Conway in thick of things

Players like to describe the third round of a 72-hole tournament as

“moving day.” Another favorite bromide is that “pars win

championships.”

One other piece of “conventional wisdom” heading into the 105th

Southern California Golf Association amateur this year was that

Hillcrest Country Club, a relatively short course (6,449 yards) with

thick, U.S. Open-style rough and slick greens, would be a course

where experience could be a deciding factor.

All three epigrams came to the forefront in the third round of the

nation’s second-oldest continuously contested golf championship.

After a day with dozens of lead changes, Tim Hogarth of Northridge

and Greg Lopez of San Juan Capistrano emerged tied for the lead

heading into today’s final round at the venerable westside Los

Angeles course. Hogarth shot 2-under-par 68 Saturday, while Lopez was

almost as good, finishing at 1-under 69.

Both players are at even-par 210 for the tournament, two shots in

front of last year’s SCGA amateur runner-up, Steve Conway of Newport

Beach, and 33-year-old former Nationwide Tour pro David Bartman of

Los Angeles. Conway recently concluded his collegiate playing career

at UCLA.

Two of the biggest moves came from well-known former champions.

Scott McGihon of Bermuda Dunes, the 2000 SCGA amateur champion and

recent winner of the Trans-Mississippi mid-amateur at La Jolla, had

five birdies overall as he shot 67 and finished at 213, tied with

defending champion Roy Moon of North Hills at 3-over-par 213.

John Pate of Santa Barbara, who won the centennial playing of this

event in 1999, birdied four holes on the back nine en route to a

3-under 67 and is another shot back at 214.