By Katie Denbo

David Ujihara (standing) and son Taylor won the President Flight of the Inaugural SCGA Parent/Junior Championship (Katie Denbo/SCGA)

David Ujihara and son Taylor of Brea (right) shot a team net 66 to win the President Flight of the first SCGA Parent/Junior Championship, and Tehachapi’s Victor and Blake Keesey (below) shot the same 4-under-par score to win the Vice President Flight at Marbella Country Club in San Juan Capistrano.

“Any time you can play with your child, that’s the ultimate for a parent,” said the elder Ujihara, a landscape contractor, who along with 16-year-old Taylor, a senior and golf team member at Brea Orlinda High School in Brea, finished two strokes ahead of duo Jim and son Andrew Akers of Coto de Caza in the modified net foursomes event. Laguna Niguel’s Gary and son Corey Sammon shot a 1-under-par 69 on the 6,229-yard course to finish third.

“We started off a little rough when we three-putted the second hole and were lucky to make bogey on three,” said David Ujihara, who was the President Flight winner with Gary Wing in the 2005 SCGA Four-Ball Net Match Play Championship. “The credit really goes to Taylor though, he knocked in some great shots out there that saved us on a couple holes.”

Blake Keesey (standing) and dad Victor won the Vice President Flight of the Inaugural SCGA Parent/Junior Championship (Katie Denbo/SCGA)

In the Vice President Flight, 7-year-old Blake Keesey, the youngest in the field, and dad Victor of Tehachapi topped Dennis and son Chris Noren of Newport Beach by one shot, while the team of Kenand son Taylor Crouse of Fallbrook shot a 2-under-par 68 for third place on the 5,778-yard layout.

“I love this course, I enjoyed the heck out of it,” said Blake Keesey, a second-grader at Carden School of Tehachapi who is also the flight champion of the junior club championship at his home course, Oak Creek GC. “I’ve been playing golf for five years, and maybe one day I’ll be a little better than my dad.”

With the team using four of Blake’s tee shots in the event, the elder Keesey, a Southland golf native and sheriff’s deputy, said that “we had some good sand shots, and we had a gross birdie on the third hole which was good. It was just so much fun out there.”
The round wasn’t without some tense moments, however: “The 10th hole wasn’t very good,” Blake Keesey said. “I got all mad at my dad for shooting a 7.”

The winners weren’t the only players that fared well. Twelve-year-old Frank Cuccia, Jr., a golf student of Mike Raschko at The SCGA GC in Murrieta, shot his first career ace on the second hole he played in the Vice President Flight, the 117-yard 11th with his 5-iron. “It’s pretty cool,” he said. “I have one more ace than my dad now.”

For complete scores and photos of all 22 teams, visit www.scga.org/parentjunior.