Chico State golf team ranks No. 1 | Tee to Green

Coach Nick Green is excited about the Chico State men’s golf team’s upcoming spring season. The team is currently ranked No. 1 in the West Region. In the four fall 2023 tournaments, the team took two runner-up spots and won the Wildcat Invitational hosted at Butte Creek. This spring the team will compete in five tournaments, including the NCAA Regional Championship in New Mexico and the NCAA National Finals in Orlando, Florida.

Coach Green’s talented team of 12 young players and their home town are: Tyler Ashman, Clovis; Naoki Easterday, Portland, Ore.; Cooper Hambrick, San Diego; Giuliano Kaminski, Los Gatos; Alexander LemMon, Glen Ellen; Travis Miller, Castro Valley; Ben Mouser, Fresno; Dakota Ochoa, Bakersfield; Brayden Russo, Chico; Ethan Schloss, Reno, Nev.; Giacomo Sorrentino, Davis; Landon Williams, Chico.

Green is no newcomer to the game of golf. He is in his eighth year as the head coach for the Wildcat men’s golf team. Prior to taking over the helm of the men’s program, Green was the women’s golf team coach for three years and the assistant men’s coach before under Coach T.L. Brown. Green is a standout player in his own right, having played on the very successful Chico State golf team in 2003-2007, and also earning all-state honors in high school in Las Vegas, Nevada for his golf talent, as well as accolades in basketball. Many of us recall Green for his professionalism and golf expertise while working briefly at the Bidwell Park Golf Course golf shop prior to assuming the role as the men’s head coach at Chico State. Good luck, Nick, to you and your team this coming season!

Bidwell Park Golf Course

The Bidwell Park Women’s Golf Club held a unique type format for its weekly game. The game was a 3-player, “In the Bucket.” Try this format on for size. On the first hole all three net scores are counted; however, the score of the player with the lowest net score of the three is not counted on the next hole. Only the score of the other two players is counted. On the third hole, only the score of the player with the highest score on the previous hole is counted and is therefore considered the player in the bucket. It’s stand-alone, do or die, for the lone player, under just a little pressure, you think. The rotation process starts over on the fourth hole. This format could also be played as a foursome, making it even more challenging.

First flight low gross: Kelly MacKinnon, 80. Second flight low gross: Linda Jones, 105; Third flight low gross: Molly Barnum, 110. Game: 1, Becky Callas, Sheila McMurphy and Debi McDermont, 70; 2, Jones, Judy Cato and Barnum, 72.4; 3, Gayle Aylward, Pam Coleman and Barbara Albers, 72.67.

The El Rancho Chico Golf Club was able to play its first 2024 tournament before the rains hit.

The format for the 18 four-player teams was one best ball net plus one best ball gross. The field was divided into two flights playing from the white and yellow tees. White tee flight: 1, Mike Janke, Ari Rutherford, Kyle Utterback and Rich Utterback, 131; 2, Tony Allspaugh, Ben Heerema, Dave Koistinen and Jeff Nedved, 135; 3, Adam Almand, Ben Presley, Ron Serna and Jimmy Smith, 137; 4, Rob Dunlap, Rio Gates, Jon Reddick and Travis Shute, 139; 5, Matt Ferguson, Todd Martin, Miles Teagarden, and Duke Warren, 141.

Yellow Tee flight: 1, Jim Barrett, Craig Fellner, Craig Herman and Eric Sargent, 139; 2, Randy Cook, Lloyd Hightower, Tod Kimmelshue and Rob Sylvester (I’ll have more on Sylvester later) 141; 3, Art Gausemel, Pat Goodwin, Phil Jones and Rich Lash, 142; 4, Bill Allen, A.J. Haggard, David Koch and Jim Marler, 144.

Closest to the pin winners: Hole No. 2, Darrell Hands (within the leather); Hole No. 4, Gates; Hole No. 7, Don Davidson; Hole No. 12, Gates….again; Hole No. 16, Davidson…again. How about this: Sylvester aced the 12th hole, but did not received CTP credit because the 12th hole was only for the white tee flight players. However, Sylvester did buy drinks around and if the entire field took advantage of his generosity, the $100 he received from the ERCGC for his hole-in-one didn’t come close to covering the bar tab.

Chico-Paradise SIR’s Golf Club

The Chico-Paradise SIR’s Golf Club held a four-player “Choker Ball” Scramble format at Bidwell last week for its semi-monthly tournament, which definitely put some “pressure” on the player assigned the choker ball. A different player was assigned the choker player on each hole while the other three played a scramble. The scramble score and the choker ball score were counted for the team score.

Forty-six members turned out for the tournament, and in spite of the pressure format, the scores were close. 1, Dave Barnum, Larry Hildenbrand, Mike Lim and Jim Weidert, 133.7; 2, Ken Glaziner, Kyle Glaziner, Keith Martinson and Dick Parsons, 134.2; 3, Ed Anderson (guest), Craig Herman, Lloyd Lee and Don Sturt, 134.7; 4, Bob Browning, Jim Cagno, Joe Gallaway and Jim Bondon, 140.8. Thank you for letting me join you. I enjoyed it immensely.

Closest to pin Contest: Hole No. 2: 1, Gary White; 2, Alex Van Patten; Hole No. 4, 1, Herman; 2, Lee; Hole No. 7; 1, Darrell Hands; 2, Lim; Hole No. 12; 1, Ken Glaziner; 2, Weidert; Hole No. 16; 1, Mark Hyder; 2, Weidert.

Spectacular shots

As noted above, Rob Sylvester aced the challenging, 146-yard, 12th hole at Bidwell during the El Rancho Chico Golf Club tournament, much to the delight of his teammates Randy Cook, Lloyd Hightower and Tod Kimmelshue. No doubt Sylvester’s great tee shot helped propel his team into second place in their flight.

Significant achievement

Denny Varley shot a nice round of 81, a stroke or two under his age, during a Butte Creek Senior Men’s Club outing last week, much to the delight of his teammates. Varley undoubtedly took home most of the financial dividends from the rest of the players for his efforts. Some days the cup looks the size of a wash tub and on other days it appears more like a thimble.

Commentary

This month marks the start of my 21st year of writing the golf column for the Enterprise-Record. I would like to thank all of you who take the time to compile and forward me the results of tournaments and other interesting bits of information to include in the column. At the risk of leaving someone out, I would like to recognize the following individuals for keeping me informed: Craig Fellner (ERCMGC); Darrell Hands and Doug Shook (Chico-Paradise SIR’s); Derrick Schultz and Tom Fegley (BCCC); Bob Kromer, (COCC Sr. Men’s Club); Dana Blanton, Sally Stemen, Sue Snow and other members of the Table Mountain Women’s Golf Club; Peter Davis, (TMMGC); Cortney Foster, (BPGC); Tom Pyeatt and Terry Taylor, (COCC); Jakki Thomas, COCC Women’s Golf Club). Your efforts are very, very much appreciated. I’m not sure how long Milan Murray and Ted Blofsky had this job during their tenure with the E-R, but I might be gaining on it. Thank you!

Ed Anderson’s local golf column appears Tuesdays. He can be reached at edanderson1936@gmail.com.