Smith, Knievel, Carpendale, Kim, O’Dea, Troilo Win SNGA Cascata Titles
Jared Smith (Championship), Kelly Knievel (Senior) and Gary Carpendale (Silver) won gross titles in the 2022 Cascata Amateur Championship. Brian Kim (Net), Sean O’Dea (Senior) and Tony Troilo (Silver) were the net champions in the tournament held August 20-21, 2022, at the Rees-Jones designed and renowned Cascata Golf Club. –By Bill Bowman, www.LasVegasGolfInsider.com
The tournament used a Modified Stableford format. A double eagle was worth eight points, an eagle was worth five points, a birdie was worth three points, a par was worth one point, a bogey resulted in zero points and players lost two points for a double bogey or worse.
Championship
Jared Smith birdied five of six holes during his opening round–good enough for a 15-point run–en route to a 12-point victory in the Championship Division.
Smith wound up with nine birdies in the first round in winning his second SNGA title…and second straight Cascata Amateur title.
Smith graduated from Northwest CTA (Career and Technical Academy) in Las Vegas in 2019. He played for the Western High School golf team and then played two years at North Idaho College, winning one event and tying for a second title before deciding to head into the caddy world. He now works at Augusta National as well as at a couple of courses in Aspen, CO. Giving professional golf is also possibly in his plans.
“Saturday, I got off to a little bit of a rough start,” he said. “But I wasn’t worried because I knew I had a good track record out here. I just had to let things happen and not force anything.”
To that end he also credited his putter.
“I made a good amount of putts Saturday,” he said. “And that gave me the good lead going into Sunday. I lipped out four putts for birdie today. Yesterday, they were right there and lipped in for birdie.”
He said staying focused in the second round made the difference.
“Today the only thing I was worrying about was staying steady,” he said. “I figured as long as I didn’t mess up too bad I would be OK. I just tried to play a little more conservatively and not worry about how anybody else is playing.”
Championship
Jared Smith, 34-21—55 points
Craig Erickson, 21-22—43
Kambix Marvi, 25-15—40
Net
Brian Kim had three net eagles over the two days as he posted a one-point win in the Net Division.
It was Kim’s second SNGA win and second of 2022.
He said his final hole was filled with drama.
“I had a second shot from 103 yards,” he said. “I chunked it but it stayed out of the water. I hit it from there into a bunker and chipped out and putted it in. I very well could have put that second shot in the water and not won. I was really nervous.”
Overall, he said the win also showed him where he still needs to work on his game.
“I definitely have work to do off the tee,” he said. “I need more consistency with my driver. I do hit it well if I get ahold of it but I lost points because I couldn’t keep it in play sometimes with my driver.”
But the win also gave him confidence in his overall game.
“I just want to keep getting better,” he said. “This was such a great experience at Cascata.”
Net
Brian Kim, 19-18—37 points
Fernando Abbud, 24-12—36
Aron Suci, 19-17—36
Senior
Kelly Knievel had back-to-back birdies early in the final round and went on to win the Senior Division title in a scorecard playoff over Todd Roberts.
Knievel posted 20 points for the final round while Roberts had 19 points, the tiebreaker for the playoff.
It was Knievel’s second win of 2022.
Senior
Kelly Knievel, 19-20—39 points
Todd Roberts, 21-18—39
Chris Whatley, 18-14—32
Senior Net
Sean O’Dea won for the first time in SNGA play, putting three net eagles on the scorecard over the two days that helped him to a two-point victory.
“I took a couple of months hiatus with pretty bad tendinitis,” he said. “I came back and things just came together. I actually didn’t think I played that well. But you just can’t give up. Things can happen.”
He found that out first-hand on his final hole of the tournament.
“I made a birdie putt for a net eagle and that gave me five points,” he said. “I won by two so if I wouldn’t have made that putt I wouldn’t have won.”
He said his overall play was solid but he still has work to do.
“I was driving it pretty well and had reasonable irons,” he said. “(Saturday) I drove it pretty well but today I didn’t putt well at all.”
He said he’s ecstatic with his current health.
“I’m now playing with no pain,” he said. “I haven’t played without pain in two years and just working on getting my game better and better.”
And that stars with his short game.
“It leaves a lot to be desired,” he said. “I used to have no short game and now I have a mediocre short game. I need to get a really good short game and that will make me a better player.”
Senior Net
Sean O’Dea, 26-16—41 points
David Koch, 20-19—39
Brett Crabtree, 24-14—38
Silver
Gary Carpendale scored points on 17 of his 18 holes on Saturday, including five birdies in a six-hole stretch, as he won an SNGA title for the fourth time in 2022.
Carpendale won by 17 points.
“I obviously played real well on Saturday,” he said. “Mentally, on Sunday, I just didn’t play well.”
Having a big lead after Saturday’s round was both good and bad news.
“I did everything well on Saturday,” he said. “I didn’t hit it in the desert which is big out there. Everything was working.”
Then came Sunday and the bad news.
“I made some stupid three putts by not being careful,” he said. “And I hit a couple of crooked shots. I think the big lead had something to do with it.”
But in the end, it was a solid win.
“I was really confident,” he said. “I have been practicing really well and I got off to a good start.”
Silver
Gary Carpendale, 29-12—41
Brian Marks, 17-7—24
Darwin Rogers, 7-14—21
Silver Net
Tony Troilo got off to a slow start–only putting up two points through his first four holes–but quickly put it in high gear in winning the Silver Net title by nine points.
It was Troilo’s first win of 2022 after a pair of wins in 2021 as he teamed up with Vincent Capko to win the SNGA Tour Four-Ball event and also won a one-day SNGA Tour tournament.
“I felt pretty lucky,” he said. “I got a couple of breaks where I hit a couple of balls into rocks that bounced back out.”
He said his main goal was simple: Putt well.
“I was trying to lag a lot of putts,” he said. “I didn’t want to three-putt. If they happened to go in for a birdie or par that was great.”
He only had one negative hole over the two days.
“Bogeys don’t kill you,” he said. “It’s the doubles that take points away that kill you and I only had one.”
In the end, he said it was nice to win at Cascata.
“I was close two years ago,” Troilo said. “I had a seven-foot putt that would have won it for me but wound up with a negative number. I lost by one point and if I would have made it I would have won by a point.”
Silver Net
Tony Troilo, 24-25—49 points
Anthony Becker, 18-22—40
Phil Huseby, 23-16—39
