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83rd Santa Clara County Championship
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By Dennis Knight
Mercury News
The 83rd annual Ernie Pieper Santa Clara County Golf championship came down to a playoff featuring a respected college coach taking on an up-and-coming young star.
Youth won out Sunday as San Jose State sophomore-to-be Jay Myers parred the second hole on his home course of San Jose Country Club to beat
St. Mary's coach Scott Hardy, who missed an eight-footer for par.
It was a sweet victory for the 18-year-old Myers, a Branham graduate and junior member of the club. Myers has a standout freshman season for the Spartans earning
All-Western Athletic Conference honors with a third place finish in the WAC tournament.
"This is really an important win for me because I've been playing here since I was 10-years-old," Myers said. "I carried the scoring sign one year when (Stanford's)
Joseph Bramlett won it and caddied for my dad out here."
Myers, the 44th SJCC member to win the tournament, had the gallery on his side, and he impressed fans with his powerful game and stoic mental
approach. Myers and Hardy finished 54 holes tied at three under par.
The first playoff hole was the 303-yard first hole, where big hitters can gamble and go for the green. Hardy layed up and hit a wedge to 10 feet. Myers
hit a daring cut shot, guiding the ball around a huge stand of trees up the left side of the fairway and landing about 20 yards in front of the green.
He chipped to seven feet, and watched Hardy made his birdie putt. Myers calmly drained his birdie seconds later.
The 6,225 yard course makes up for its lack of length with challenging greens, and Sunday they were at their slickest.
"This is a classic course, it doesn't need to be long," said the 33-year-old Hardy (73-67-67), who tried to recruit Myers to play at St. Mary's. "The slope and speed of the
greens make it very tough." Hardy only needed 25 putts in his morning round of 67.
Myers (66-70-71) was playing in a threesome with Cal's Eric Mina, a Bellarmine graduate who will be a junior next season and Jimmy Cacho, who just
finished his junior season at Santa Clara. Mina shot a 6-under 64 in the morning round Sunday, the lowest round of the tournament. Mina and Cacho both finished
at even par 210, while Mark Hubbard shot 209 for third place.
Coming to the 516-yard 17th hole, Myers trailed Hardy by a stroke, but took the lead with the shot of the tournament _ a 235-yard four-iron to five feet. He
made the eagle putt to take the lead at 4-under. But he gave back the stroke on 18, when he faced a wicked downhill five footer to win. Myers missed the cup and watched the
putt roll eight feet by. Showing no emotion, he quickly lined up the come backer and drained it to force the playoff.
Gary Vanier won the senior tournament with a six-over par 146.
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