Southern Nevada Golf Association member George Yocum’s hot streak in net division events just keeps sizzling. Yocum won the 2019 Nevada State Net Am beating Northern Nevada Golf Association member Jason Buckholz 3-and-2 in the match-play finale. The event was held Aug. 20-22, 2019, at the Red Hawk Resort in Reno, NV. –By Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider staff.
The event opened with 36 holes of stroke-playing qualifying with the top eight players advancing to the match-play portion of the tournament.
Then it was simple: Win your next match or go home. And when the dust cleared, Yocum was the last man standing and picked up the 2019 title.
Yocum won two net titles in Southern Nevada Golf Association events in June of this year, ending an 18-month winless drought.
He kept up the sizzling pace this week as he came into the match-play final as the No. 3 seed of the eight remaining players. Buckholz, who plays out of Somersett Golf Club, was the top seed.
Yocum won his first match 3-and-2 before winning 1-up in the semifinals to reach the finale.
He started the title match by going 3-up as he won the second, third and fourth holes. He made the turn 3-up and wound up winning 3-and-2.
“I did everything right,” Yocum said. “I got off to a good start and got the lead and held on. It was just a great week of golf.”
Yocum, a Southwest Golf Club member, added this is what dreams are made of in life.
“It was just like when you’re growing up and learning to play the game,” he said. “You hit putts and say ‘this is to win the U.S. Open.’ This time, before I hit the last putt, I said ‘this is to win a Nevada state championship.’ And it went in.”
Yocum also won the net title in the 2019 Southern Nevada Amateur two months ago. At the time, Yocum was proud to have won his first major tournament.
Now, he’s improving every time out. And he’s got three reasons for his success.
“I bought a new system (the Arccos Caddie sensor system) that communicates between your clubs and your phone to tell you how far you hit each shot,” he said. “I use that app all the time and it’s really helped me get more consistent. That was one thing. I also bought a new set of clubs and I’ve been practicing because I bought a new set of clubs. All three of those things have really added up.”
He was happy to win an SNGA major a month and a half ago. What does winning on the state level mean?
“It means all of this work and practice have made a helluva difference,” he said. “It’s also given me a tremendous amount of satisfaction to win such a prestigious event.”
2019 Nevada State Net Am
Final
George Yocum def. Jason Buckholz, 3-and-2
Semifinals
George Yocum def. Jeffrey Gilliame, 1-up
Jason Buckholz def. Nate Ross, 1-up