69th Sacramento City Four-Ball
The 69th annual Sacramento City 4-Ball Championship was contested at the Bing Maloney Golf Course on March 23-24 and March 30-31. Play began on Saturday, March 23 with 35 teams competing in a qualifying round to determine the 31 spots for match play. Defending champions, the team of Ryan Sloane and Travis Taylor, received an automatic entry into match play to complete the 32-team field. Medalists for the qualifying round were the team of Taylor Knoll and Joel Slak with an 8 under 64.
Match play began with on Sunday, March 24th, followed by Round 2 on Saturday morning, March 30th; quarterfinal matches on Saturday afternoon; semifinal matches on Sunday morning, March 31st and the final match on Sunday afternoon.
The course was in excellent condition however, with the recent rains and threatening more it was decided to implement the “lift, clean and place” through the green for both weekends to further ensure a level playing field and excellent golfing. The weather cooperated with light spotty rain the first weekend with blustery winds; the final weekend the conditions were excellent but the course was still a bit damp but very much playable.
The final match took place between former winner Marc Engellenner (Rocklin, Ca.) and his partner Domingo Jojola (Carmichael, Ca) and the team of Patrick Cairns (Sacramento, CA.) and Tighe Hammam (Sacramento, CA), both out of Del Paso Country Club. The match was closely contested with Cairns/Hammam 2-up at the turn and thru 15 when Engellenner/Jojola struck with a birdie on 16 with a 15′ putt from Jojola. The teams both made par on 17 leading to the final hole with Cairns/Hammam hanging on to a 1-up lead. All four players made prodigious drives on 18 with
Engellenner hitting a wedge to 1 O’ only to see his partner Jojola strike one to within 5′. Not to be outdone, Cairns hit the pressure shot of the day to within 4.5′, made birdie putt to close out the match 1 up after seeing Jojola make birdie. Some really terrific golf.
Many thanks go to the Sacramento Golf Council volunteers, Rudy Danzinger, Mike Fleming, Steve Yates, Mark Perry, Dave Eisner, Alan Luis, Janice Luis, Chuck Honeycutt, Rhea Harris, Larry Glasmire, Geri O’Neil, Bob O’Neil and Bing Maloney Tournament Director Mychal Weitzman and staff.
