Winners in the Championship Flight, from left: Robert Funk (third), Brady Baguio (T4), Keith Arendsee (T4), David Bartman (champion) and Gerry Simoni (second).

David Bartman, Bob Valko, Lev Katsman win
33rd SCGA Tournament of Club Champions

By Katie Denbo
Brentwood Country Club’s David Bartman may have won seven club championships, as well as some bigger national individual and SCGA team tournaments, but he collected his first SCGA individual title today when he fired a 5-under 67 at Classic Club, to win the 33rd SCGA Tournament of Club Champions.

At the tournament’s two net sites, Bob Valko of Cal Oaks Men’s Club shot a 69 to take the President Flight at Desert Island GCC and Lev Katsman of Sony Pictures Golf League went 8-under-par for a 64 and Vice President honors at Desert Falls CC.

Bartman, 36, is half of the duo—along with Bear Creek’s Robert Funk, who came in third at 70—that has collected the 2006 and 2007 SCGA Foursomes and 2006 Four-Ball championships, as well as a tie for second place in last month’s 2007 Four-Ball championship. An individual win for him, says the former Nike Tour player, is gratifying.

“This is my first individual SCGA championship win in the four years since regaining my amateur status,” says Bartman, who won the 2005 Trans-Mississippi Mid-Amateur. “It feels really good, I drove the ball really well and the course was in great shape.”

Top: Plate winners at Desert Island were (l-r) William John Goodman, Jr., Orange County Builders GA; Randall Winet, Doubletree Golf Resort, San Diego; Neil Anderson, Tahquitz Creek GC; Dave Schuler, Douglas Aircraft Memorial GC; and champion Bob Valko, Cal Oak’s Men’s Club. Bottom: Plate winners at Desert Falls were (l-r) Jack Smith, Santa Fe GA; James Lovette, Tees and Trees GC; Lev Katsman, Sony Pictures Golf League; Horst Butze, Valley Business and Professional GC; and Alan Ambito, Golfinos.

Carlton Oak’s Gerry Simoni came in second place with a 69 on the 6,985-yard layout, while there was a seven-way tie for fourth at 71: Rancho Santa Fe GC’s Keith Arendsee, Sycamore Canyon GC’s Brady Baguio (who finished second in last year’s championship), Hillcrest CC’s Tony Behrstock, Rio Hondo CC’s Raj Samara, PGA West’s Joe Sanders, Annandale CC’s Greg Sato, and Sierra La Verne CC’s Brady Wyatt.

In the President Flight, Valko overcame two bogeys and a double bogey on the 6,425-yard Desert Island layout to finish one stroke ahead of Dave Schuler of Douglas Aircraft Company Memorial GC, while after a three-player card-off for third at 71, Neil Adnerson of Tahquitz Creek GR came out ahead. Doubletree GR San Diego’s Randall Winet finished fourth and Orange County Builders Association GC’s William John Goodman, Jr. finished fifth.

At the 6,405-yard Desert Falls, Katsman finished one stroke ahead of James Lovette of Tees and Trees GC (who shot a net 65), while Alan Ambito of Golfinos shot a 68 for third. There was a two-way tie for fourth place with a net score of 70: Santa Fe GA’s Jack Smith won the card-off finishing in fourth place, and Valley Business and Professional GC’s Horst Butze finished in fifth place.