Six Duos Earn SNGA Team Titles at Mountain Falls Event
The teams of Preston Harris-Richard Kim (Championship), Todd Roberts-Brady Exber (Senior) and James Hill-John Garrett (Silver) won gross titles at the 2023 SNGA Team Championship. Joseph Noya-Charlie Berydas (Net), William Day-Artie Miller (Senior) and Darwin Rogers-Mark Dopheide (Silver) captured net titles in the tournament held Sept. 23-24, 2023, at Mountain Falls Golf Club.–by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider
The two-day event included an alternate-shot format followed by a four-ball format.
Championship
The team of Preston Harris and Richard Kim birdied the final hole as they posted a two-stroke victory in the Championship Division.
It was Kim’s second SNGA win and Harris’ first.
While Harris-Kim birdied the final hole, the team of Josh Goldstein and Kamden Ganir bogeyed the 17th and those two holes proved to be the difference.
“It was pretty much a putting contest on every hole,” Kim said. “We just managed to putt a little better than they did down the stretch.”
Kim added the back nine was a battle of nerves.
“We definitely felt the pressure on the back nine,” Kim said. “We hit a couple of wayward shots but made up for them with good second shots. Our game plan was to hit fairways and greens and stay out of trouble. For the most part, we did a good job.”
Kim added that one of the key shots for the duo came on the par-4 13th.
“It’s a driveable-ish par-4 and Preston hit a great drive to about 20-feet,” he said. “He lipped out the eagle but tapped in for the birdie. It gave us a lot of confidence coming in.”
And that confidence showed down the stretch as they birdied two of the final four holes.
“We just didn’t want to make any silly mistakes,” Kim said. “We wanted to make sure we hit greens and gave ourselves birdie looks.”
Championship
Harris-Kim, 66-66—132
Ganir-Goldstein, 66-68—134
Johnson-Sodetz, 67-68—135
Net
Joseph Noya and Charlie Berydas had three natural birdies and two net birdies in their first nine holes on the final day in winning the Net Division.
The duo played the final nine holes in one-under par, with birdies on the 11th and 12th holes followed by six straight pars.
“The front side won it for us,” Noya said. “On the back side we had to hang on for dear life. We bogeyed No. 10 and then birdied the next two and then parred in.”
He said the 12th hole was the key.
“That was the last hole we got a stroke on,” Noya said. “We only get three strokes each so we were just trying to ham-and-egg it coming in.”
The duo has now won three team titles, winning this one as well as at Bear’s Best earlier this year and at Boulder City Golf Club three years ago.
“We aren’t showy…we’re just consistent,” Noya said. “The back nine is harder and we just tried to stay focused. We made a lot of clutch five-foot putts, a couple for par and a couple for birdie.”
In the end, Noya said it was just about playing solid golf.
“We didn’t do anything fancy,” he said. “We had two boring rounds of a lot of pars and a few birdies. We didn’t have any chip-ins or miraculous shots. We just didn’t make many mistakes and that was huge.”
Net
Berydas-Noya, 68-66—134
Carlon-Garner, 66-69—135
Berton-Canarelli, 69-67—136
Senior
Todd Roberts and Brady Exber went on a birdie barrage, posting five birdies over the final seven holes of the first round, in helping them win the Senior Division crown.
The team was one-under-par through their first 11 holes before going on their run.
Roberts said the teamwork by the duo worked out well.
“This is such a perfect format for us,” Roberts said of the first day. “Brady drives it 30 yards longer than me and sometimes as much as 50. I’m a good short-iron player and I hit the ball inside 10 feet a lot and he’s such a great putter. It’s an ideal combination.”
But with the good, sometimes comes the bad.
“We didn’t have the best of starts,” Roberts said. “I was struggling with the putter and Brady’s right shoulder was bothering him so we weren’t playing that well early.”
Then came the turnaround.
“Brady hit it to about a foot and that was one I could handle,” Roberts said with a laugh. “Then we just hit a lot of good shots and got a few putts to drop. The greens were tough. They had just been aerated so we just tried to be patient.”
The second round saw the team come out with birdies on three of the first four holes and the confidence was back.
“We made about four good putts early and that was way better than yesterday,” Roberts said.
In the end, Roberts said Exber’s play was impressive.
“Brady played amazingly well with his shoulder being hurt,” Roberts said. “We just played solid and that’s what you need in events like this because there are going to be a lot of low scores.”
Senior
Exber-Roberts, 66-66—132
Gybowski-Hogle, 68-68—136
Futrell-Sawaia, 68-69—137
Carpendale-Fink, 68-69—137
Senior Net
William Day and Artie Miller had three birdies in a row (two net and one actual) en route to a one-stroke victory in the Senior Net Division.
They also had a net birdie on the final hole to seal the win.
“We pulled through,” Day said. “It was just a great team effort.”
Day said it was one of those events where the term ham-and-egg really applied.
“It seems like if I had a bad hole, Artie would have a good hole and if Artie had a bad hole, I had a good hole,” Day said. “It worked out very well for us both days.”
He said their attitude never wavered over the two days.
“Everyone hits bad shots…even the pros,” Day said. “If we had a bad shot we would just forget about it and go to the next shot.”
On the other hand, great shots were celebrated.
“Whenever we hit a good shot or made a good putt, we’d congratulate each other,” Day said. “It just helps build your confidence.”
The bottom line is the duo had fun over the two days.
“We were very consistent and had a good time,” Day said. “We just had a positive mindset and in the end it all worked out well for us.”
Senior Net
Day-Miller, 70-69—139
Carlin-Moon, 71-69—140
Garness-Koch, 70-70—140
Silver
James Hill and John Garrett jumped out to a hot start, birdieing four of their first eight holes of the tournament, and breezed to victory in the Silver gross division.
The duo led by seven strokes after the opening round.
“The first day we had eight birdies and one bogey so it was a very good day,” Hill said. “We made the birdies but didn’t make a putt over six feet so we both were hitting it close.”
He also added they both made contributions.
“It was well-balanced,” Hill said. “I hit some close and then John hit some close and we made a lot of putts.”
The second day was a matter of staying focused.
“Having a big lead made today a little easier,” Hill said. “Today we were two-under through four holes and then John made about a 20-footer for birdie on No. 10. I told him we hadn’t made a putt over six-feet and it was time to make one and John did just that.”
Then it was smooth sailing.
“Our goal from then on was to hit fairways, greens and then two-putt,” he said. “We just tried to play steady coming in and make someone catch us.”
Silver
Garrett-Hill, 65-69—134
Kelley-Woerner, 72-72—144
Bartlett-Hirschman, 76-73—149
Silver Net
Darwin Rogers and Mark Dopheide overcame a slow start to win the Silver Net Division.
The duo was three-over-par through their first five holes of the tournament before rallying to finish the event at three-under-par and posting the victory.
“The way we started out we were wondering why we got into this tournament,” Dopheide said with a laugh. “But we hung in and had a good back nine yesterday and played solid today.”
Dopheide said all the credit goes to Rogers.
“It was easy to get down,” Dopheide said. “But Darwin is such an upbeat guy and he didn’t let us get down. He was saying, ‘Mark, don’t worry, we’re OK….we’ll do better tomorrow.’ And he was right. We kept our heads up and kept fighting.”
Dopheide said the start in the final round was crucial.
“We went birdie-birdie and that kept our confidence going,” he said. “And then on the back nine, Darwin made two crucial, long par putts that really saved us. It was a good team effort.”
Dopheide said there was one more bright spot to the win.
“It was Darwin’s first big win and now he will get to play in the Tournament of Champions tournament,” he said. “I’m very happy for him.”
Silver Net
Dopheide-Rogers, 73-68—141
Alaan-Sabati, 73-71—144
Little-Sitar, 72-74—146
