Carpendale, Swanson Win Crowns at Las Vegas City Senior Amateur
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Oct, 28, 2017)—Gary Carpendale (Senior) and Bruce Swanson (Silver) took different routes to winning gross championship division titles in the 2017 Las Vegas City Senior Amateur held Oct. 26-27, 2017 at the Las Vegas Golf Club. Carpendale jumped out to a huge lead after the first day and cruised to a five-stroke victory while Swanson had two consistent rounds and rallied for his victory. Also posting wins were James Corey (Senior net) and Walter Sabait (Silver net). — By Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider staff.
Senior Division
Gary Carpendale recorded five birdies and an eagle in the opening round en route to a 7-under-par 65. He followed that up with a two-under-par 70.
“I was just hitting it good and everything was working,” Carpendale said of his first day’s score. “It was one of those days where everything was going good. I had a birdie at two and then hit a nice iron into the green on the par-5 and kept my head down and tried to lag the putt up and it went in. That was a nice bonus.”
The second day started off just as well as the first.
“I was four-under through the first six holes so it was nice to get off to two really hot starts,” he said. “But then I had a couple of mud balls and lost a little confidence. I started to play a little defensive. It’s normal to start taking your foot off the pedal when you’ve got a lead, but I’ll certainly take a 70.”
Senior Division
Gary Carpendale, 65-70—135
Richard Dominquez, 70-70-140
Brigham Gibbs, 69-71—140
Senior Division-Net
James Corey was hoping for a top-five finish as he made his debut in SNGA events.
But consistent rounds (68-69) gave him a four-stroke victory in the net portion of the Senior Division.
“My chipping and putting couldn’t have been any better,” Corey said. “Putting, anything within eight feet I think I made. I had a lot of one-putts for pars and birdies. And I had an eagle and almost a double eagle. I missed by about two inches on the 11th.”
But despite the win, he knows there’s still work to be done.
“I just got a new set of irons and I need to improve hitting those,” he said. “But overall, I’m very happy with the way I played. I just want to have consistent scores.”
Senior Division-Net
James Corey, 68-69—137
Kyle Kenny, 72-69—141
Todd Roberts, 71-74—145
Silver Division
For Bruce Swanson, consistency was the name of the game over the two-day event.
“I kept the ball in play and putted very well Thursday,” he said. “(Friday), it was a scramble. I only hit about 10 greens but I was able to get it up and down and survive. Everything just went very well.”
Swanson added his play coming into the event was solid and he kept up the stellar play over two days.
“I knew I was playing well coming into this event and just kept it up,” he said. “It was just two solid rounds of golf. I kept the driver in play, hit my irons pretty well and chipped very solidly today and that turned out to be a good combination.”
He rallied to beat Frank Abbott by a stroke. Abbott had a back-nine 40 on the second day to fall to second place.
Silver Division
Bruce Swanson, 70-73—143
Frank Abbott, 70-74—144
Cyrus Whitney, 73-73—146
Silver Division-Net
Walter Sabati’s second-round net 64 rallied him to a one-shot win over Bill Scheer. It was Sabati’s second win in SNGA events.
Sabati was two strokes behind Scheer before his second-round rally that included two net eagles on par 5s. He also recorded five net birdies in the finale.
“My putting was great today,” Sabati said. “I was in the trees a lot but got out and managed to scramble pretty well. I couldn’t believe how well I was putting. I had about 10 one-putts today.”
All that scrambling and putting added up to his sizzling 64.
“That’s my lowest round ever,” he said. “It helps when you play with good guys. It definitely helps you relax.”
Senior Division-Net
Walter Sabati, 68-64—132
Bill Scheer, 66-67—133
