I did just that. I left it nine or 10 feet short and it was a downhill putt.”
Then it was showtime.
“It came down to that putt because if I hit it past the hole, it brings three-putt into the picture,” he said. “It was downhill and had a lot of break. But I somehow talked myself into making it.”
Senior
Todd Roberts, 69-72—141
Kelly Knievel, 72-70—142
Steven Fink, 72-73—145
Senior Net
Artie Miller made it two-for-two in 2024 as he posted a two-stroke victory in the Senior Net Division.
Miller also won the season-opening Senior Net Division in the Tournament of Champions event last month.
“This is the first two-day tournament I’ve won,” he said. “And it feels really good.”
He said he’s improved his game and it was on display this weekend.
“My driver has been very straight and my ball-striking has been good,” he said. “I eliminated a lot of mistakes on the greens and it’s helped me become more consistent.”
He said the win was especially nice because of the way he won.
“I’m not a scoreboard watcher but I did look with a couple of holes left,” he said. “There were a couple of players at one-under and I was at even-par and didn’t have any stroke holes left. But I finished birdie-birdie to win the tournament.”
He shocked even himself.
“Never in a million years did I think I could finish that way to win a tournament.”
And the putts were definitely challenging.
“I hit pretty good iron shots into both greens,” he said. “The putt on 17 was about 20 feet and then on 18 I made an eight-to-10-footer. They were really good putts and came at a great time.”
Senior Net
Artie Miller, 70-72—142
Robert Futrell, 72-72—144
Scott Hunter, 68-76—144
Silver
David Foggia took up 2024 just like he left off 2023…by winning.
Foggia posted a four-shot win in the Silver Division for his first win of 2024 after picking up three wins in 2023.
It was his first two-day tournament win.
“I haven’t played in many two-day events so it was a little different,” he said. “I just tried to stay near the top the first day but I certainly didn’t play well.”
He said course knowledge…or lack of it…hampered his opening day.
“There’s a lot of trouble on the course,” he said. “You have to be careful where you put the ball which I found out the first day when I had a couple of double bogeys and made some dumb mistakes.”
He rebounded on Sunday…but still had some problems.
“I had a lot of birdies today (five) but also had bogeys (four) so it was a decent round,” he said. “I did leave strokes out there though so that’s something I need to work on.”
He credited his short game for his success.
“Inside 90 yards I was hitting it well,” he said. “The course plays pretty short so if you hit a driver in good position, you’re going to have a lot of wedges in and I hit them pretty well. Plus, the greens were good and held.”
Silver
David Foggia, 76-71—147
David Curley, 75-76—151
Mark Dopheide, 75-77—152
Silver Net
Ian Zuniga got into the SNGA winner’s circle for the first time,
riding a pair of net eagles for the victory.
It was the first SNGA tournament he played in.
“I tried to look at it as any other rounds of golf,” he said of the tournament aspect. “I just tried to play my game. I certainly didn’t think I would be a contender.”
He said both net eagles were surprising to say the least.
“They were both chip-ins,” he said. “They were both on par 3s. One was a flop shot and the other was a bump-and-run. I would have probably given each of them a five percent chance of going in but they both did.”
As good as the net eagle chip-ins were, Zuniga came close to giving himself another shot to remember on the 17th hole.
“It was a par-3 and I hit an eight-iron,” he said. “It hit a little to the side of the hole and caught the slope and stopped about a foot short. A hole-in-one would have really made my day.”
Overall, Zuniga said the tournament was one of those outings where everything fell into place.
“When you play a lot of golf, you have good days and bad days,” he said. “This was definitely one of those good days. Everything just felt good.”
Silver Net
Ian Zuniga, 78-69—147
Jeffrey Campbell, 74-78—152
John Turk, 78-79—157
