Pebble Beach, Calif.----- In match play golf, good play, even very good play and very good scores, don't always win.
That happened to San Jose State University's Sean Yu and Kevin Velo in the first round of match play at the 108th California Amateur Championship at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
Yu, the #1-qualifier in stroke play, stayed on target with a three-under par 69 for 18 holes, good enough to win in match play on many days. However, his opponent, Ramiz Jamal who will be a senior at UC Irvine, took advantage of the match play format to win 1-up and advance to the round of 16.
The two players were tied after four holes until Ramiz grabbed the lead for good with a birdie at #5. He would extend his lead to 3-up through 13 holes. Yu staged a comeback winning holes 16 and 17. Both players parred the final hole giving Ramiz the win to the round of 16 on June 27.
Yu's former San Jose State teammate Velo met a similar fate losing 3-and-1 to Joshua McCarthy, who will be a junior at Pepperdine in the fall. Velo, the #15-qualifier, had one-up leads through five of the first nine holes before McCarthy, an all-conference golfer like Velo, won three of the next four holes for a 2-up advantage with five holes to go.
Velo birdied the 14th hole to cut the deficit to 1-up, but lost #16 and #17 to concede the match. The Spartan alum was on pace to be under par for 18 holes, but didn't get the chance to find out in the match play format.
The 108th California Amateur champion will be crowned on Saturday, June 29.