W
hen partners Mark Morgan and Mike Rowley won the Senior Four-Ball Championship in 2021, the duo had to make a pressure-packed putt on the 18th hole to win by a stroke.
This time around, despite wet and windy weather, the two could breathe a bit easier.
Morgan and Rowley carded a final round 3-under 68 to come in at 14-under 199, good enough for a three-shot win over the runner-up tandem of Steve Schroeder and Mike Staskus. Morgan, the Senior Player of the Year in 2020 and 2021, and Rowley, the CEO of Straight Down Clothing in San Luis Obispo, nearly made it three in a row. A year ago, they lost in a playoff to Randy Haag and Robert Funk.
"We play a similar game, and we're positive together," said Morgan, a member at Serrano CC. "We keep it fun."
The big difference for the two was a second round 66 that would be split between two days due to inclement weather. They’d wrap up a front-nine with an eagle on the par-5 9th and return in the morning, going 4-under through their first five holes.
At the same time, Schroeder, the COO of Poppy Holding Inc. and Staskus, an Olympic Club member, went even-par.
"Our putts didn't go in, while they were making all of them," Schroeder said.
Schroeder and Staskus would make a charge with a tourney-low 64 in the final round, but by then it was too late. On their final round back-nine, Morgan and Rowley went 2-under to seal the deal.
"After we went 3-under through 4, we just kept our hands on the steering wheel," Rowley said.
In the Super Senior Championship, Joey Ferrari and Jim Knoll got the job done in crunch time. Ferrari birdied the par-3 17th and Knoll tacked on a closing birdie on the par-5 18th as the two took the title by two over the runner-up tandem of Frank Pieper and Rich Gleghorn.
Knoll and Ferrari came in at 6-under 207 after rounds of 69-72-66. Gleghorn and Pieper, the defending champs, finished at 209 after a final round 69.