Three’s a crowd

Steve Virgen

To say Adam Marshall proved to be opportunistic would not completely

describe his victory Sunday on the Los Lagos course at the Costa Mesa

Golf & Country Club. Yet, he did come up with a birdie at the right

time to win a three-way, sudden-death playoff at the 31st annual

Costa Mesa City Championship.

Marshall, who did not birdie a par-5 hole in Sunday’s final round,

did so on the first playoff hole to win the championship over Torey

Edwards and Mike Lavery, a former UC Irvine standout.

Marshall also ran into some good fortune in the playoff, which

came after the three golfers finished at 7-under par of the two-day,

36-hole tournament..

Edwards was eliminated from contention when his second shot could

not be found. He thought the ball got stuck in a tree and was forced

to replay the shot and add a penalty stroke.

Lavery’s third shot on the hole, a chip shot, didn’t release upon

hitting the green, leaving him with more than a 15-foot putt that

missed wide. He finished as the runner-up for the second straight

year.

Marshall completed a ho-hum birdie, driving down the middle of the

fairway, reaching the greenside in two and then chipping inside of 10

feet on his third shot. When he made the putt, the title was his.

For the past six years, Marshall has been playing in the

tournament, and despite a double-bogey on the 14th, he believed he

would not be denied.

“It’s about time I won this thing,” Marshall said with a smile

shortly after sinking the winning 10-foot putt.

He then paused and looked at the course.

“The course is getting better every year,” he said.

Marshall, who lives in La Quinta near Palm Springs, works for

outside services at the Desert Falls Country Club in Palm Desert, so

he should know a thing or two about courses. He also knows a bit

about the Los Lagos course. His grandfather-in-law and caddy, Ted

Doria, lives near the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club.

Doria, who owns a local pizza parlor, is also one of the main

reasons Marshall plays at the Costa Mesa tournament.

“I told him that he could win it and I knew he would,” Doria said.

Edwards and Lavery each had a chance to win the tournament before

the playoff. Edwards, who birdied holes seven through 10, missed a

two-foot putt on the 18th that was for birdie and would have given

him the victory. But he showed more remorse over his shot that was

lost in the playoff.

“I got a bad break at the wrong time,” said Edwards, who will be a

senior at Long Beach State in the fall and has played against Lavery

before. “I thought I played well, but I just caught a bad break.”

Lavery, who was the only one of the three to not card a bogey in

the final round, just missed an eight-foot putt on the par-5 18th

that was also for birdie.

“[Marshall] made a good putt [in the playoff],” Lavery said. “We

kind of left the door open and he stepped up to that last putt and

rammed it in the heart.”

Marshall birdied holes three, seven and eight on the front. He

stayed at 7-under until the par-5 14th, which he double bogeyed. But

he quickly overcame the error with two straight birdies and he shot

par on the final two holes, setting up the three-way playoff.

Will Tipton, who shot an opening-round 64 Saturday, finished

fourth after a final-round 73. The Big Canyon Country Club member and

Jones Cup champion missed the playoff by two strokes.

Rick Nolan entered Sunday as the leader after shooting a 63

Saturday, but he finished tied for fifth after a final-round 76.

Nolan entered the final round with a three-shot lead over

Marshall, a four-shot advantage of Lavery and a five-shot head start

on Edwards.

But the latter three golfers were the only ones to break 70 on the

6,542-yard, par-72 Los Lagos course.

Jeff Coburn, a former teammate of Lavery at UCI, finished in a tie

for 11th with a 74 in the final round, while Jake Allanach, who

competed for Orange Coast College’s golf team, finished 13th after he

shot a 70 Sunday.