Columnist Peter Benton: Fosburg’s 133 wins Amateur Championship

Peter Benton

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003 | 9:59 a.m.

Peter Benton's golf column appears Wednesday.

Last week's Vegas City Amateur Championship, played over the venerable Las Vegas golf club, leaves just one designated tournament remaining on the Southern Nevada Golf Association's 2003 calendar.

Chad Fosburg, with rounds of 68-65--133 over the par-72 layout, waltzed to victory, winning by five strokes. Doug Pool placed second at 6-under, 138, and he was followed by Brady Exber, Brad Thompson and Alex Lyon at 140.

Net victor was Eric Conway, while Rick Dauney won the Senior Division.

Standings in the SNGA's Championship Division show Brady Exber with a commanding lead with 330 points, setting him up once again for Player of the Year honors. (Exber won this prestigious award in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001.)

Rounding out the top-10 placings are Doug Pool with 192.7 points; Eddie Heinen, 192; David Huffaker, 149.7; Matt Kodama, 112; Joe Sawaia, 104.7; Chad Fosburg, 103; Matt Edwards, 102,7; and three-time Player of the Year (1989, '90 and '95) Frank Acker, with 89.4.

Leading the Senior Division with 266 points is perennial favorite Jim Saub Jr., who has won this title the past three years. Jim Moran follows with 202, and he in turn is followed by Lewis Shupe, 178; Tom Yamashita, 177, and James Massey, 153.

Ted Baker and his 213 points leads the Net Division over Chris Piper, who has 164.7 points. Rounding out the top five are Russell Gard, 131.3; Kyle Davis, 130, and Steven MacDonald 107.7.

The final tournament of the year is the Clark County Amateur Championship, which is scheduled for Nov. 15-16 at the Boulder Creek Golf Club.

WATSON'S DONATION: If you did not already know it, PGA player Tom Watson is one very classy fellow.

Watson wrapped up the season-long Charles Schwab Cup by virtue of his second-place finish in the final official event of the 2003 Champions Tour, the Charles Schwab Championship.

His 4,751 total points outdistanced runner-up Jim Thorpe.

Watson, a two-time major championship winner this year, showed his class by announcing at the conclusion of the tournament that he would donate the entire $1 million annuity he received for winning to help fund research for Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis. (Watson's long-time caddie, Bruce Edwards, suffers from this debilitating disease.)

Thorpe received $500,000, Lietzke $300,00, Kite $200,000 and Morgan, for fifth place, banked $100,000.

SCHWAB EXTENSION: The PGA Tour and Charles Schwab & Co, Inc., announced an extension of their marketing relationship through 2008.

The Charles Schwab Cup is a year-long, points-based competition recognizing the leading player on the Champions Tour. Launched in 2001, previous winners were Allen Doyle (2001) and Hale Irwin in 2002.