Mitchell, Roberts, Fink, Kanthak, LiCausi, Yocum Win SNGA Cascata Amateur Titles
Matt Mitchell (Championship), Todd Roberts (Senior) and Steve Fink (Silver) won gross titles at the 2024 Cascata Amateur. Chris Kanthak (Net), Jim LiCausi (Senior) and George Yocum (Silver) won net titles in the tournament held Aug. 17-18, 2024, at the world-renowned Cascata. –by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider
The tournament used a Modified Stableford scoring method. A double eagle was worth seven points, an eagle was worth five points, a birdie was worth three points, a par was worth two points, a bogey was worth one point and a double bogey or worse was worth zero points.
Championship
Matt Mitchell fired an even-par round of 72 in the second round, good enough for 36 points in the Modified Stableford system, and won for the fourth time in 2024.
Mitchell, who works in the gaming industry, has three individual titles and a team title this season.
“Cascata is tough and it was windy both days,” Mitchell said. “I’m pretty happy with the way I played both days…today for sure.”
He said Cascata is one of those courses that is extremely challenging for players.
“It’s a course where you’ve got to find the fairway,” he said. “Keeping the ball in play helps limit high scores and I only had two balls in the rocks over the two days and both came on par 5s so they weren’t so bad.”
He did say he knows there are always parts of the game that need work.
“I always think I can putt better,” he said with a laugh. “But then I think everyone thinks that. I had three three-putts today and that hurts. It almost cost me today so I’ll definitely work on that.”
Mitchell will now join Grant McKay, Daren Johnson and Phil Reedy as Team Nevada in this week’s Mid-Am Championship at the Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort.
“It’s one of the newer tournaments and I’m looking forward to it…it’s going to be fun,” he said of the event in which three of the four players’ scores count in each of the three rounds.
Championship
Matt Mitchell, 33-36—72 points
Alex Forristal, 32-32—64
Grant McKay, 24-37—61
Net
Chris Kanthak overcame three holes where he posted double-bogeys for zero points to hold on for a one-point win in the Net Division.
It was his third win of 2024 as he won an individual event and a team event, both of them coming in February.
“It’s the first two-day tournament I’ve won so I’m happy about that,” he said.
He said the victory didn’t come without a few rough spots.
“Today we started on hole 13,”’ he said. “I only had three points through the first four holes so I was getting a little demoralized. But then I had a stretch of five net birdies and that got my confidence back.”
He said going into the second day he wasn’t sure what to expect.
“I had never gone into the second day with the lead so it was a different feeling,” he said. “I just told myself to try to get a point per hole and try to hold onto the lead.”
He added he could pinpoint his problems right away.
“My short game wasn’t too good,” he said. “It would have been easier if I had chipped and pitched the ball closer to the pin. I left myself a lot of 8-10 footers for par. I made a couple but missed others and that wound up costing me points.”
Net
Chris Kanthak, 37-33—70 points
Andy Sessa, 32-37—69
Jacob Barry, 30-38—68
Senior
Todd Roberts just tried to stay focused.
Roberts won for the fifth time in 2024, posting a four-point victory in the Senior Division.
“I had a little extra motivation to win,” he said. “My dad (Tommy) passed away. He was 96. I told myself I was going to win the tournament for him.”
Roberts’ dad passed away from cancer but was still playing golf twice a week until April.
“The cancer came back and got him quick,” Roberts said. “He went out on his own terms. This one was for him. It gave me a lot of motivation.”
Roberts said he’s a fan of the tournament format.
“It helps because you can pick up if you’re going to make a double bogey,” he said. “And I didn’t make any doubles so that was huge.”
He added his final four holes were the key…especially the second day.
“I bogeyed the last four holes yesterday,” he said. “That really ticked me off. But I made a big improvement today and went par, birdie, bogey, par. That’s four points better and that ended up being the difference.”
Senior
Todd Roberts, 33-36—69 points
Daniel Laperriere, 31-34—65
James Corey, 33-23—56
Senior Net
Jim LiCausi won for the second time in 2024, rallying with a second-round total of 39 points in earning a three-point victory.
“I got used to the wind from the first day and I just played pretty good golf,” he said.
He added he went into the tournament with one main goal.
“I just told myself to take care of the par 5s and I would be OK,” he said. “I birdied all of the par 5s today so it worked out well. I have to have a solid game plan. I’m not long enough to get into trouble and I have to rely on my short game so I work on my wedges a lot.”
He said the format fits his mindset.
“It lets you be more aggressive with putts,” he said. “I did wind up running a few of them a little past the hole but you’ve got to make birdies. I did make the comebackers so that does help.”
Senior Net
Jim LiCausi, 30-39—69 points
Joel Panning, 26-40—66
Michael Haas, 35-31—66
Silver
Steve Fink made it three wins in his four Silver Division events of 2024, winning by two points.
“I’m pleased with the win,” he said. “I didn’t know I had won until the last putt dropped and someone said congratulations.”
He said his final-round start didn’t leave him with a lot of hope.
“I started double bogey, bogey,” he said. “That wasn’t good. I just told myself to keep playing. I saw Kent (Samuel) had a couple of mishaps so I just tried to get as many points as I could. After that start I wound up playing the rest of the way one-under so I was happy with that.”
The tournament came down to the group’s final hole, No. 8.
“I didn’t know where I stood, I just tried to keep playing,” he said. “Kent hit his second shot over the green and wound up with a bogey while I had a par and somehow won by two points.”
He said despite the start, he stayed positive.
“I just tried to grind it out,” he said. “I hit some great shots and some really good putts and it all worked out well.”
Silver
Steve Fink, 32-34—66 points
Kent Samuel, 37-27—64
John Steele, 32-28—60
Silver Net
George Yocum had three net birdies in a four-hole stretch en route to a one-point victory.
It was Yocum’s second win of 2024.
“I’m probably reaching my limit,” Yocum said of wins for the year. “Now that I’ve retired I get to play and practice a whole lot more so that has contributed to my game getting a little better.”
He added this week’s event was a nice bounceback.
“I was disappointed in the state tournament last week,” he said. “This tournament I stayed focused and played much better.”
He added the format also plays into his game.
“You can make a whole lot of mistakes but this format lets you do that without hurting you too much,” he said. “And when you get on a roll, it seems easy. But, trust me, when you make an ‘X’ on a hole, it hurts. And I had four ‘X’s’ this week so despite how well I played, I played terrible four times.”
Silver Net
George Yocum, 34-35—69
Kenneth Olesen, 39-29—68
David Kim, 32-35—67
