Brookside GC in Pasadena will again host the Public Links Championship this weekend as more than 100 of the area's finest public golfers battle it out over 54 holes of stroke play. The tournament, which was formerly the PLGA Amateur Championship, which started in 1968, begins Friday with 18 holes before being followed by 18 more Saturday. The top 30 players and ties will advance to Sunday's final round. Click here for first-round pairings.
Returning to defend his title is highly-decorated SCGA tournament regular Tim Hogarth (pictured), who is quite familiar with the Brookside course. Last year, in the inaugural SCGA Public Links Championship, Hogarth cruised to a 9-stroke victory, finishing with a three-day total of 8-under par 206. Hogarth, who also won the event two times when it was still the PLGA Amateur Championship, is a 5-time winner of the SCGA Mid-Amateur Championship as well as the 2004 SCGA Amateur Championship champion.
Two men who will not make the road to the title easy for Hogarth, however, are Brookside Men's Club members Mark Miller and Dan Sullivan, who themselves are quite familiar with SCGA Tournaments. Miller and Sullivan, who paired together to win the 2011 and 2012 SCGA Foursomes Championships, are two of 10 Brookside Men's Club members who will be competing in the gross division of the Public Links Championship.
Other notables in the field include Univ. of Penn golfer Maxwell Marsico, who had a top-5 finish at the 2011 SCGA Amateur Championship as well as a solid run at the 2012 California Amateur, and Kevin Fitzgerald of Riverside, who earned a fourth place finish at this year's SCGA Amateur.
In addition to the more than 100 competing in the gross competition, more than 50 golfers will simultaneously compete in the net portion of the event this Saturday and Sunday. Click here for first-round pairings.
Brookside GC is located in the foothills of Pasadena, next to the world famous Rose Bowl. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/thescga all weekend for live scoring updates and photos from the tournament.
