Stocker Cup Rewind –
Marsh Rallies To Victory
The Elliott Cup, a 54-hole, best-ball team compe-
tition that pits one of the scratch “A” players with a
“B” player competing at 90 percent of their assigned
handicap, was won by “B” player John Nichols of
Rancho Murieta CC, playing in his first Stocker Cup.
Nichols carded rounds of 65-66-66 to win by one
stroke over Matt Pingatore of The Olympic Club and
Mark Flynn of the Preserve. Pingatore earned an
award for the low round of the event – a net 62 in the
second round. Players changed partners throughout
the three-day competition.
Harry Rudolph III was making his Stocker Cup
debut after being reinstated as
an amateur last year. He was in
position to win the title after three
rounds, but a final-round 79 left
him 11 shots off the pace. Also
in the field was Brad Wilder, a
former University of Cincinnati
golf standout who has won the last
two greater Cincinnati GA Four-
Ball championships. Wilder finished eighth in 2009 at
the Stocker Cup and improved to second this year. His
partner, Billy Williamson, also played.
Harry Rudolph III
Wind and rain, unusual at this time of year in Carmel,
was the rule for much of the tournament. Conditions
became very poor as Saturday’s third round progressed.
Those who played early enjoyed a distinct advantage.
The final round was played in an Irish-like mist.
NEWS AND NOTES
The USGA has selected Olympia Fields (Ill.)
Country Club as the site of the 2015 U.S. Amateur
Championship. It will be contested Aug. 24-30 on the
North and South courses ... The USGA is bringing
its Walker Cup practice session to Florida in early
January. Steve Smyers, chairman of the USGA Inter-
national team Selection Committee, told Global Golf
Post that roughly 16 players will be invited to Old
Memorial Golf Club in Tampa for a three-day session
with Captain Jim Holtgrieve. The announcement
of the invited players is expected to come in mid-
November. The 2009 practice session was not held
due to the economic environment … Lara Tennant
became the first woman to win the Oregon Players
Championship, going wire-to-wire at Waverly Coun-
try Club in Portland. Tenant shot 72-73 for a 1-over
145 total. Her second round included two eagles and
a birdie on the last hole to win by one. The OGA Play-
ers Championship is the first of its kind in the nation
in that age and gender do not matter ... The Texas
team of Captain Tom Doughtie of Amarillo, Mike
Rice of Houston, Jerry Hudgins of Houston and John
Grace of Fort Worth won the United States Senior
Challenge Team Championship at the Golf Club of
Oklahoma. Texas won by two shots with a three-day
score of 652. Jim Knoll of Sunnyvale, Calif., won
medalist honors with rounds of 69-70 – 139, 5-under
par … Danny Germaine has become the first player
to win the Palm Beach County Mid-Amateur Stroke
Play and Match Play championships in the same
year. Germaine, 31, of North Palm Beach, won the
Match Play title Sunday at Bear Lakes Country Club,
beating defending champion Deron Zendt of Jupiter
1-up in the morning semifinals and qualifying med-
alist Zack Neiditz of Boca Raton 4 and 3 in the finals
later in the day. l
Staff and Wire Reports
As he did in 2009, former U.S. Mid-Ama-
teur champion Kevin Marsh came from be-
hind to claim the Stocker Cup title. And like
last year, he got a little help from the player
he was chasing.
Marsh shot 7-under-par 281 to success-
fully defend his title, edging third-round
leader Brad Wilder by a shot. Wilder, 31,
took a four-shot lead into the final round at
the Preserve Golf Club in Carmel, Calif. He
double-bogeyed the second hole in the final
round, and made two more front-side bogeys
to cough up the lead to a charging Marsh.
The defending champion, playing alongside
Wilder, birdied four holes on the front to
claim the lead and he never relinquished it.
Marsh posted a final-round 70, 2-under par,
while Wilder shot 3-over 75 and had to settle
for second place.
