Hollister resident wins Gilroy City Amateur Golf Championship

Charlie Sanchez wouldn’t have been able to live this one down.
Up by three or four strokes heading into the final hole of the Gilroy City Amateur Tournament’s Net Division (handicap included), the affable Sanchez ended up with a quadruple-bogey 8 — and still won by a stroke.
“I can laugh about it now because I won, but if I had lost, that would’ve been like Greg Norman losing the Masters (in 1996),” said Sanchez, a real estate broker who was born and raised in Gilroy but has lived in Hollister since 1999. “I almost blew it and gave it away, but fortunately I was able to save it.”
Sanchez, 42, won his first tournament in four or five years, calling this “one of the biggest victories of my career.” Sanchez, who has a 9.3 handicap, shot a 79-87 for a gross score of 166 and a net score of 146.
The first round was held at Gilroy Golf Course (par 72), and the second round was played at Eagle Ridge Golf Club (par 70), Sanchez’s home course. He felt fortunate to win after the quadruple bogey at No. 18.
“I got up to the tee box and hit a 3-wood, like I usually do,” Sanchez said. “I hit it pretty good, but it faded on me a bit and went into the hazard. I had to take a drop, and my next shot came up short of the green. The ball was down (in a tough lie) and I hit it too hard and chipped it over the green. Then I three-putted, missing my putt for triple bogey from 2½ feet. So there you have it, an eight.”
Despite the ignominious finish, Sanchez persevered in the early stages of the tournament, building a lead he would need at the end. Sanchez took a rather unusual path to golfing success.
A Gilroy High graduate, Sanchez played football and baseball growing up before taking up bodybuilding when he was 19 years old. Sanchez, who still hits the gym daily and watches what he eats, won the Mr. Gilroy Open Division Bodybuilding title in 1989.
Sanchez only started taking up golf near the end of his bodybuilding career, in his mid-20s. And it wasn’t a pretty sight.
“I was terrible at first, just terrible,” Sanchez said. “I remember going to play the 9-hole course at Gavilan and shooting in the 100s. I didn’t quit because I’ve always had a competitive nature to better myself and improve. Golf is one of the ultimate individual sports where you’re realistically competing against yourself.”
Sanchez doesn’t consider himself a hard-core golfer, as he averages one round of golf a week. That’s because in between his day job he also coaches youth baseball, basketball and soccer.
Sanchez and his wife, Susie, have three children: Amanda (19), Nolan (14) and Bobby (11).
“I’m always coaching my kids on whatever sports teams they’re playing on,” Sanchez said. “Amateur golfers always get asked what their dream four-some would be, and mine would be with my three children. They’re the love of my life.”