Short Game Wizards Earn Titles at 2025 SNGA Tour Eagle Crest Championship
LAS VEGAS, NV (April 25, 2025)–Benjamin Barclay (Championship), Marty Pena (Senior), Ron Harwood (Silver) and Dave Haddock (Net) won titles at the 2025 Short Game Championship. The tournament was held April 25, 2025, at Eagle Crest Golf Club.–by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider staff
Championship
Benjamin Barclay posted a pair of birdies on the back nine in winning an SNGA Tour event for the first time.
Barclay wound up with a one-stroke victory.
“I hit a wedge shot to No. 10 to about 10 feet and made it,” Barclay said of his back-nine rally. “Then on 16 I got kind of lucky. My shot went up on me and was going offline but the wind blew it back. I had about 20 feet and made the putt.”
Barclay, a freshman at Agoura High School in Agoura Hills, CA (a suburb of Los Angeles), got the best of his twin brother, Jonathan, who finished third.
“That was kind of cool,” Benjamin said of the finish by the twins.
He said his short game is his strength and this tournament was an ideal spot to work on it.
“I chip mostly with my 56 and 60…depending on how I visualize the shot,” he said. “I was really steady the whole day and had some long two-putts that helped. I messed up on No. 17 (a double bogey) which was annoying but overall it was a pretty solid day.”
Championship
Benjamin Barclay, 63
Adam Bennett, 64
Jonathan Barclay, 66
Senior
Marty Pena won for the first time in more than a year, winning the Senior title by two strokes.
Pena had just one birdie during the round but said his attitude kept him focused on a windy day.
“The wind was a definite factor out here today,” he said. “But everyone had to deal with it. I just tried to play steady.”
He said there were two parts of his game he focused on.
“Club selection was key and keeping the spin off the ball,” he said of his mindset.
He added he knew there were going to be bogeys out there.
“Bogeys were going to be a given today,” he said. “The scoring conditions were tough with the wind. I made some mistakes but handled the part about not compounding mistakes with more mistakes well. I didn’t have any double bogeys and that was a plus.”
Senior
Marty Pena, 67
David Smith, 69
Michael Andrews, 69
Silver
Ron Harwood got in the SNGA winner’s circle for the first time, winning the Silver Division by one shot.
Harwood’s best previous finishes were two runnerup finishes, one in 2024 and one in 2025.
“I’m from the East Coast and moved to retire out here,” Harwood said. “Most of the guys in the SNGA have been here for a long time and know the golf courses. It’s been a learning curve for me.”
And he’s now a champion so he’s learning well.
“It was tough out there today,” he said, “The wind was pretty strong and the rough hasn’t grown in yet so the potential for the ball to roll away was there and made hitting the greens key.”
He also said his work on the greens was tough.
“Eagle Crest is known for tough greens,” he said. “They are tough to read. I had a couple of three putts but did have a solid day hitting the ball.”
Silver
Ron Harwood, 67
Terry Martin, 68
Jeffrey English, 69
Net
Dave Haddock won the Short Game Championship for the second time as he also won in 2022.
Haddock had five net birdies in the windy conditions including going back-to-back twice and wound up winning in a scorecard playoff.
Net
x-Dave Haddock, 61
Jin Ho Choi, 61
Alvin Kang, 62
x-Won scorecard playoff
