Steve Sear (Senior) and Jeff Duncan (Silver) claimed titles in the 2024 Nevada State Senior Amateur Championship. The tournament was held Sept. 15-17, 2024, at Red Hawk Golf Resort in Sparks, NV. –by Bill Bowman, Las Vegas Golf Insider
Senior
Steve Sear drained a 90-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole for a birdie that helped him win his third state title.
It was Sear’s first Senior title but he won the Nevada State Amateur title in 2015 and 2016.
Sear, who represents Northern Nevada, put 12 birdies on the scorecard in the three rounds including six in the first round.
“The first two days I struck the ball really well,” he said. “It was two days where golf seemed very easy.”
The final round wasn’t the same type of day.
“I struggled early today,” he said. “I hit it into a divot on the first hole and didn’t hit it out of the divot very well and made bogey. And the third hole is pretty easy and I didn’t birdie it. I was just trying to find a way to stay competitive at that point.”
He birdied the fourth hole but gave that shot back with a bogey on the eighth.
Then came his 12th hole magic.
“I wasn’t striking the ball well and I hit my second shot into the face of a hill on the green and it spun about 40 feet to the front of the green and I wound up about 90 feet away from the hole,” he said. “The hole before I had another 80 footer and was fortunate to get that up-and-down in two. This one I was looking to knock it up close to where it would be makeable.”
He admitted making it didn’t enter his mind…for awhile.
“It was an up-and-down putt that broke about four or five feet to the right,” he said. “I hit it and the next thing I knew it curled toward the hole and drops in perfectly. That was very fortunate.”
He said winning one of these prestigious events is always exciting.
“I haven’t won much since the last amateur title in 2016,” he said. “It’s always nice to win. Golf’s one of those games where most of the time you lose. If there are 100 players, 99 lose and one wins. It’s not very often you’re on the winning side so it’s always a great feeling.”
Senior
Steve Sear, 69-71-72—212
Ryan Mitchell, 69-70-76—215
Brigham Gibbs, 75-73-69—217
Silver
Jeff Duncan carded a five-under-par 66 in the second round en route to winning the Silver Division title for the third straight year.
Duncan eagled the par-4 third hole to start his second-round barrage that featured the eagle along with four birdies.
Defending his two straight titles didn’t seem possible after an opening-round 79.
“I was playing with two top Southern Nevada guys, Steve Fink and Gary Carpendale, and we all didn’t play worth a darn the first day,” Duncan said of the round that saw Fink and Carpendale fire 78s. “That 79 humbled me.”
But then came the second round and a fireworks show that started early.
“I had the eagle and three birdies on the front nine…I just caught fire,” he said. “For an hour and a half I had the right club for every shot. I had three eagle putts so everything went well.”
How well?
“I shot 42 on the front nine…the same nine I shot 31 on the second day,” he said with a laugh. “I knew I had to improve but I didn’t see it being 11 shots better.”
And now he’s won this event three straight years.
“Winning was a wonderful surprise,” he said.
He added having a large Southern Nevada contingent playing was impressive.
“The Southern Nevada group driving and flying up here to play was great,” he said. “It really shows their enthusiasm to play golf. I hope Northern Nevada shows that kind of enthusiasm going forward.”
Silver
Jeff Duncan, 79-66-73—218
John Steele, 73-73-77—223
John Turk, 72-76-77—225
