Dana Banke
Captures 2009 Nor Cal PGA Match Play Championship
 Congratulations
to Head Golf Professional Dana Banke for winning the 2009
Northern California PGA Match Play Championship! Dana won
six matches over three days to emerge the Champion.
Competing against fellow golf
professionals from golf courses all over Northern
California, Dana had advanced to match play as one of the
low 64 players in the stroke play qualifier held in early
April at Lake Merced Country Club.
The Match Play Championship is a similar format to the
NCAA March Madness Tournament - lose once and you go home.
What makes this tournament particularly grueling is the
compressed play of six matches in three days (36 holes a
day).
The consolation is the
courses they get to play. How's this for three days of
dream golf - First Day - Morning & Afternoon (1st and 2nd
rounds) - Green Hills Country Club. Second Day - Morning
(3rd Round) - Tehama Golf Club (Clint Eastwood's ultra
private course in Monterey), Afternoon (Quarterfinals) -
The Preserve Golf Club. Third Day - Morning (Semifinals) -
Cypress Point Club, Afternoon (Finals) - Pebble Beach.
The only flaw in Dana's approach over the three days was
ending the final match on the 16th hole and not getting to
play the eighteenth at Pebble. As one of the more seasoned
(ie. older) players in the field, we're not sure what we
are more impressed with, that Dana won or that he was
actually able to play six matches in three days.
View a complete listing of all the match results.
As a reminder, in addition
to being one of the top players in Northern California,
Dana is also considered to be one of the top teaching
professionals in the Bay Area. So if your game needs
tuning, stop by the pro shop to schedule a lesson with
Dana. |
