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Photo by Rob Varela

Kevin Marsh hits out of a bunker on the 10th hole at Saticoy Country Club during the final round of the SCGA Amateur Championship.

Photo by Rob Varela

Tim Hogarth hits a chip shot onto the green on the sixth hole. Hogarth finished the tournament in second place despite a strong back-nine run.

During the first three rounds of the 109th annual SCGA Amateur Championship at Saticoy Country Club, Kevin Marsh struggled to hit the fairway on the difficult par-4 17th hole.

On Sunday, the former Santa Barbara resident stood on the 17th tee clinging to a one-shot lead over Northridge resident Tim Hogarth, who minutes earlier had birdied 16 to continue a miraculous back-nine comeback.

After seeing Hogarth hit the fairway with his drive, Marsh hit perhaps his best drive of the tournament, splitting the fairway and going 30 yards past Hogarth.

Minutes later, with 9-iron in his hand, Marsh stuffed his approach shot 8 feet from the pin and then rolled in the birdie putt, giving him a two-shot cushion heading to 18.

Thanks to a spectacular 250-yard second shot on 18, Hogarth had a great run at eagle, but his 25-foot putt ran over the left edge of the cup, giving Marsh, the 1996 SCGA Amateur Champion, his second career win in this event.

The former Pepperdine standout finished the four-round event at 3-under 285, while Hogarth was two strokes back at 1-under 287. Austin Graham was in third at 289, while Santa Barbara's John Pate and Spencer Anderson tied for fourth at 291. Moorpark resident Wayne Merich finished in sixth at 292, posting a 2-over 74 in the final round.

Before teeing off on Sunday, Marsh tried to calm his nerves by telling himself that winning the event was really no big deal.

"I told myself, You've won this before and if you play well and win, that's great, and if you don't, you still have to get up and go to work on Monday,' " Marsh said. "But coming down the stretch, your competitive juices are flowing and you know it's a big deal. I'm a competitor and I want to win.

"I didn't hit it great, but all week I had a lot of confidence in my putter, so no matter how bad I hit it, I felt like I could get it up and down. I did that on several holes today and it helped keep me afloat."

After making a 45-foot birdie putt on No. 8 and sinking a crucial 10-foot par putt on the par-3 ninth following a terrific bunker shot, it appeared Marsh would run away for the win.

But his tee shot on the par-3 10th hole lodged under the lip of a greenside bunker, and he made double bogey. Marsh hit a sensational tee shot on No. 11, but when he reached his ball, he found a huge clump of mud on it.

"That caused me to block my approach shot right and I made bogey and then Tim started playing well and so things got interesting, but I was lucky enough to hit some good shots over the last six holes to win," said Marsh.

During Sunday's round Hogarth showed why he is considered one of California's best amateur players. The former Cal State Northridge standout was 5 over after five holes and it like he might have trouble breaking 80 over the final 18 holes.

But Hogarth refused to give in, playing the final 13 holes in 3 under, forcing Marsh to make shots down the stretch to win.

"I'm never happy finishing second, but I was happy to have a chance to win on the final hole," Hogarth said. "About an hour or so earlier no one out here would have given me any chance to having a chance to win."

"I would have loved to have somehow managed to get all the way back and tie for the lead, but I am proud of the way I hung in there."

For most of the round Hogarth struggled to find the range on Saticoy's challenging greens. He three-putted the par-4 first hole to open with a bogey and three-putted the par-4 fifth hole for a double bogey.

While he made a few putts after that, Hogarth said he never felt comfortable. As he stood over a crucial birdie putt on No. 17, Hogarth joked that he wished he had a Saticoy member caddying for him to help with the read.

"I had a member tell me earlier in the week that every putt breaks left, so on the (eagle) putt on 18, I kept hearing his voice, so I ended up hitting it too hard," Hogarth said.

Unlike Marsh and Hogarth, Merich started this week's tournament with no expectations. His lone goal at the start of the tournament was to play well enough to make the cut and play the weekend.

Once he accomplished that, his lone goal was to try to make a lot of pars and play as solid as he could. The result was a top-10 finish, which for Merich was almost as good as winning because it brings with it automatic exemptions into several events in 2009.

"I am very happy," Merich said. "My game was not in order coming in, but I found a way to get around and made enough big shots to finish in the top 10.

"The top 10 is great because I get exemptions for some tournaments (SCGA Amateur, SCGA Mid-Amateur, California State Amateur) and don't have to go through qualifying. And it's even better to do it here at Saticoy, which is a course I just love and is just 20 minutes from my house."

Having grown up at Saticoy, Camarillo resident Ramie Sprinkling had high hopes coming in this week, but things never materialized, shooting a 75 on the final day to finish at 15-over 303.

"I'm pretty disappointed," Sprinkling said. "I'll just take it as a learning experience and move on."