WITT HITS HIS MARK
Reigning Tour Champion Only Golfer To Match His Handicap,
Wins Griffith
(ROOSEVELT, Griffith Park) – Martin Witt woke up on Father’s Day with the Astronomer’s Monument trophy sitting on his mantle having won this year’s Griffith Observatory Championship the day before. “Shock. Shock and awe, holy crap!” exclaimed Witt after he was presented the trophy. The win was the 8th of his career and first at the Griffith. When reminded of the significance of his victory coming on the eve of Father’s Day, Witt responded, “Oh yea! That’s nice because my family won’t get me anything, so I’ll take this.”
DEFLATING
With temperatures touching 90, conditions were particularly tough on what was the smallest field in tournament history. After matching his career worst score at Roosevelt, Chris Moawad jokingly withdrew from next year’s tournament. “I like the idea of playing this course, but every time I play it, it never works out for me.” Match play champion Nik Freitas, who made his Griffith debut, completed his round in exasperation. “I don’t wanna know my score.”
2015 GOC FINAL SCORES (par-33)
| PLACE | GOLFER | SCORE | HANDICAP | NET |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 2 3 4 5 T6 T6 8 9 | Witt D. Vargas T. Joe Vaughan Gordón Moawad Frost Freitas E. Quiroz | 55 46 54 51 53 49 54 49 53 | 22 12 19 14 15 10 15 9 12 | 33 34 35 37 38 39 39 40 41 |
QUICK CHIPS
Rollover: No golfer carded a birdie. $9 will rollover to the Masters… Leaders: Doug Vargas carded a tournament-high 3 pars. Travois Gordón the only other golfer with a par. Chris Moawad led the field in the bogey department with 6… Best is Worst: Doug Vargas carded the day’s best gross (46) but it was the highest top gross in the history of the tournament, 3 strokes higher than the previous “worst” best gross. Said Vargas with a chuckle, “Well yea, it was a field of 9. I mean, if we had 6 more guys I guarantee you the top-3 would have been changed because we really weren’t playing all that great.”… Big names absent: 2013 champion Clint Crump missed the tournament for the 2nd straight year, 2-time champion Walter Vargas missed for the 3rd straight year, 2009 champion P-Jay Fidler missed for the first times since 2008, and 2008 champion Armen Grigorian missed for the first time in his career… Streaks: Martin Witt ended a 3-year streak of 8’s on the 392-yard par-4 2nd hole with a 7. Former 2-time champion Travois Gordón ended a 2-year par drought after he par’d the first hole… Rough day: the 336-yard par-4 8th hole, considered the toughest on the course, produced 5 8’s from the field of 9. The #2 handicap 392-yard par-4 2nd hole, produced 6 triple bogeys and 2 max 8’s.
