Will Cross falls short in playoff at CCS Championships
Will Cross has been in a playoff before. That much wasn’t
foreign to the San Benito senior.
But Tuesday’s sudden-death round was a bit different, he
said.
After all, it was the Central Coast Section Championships, and
while the fourth and final qualifying spot toward next week’s
Northern California State Championship in Chico lay on the line for
the four-year varsity player, so did extending his senior season
one more week and another 18 holes.
Will Cross falls short in playoff at CCS Championships
Will Cross has been in a playoff before. That much wasn’t foreign to the San Benito senior.
But Tuesday’s sudden-death round was a bit different, he said.
After all, it was the Central Coast Section Championships, and while the fourth and final qualifying spot toward next week’s Northern California State Championship in Chico lay on the line for the four-year varsity player, so did extending his senior season one more week and another 18 holes.
Playoffs are playoffs, but the stakes were noticeably higher on Tuesday in Carmel Valley.
“You work hard for CCS and you work hard to go on to NorCals and everything,” Cross said following his playoff round against Terra Nova’s Dan Robertson on Tuesday at the Rancho Canada Golf Club, site of the CCS Championships.
“But it just didn’t work out,” he added.
“Sudden” appears to be the operative word when it comes to playoffs.
After 18 holes and three additional sudden-death playoff holes simply weren’t enough, Cross’ prep career came to a sudden end when his ball lipped out on Tuesday. His 10-footer on the fourth hole “tickled the right edge” of the cup, but simply didn’t drop.
“That’s golf,” Cross later added.
Out of 64 golfers, only Cross and Terra Nova’s Robertson managed to finish with matching 2-over 73s on Tuesday, and instead of a tiebreaker that might have involved a back-nine score, the two seniors trekked back out to No. 1 to decide it on the course.
It eventually took four pressure-packed holes to decide who would earn the fourth and final qualifying spot to NorCals, with each golfer making strong approach shots to put pressure on the other, each golfer making a save to force another hole.
But Robertson was first to go 1-up, which, after 23 holes of golf, was all he needed.
“That’s the first playoff I’ve seen,” San Benito head coach Chris Branon said. “I think it was a very fair match. Both played very well and both had to make some saves. Good experience for both.”
Cross’ drive on the first playoff hole put the pressure on Robertson to match the effort, though. The San Benito senior went right down the fairway, roughly 285 yards on the 417-yard par-4, while Robertson sliced it off to the right, and was forced to play it safe on his second shot.
“I was pretty nervous. Coming up to the first tee and I sliced it,” said Robertson, who added that this was the first playoff of his career. “But I did the best I could. I got out of trouble and just put it on the green and tried to two-putt.”
Which is exactly what he ended up doing.
Meanwhile, the shot Cross wish he had back immediately followed his impressive drive off the tee.
With roughly 150 yards to the pin and a straight line to the green, the San Benito senior’s approach shot was short and to the right, instead landing in a greenside bunker.
“He had a good punch-out shot, but I just chunked the second shot,” Cross said.
It was the par-4 fourth hole where Robertson managed to go 1-up on Cross and earn the NorCal bid, however. Both golfers’ approach shots landed on the green, but Robertson’s was within 10 feet, while Cross’ sat 40 feet to the left of the pin.
After Robertson two-putted, Cross placed his first putt to within 10 feet of the hole, but rimmed out his second shot in order to extend the playoff.
“It’s kind of what you do. You kind of have to thrive over these kind of things,” Cross said afterward. “But, yeah … This is golf.”
