Goldstein, Taylor Continue SNGA Team Winning Ways in B.C.
Joshua Goldstein and Wes Taylor give new meaning to ‘ham-and-egging-it’ when it comes to Four-Ball events. The duo breezed to the title in the Championship Division of the 2018 Boulder City Four-Ball Amateur held May 5-6 at Boulder City Golf Club. They previously teamed up to win the 2018 USGA Four-Ball Qualifier held Feb. 9 at Bear’s Best Golf Club. John Garrett and Kevin Parrish were the champs in the Silver Division gross. –By Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider staff.
Championship Division
Goldstein and Taylor combined for 10 birdies the first day as they opened a four-stroke lead. Each of the duo birdied three holes individually and they also each birdied the same hole four times. They added to the lead on Sunday and cruised to the six-stroke win.
“Wes is just a par machine and it really frees me up to hit aggressive shots,” Goldstein said.
Their game plan is simple. Taylor hits first followed by Goldstein. “I don’t think we’ve ever changed it up,” Goldstein said. “It’s really easy to be aggressive when your partner is hitting it down the middle all day. We played smart and hit irons off the tee when we needed to. It just all worked out well.”
Goldstein also said the course made a huge difference. “The greens were in amazing condition,” he said. “They were probably running about 10 and were super smooth. We made a lot of putts. We had a few 10-15 foot par saves and really felt comfortable over them.”
Championship Division
Goldstein-Taylor, 62-66—128
Bauman-Fryatt, 66-68—134
May-Horodesky, 66-70—136
Net Division
It was an even larger margin of victory in the Net Division as Luis Morais and Don Blanton carded rounds of 64-60—124 to post a 12-stroke victory.
“We kept the ball in play and had a lot of clutch putts both days,” Blanton said. “It really worked out great.”
Blanton added his partner’s game was a key. “Luis is a low handicap player and I’m a high handicapper so he was a great mentor to me,” Blanton said. “It’s guys like him that got me to join the SNGA in the first place. We just played consistent golf both days.”
Net Division
Blanton-Morais, 64-60—124
Gilliame-Ross, 70-66—136
Rinaldi-Elmore, 72-68—140
Silver Division
John Garrett and Kevin Parrish birdied three of the final seven holes to win the Silver Division crown.
“We had a two-shot lead most of the day so we just kept pace,” Garrett said. “We only had one bogey the whole tournament. Between the two of us, we kept it in front of us and made par or birdie.”
He added the team played conservatively, but still scored well. “We didn’t see anyone pushing us,” he said. “When we birdied 16 and 17 we were pretty confident. We just matched them and kept them an arm’s length away.”
Silver Division
Garrett-Parrish, 70-69—139
McShane-Thomas, 73-69—142
Corbin-Wilson, 73-71—144
Silver Division Net
Larry Agan and Michael Manthey rallied to win the Silver Division net title, coming back from a three-stroke deficit after the first day. The duo had rounds of 66 and 65 to post a two-stroke victory.
“We just hung in there,” Manthey said. “It was a good team effort.”
It needed to be. “We chipped in for birdie on the first hole (Sunday) and saw we were still three back,” he said. “But we had a birdie, a net eagle, on the 8th and that really got us going. We parred out the rest of the way and managed to win.”
Silver Division Net
Agan-Manthey, 66-65—131
McShane-Thomas, 68-65—133
Dehaven-Sitar, 63-70—133
