Steve Fink Earns Spot In 2018 Nevada State Amateur
The SNGA Tour’s Desert Pines stop marked the first chance for players to punch their ticket into the 2018 Nevada State Amateur. The one-day event, held March 19 at Desert Pines Golf Club, saw Steve Fink win the Championship Division gross crown and earn a coveted spot in the event. The other gross division winners were Brian Marks (Senior) and Frank Abbott (Silver). Net winners were Shawn Smith, Steve Soffa (Senior net) and Carson Day (Silver net). — By Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider staff.
Championship
Steve Fink’s one-under-par 70 was good enough to earn him a three-stroke victory and the spot in the Nevada State Amateur set for July 9-11 at TPC Summerlin.
“I haven’t been playing much in SNGA events but I wanted to play in the State Amateur and decided to give this one a try,” Fink said. “I’m taken aback that I played so well.”
Even though Fink has lived in Vegas for more than two decades, it was the first time he had played Desert Pines.
“(Sunday) was the first time I had played here and I was shocked at how tough the course was,” he said. “The greens were nice and fast and it made me focus and grind hard. I made all the short putts I had to make.”
Fink wound up third in the Nevada State Amateur a few years ago but added his game is on the rise.
“I’m actually playing real good golf right now,” he said. “I’m focusing better. I’ve always been a pretty good golfer but I haven’t always been consistent.”
He also has another big event on his tee sheet in 2018. He’s qualified for the 2018 British Senior Amateur which will be held in early August at Royal Porthcawl.
“I was the first alternate at Bear Creek (in California) in the U.S. Senior Open,” he said.
Ultimately, Fink got in the U.S. Senior Open last year and has a two-year British Senior Amateur exemption due to playing in the tournament.
Another Las Vegan, Brady Exber, won the British Senior Amateur in 2014.
Championship
Steve Fink, 70
Greg Horodesky, 73
Tate Guild, 75
Dave Johnson, 75
Net
Shawn Smith carded a net under-under-par 70 en route to his first victory in SNGA action, winning the Net Division by seven strokes.
The day didn’t start out in a positive way. “I had a double bogey and a bogey on the first two holes,” he said. “But I came back with a birdie on the third and thought that if I just played smart, I would get through.”
He added a key was his game plan off the tee. “It’s a super narrow course so I wasn’t using the driver when I only needed a five or six iron to get to a comfortable length to get to the green,” he said.
But sometimes he had to fall back on his short game. “I was in the sand a couple of times and short of the green a couple of times and managed to get up and down so my short game really saved me,” he said.
Net
Shawn Smith, 70
Jeffrey Gilliame, 77
Jayar Hawley, 80
Senior
Welcome to the winner’s circle, Brian Marks.
“I finally won a championship,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve only been playing (SNGA events) for a couple of years so it’s nice to finally win.”
He said every aspect of his game was solid. “I putted real well on the front nine and I hit the ball nice and straight,” he said. “I didn’t hit any drivers and on the back nine I just tried to play as consistent as I could. The pin positions were tough but I played smart with good course management.”
Senior
Brian Marks, 80
Darin Garness, 87
Gary Drinkhorn, 88
Senior Net
Steve Soffa’s first SNGA victory was a six-shot win in the Senior Net division. It was just his second appearance in SNGA action.
“I just kept it in play and focused on putting,” he said. “I wanted to be aggressive because every time I’m timid and want to be perfect, I wind up getting in trouble. I just kept it in play and gave myself a chance.”
He added his thought patterns were also key. “I just want to have a free flowing swing,” he said. “I don’t want to sit up there and look at the ball. You’ve got to see where you’re going to hit it and let it go.”
Senior Net
Steve Soffa, 75
David Golder, 81
Clayton Barrow, 82
Silver
Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Frank Abbott won the Silver Division crown with a two-over-par 73, good enough for a six-stroke victory.
The win, Abbott’s first in 2018, helped him get back into the form he showed in 2017 when he won 11 times.
“I’ve been playing really bad,” Abbott said of his recent rounds. “Today I hit the ball well and didn’t miss any stupid putts.”
He said he took a break as he went out of the country for a month. When he got back, it was not a good sight.
“I couldn’t hit a thing,” he said. “Over the last week I made a little swing change and started to hit it better.”
In the Desert Pines event, he said he had just a couple of bad swings. “One of them cost me a bogey and one cost me a double bogey,” he said. “But overall I played pretty solid and it’s nice to get back into the winner’s column.”
Silver
Frank Abbott, 73
Bruce Swanson, 79
John Kelley, 82
Silver Net
Carson Day’s net one-under-par 70 earned him his second SNGA title as he won in 2017 at Desert Willow.
“Two things really helped me,” Day said. “I started concentrating more on my grip and I also slowed down my swing. I’m taking time and trying not to overpower the shot….trying not to kill the ball.”
It worked. As did his outlook on the game of golf itself. “I’ve always been kind of impatient,” he said. “Rather than taking a little time, I’d start making mistakes and making big numbers. Today I didn’t make any big numbers.”
He admits it was just one of those days. “Everything kind of fell into place,” he said. “I was six or eight strokes better than I usually score and it was because I didn’t make any big mistakes. It was that simple.”
Silver Net
Carson Day, 70
Michael Manthey, 73
Al Kueker, 76
