GOLF:

One of the more unique team golf competitions is the biennial Seaver Cup Matches and Corona del Mar resident Boyd Martin was fortunate enough to participate in this year’s competition, which was held, Nov. 18-19.

The event was born in 1997 out of discussions with the board of directors from the California Golf Assn., Northern California Golf Assn. and the Southern California Golf Assn. The boards decided to conduct a biennial series of matches starting in 1998 between teams from the SCGA and NCGA.

The match was to be similar to a Walker Cup or Ryder Cup format and was held on even-number years, so it did not conflict with the USGA State Team Championship, which was played in odd-numbered years and attracted some of the same players.

The name Seaver Cup was an honor to Charles Seaver, one of California’s most prestigious amateurs and the father of Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.

Charles Seaver was a dominant golfer in the 1930s and ‘40s. He was one of just two people to hold the California Amateur, NCGA Amateur and SCGA Amateur titles at the same time. This while attending Stanford University full-time.

Seaver competed on the 1932 U.S. Walker Cup team, going 1-0 in foursomes and 1-0 in singles play at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. as the U.S. won 8-1, over Great Britain and Ireland. In 1930, Seaver lost a U.S. Amateur semifinal match to Eugene Homans, who went on to lose to Bobby Jones in the finals, 8 and 7, giving Jones his legendary grand slam.

After graduating from Stanford, Seaver moved to Fresno where he won the Fresno City title six times in the 1940s and the 1949 Northern California Open. He also played in 39 Bing Crosby (now the AT&T;) Pro-Ams at Pebble Beach, finally winning the title in 1964 while paired with Mike Fetchik, the Western Open champion.

Seaver died in 2004 a week before the tournament, but his legacy lives on with the event.

Martin was part of this year’s SCGA Team that was victorious. The squad included the 57-year-old Martin, who won the 2008 SCGA Senior Match Play Champion and 2007 SCGA Senior Four-Ball Champion with fellow senior, Rich Tolly, who was also on the team.

The duo was instrumental in the SCGA Team winning the cup and keeping Southern California’s tight grip on the competition. The SCGA is now 3-1-2 in the matches.

The competition was held at PGA West in La Quinta and it is a two-day event. The match-play style event has one twist that separates it from the Ryder Cup or Walker Cup. Each match there is one point awarded for the front nine, one point for back nine, and a point for the overall match, with halved portions earning a half-point for each player.

The SCGA went into the second day’s match down, 14-10, the team of Martin and Tolly earned two of the 10 points when they won their match.

Martin did his part to help lead a comeback the following day. The SCGA won, 25-23, and got a huge contribution from Martin.

Martin won 2.5 points against reigning California Golf Assn. Senior Amateur champion Jeff Burda of Modesto. Martin termed the ninth hole, when he got up and down from a bunker for a half point, as a key moment in the match.

On the back nine, Martin won the 11th hole with a birdie four and also made birdie four on the famed 16th hole (avoiding its 20-foot deep bunker in the process). Martin closed out his match on the famous island green 17th hole, a par three where Lee Trevino got a hole in one during a Skins Game contest.

JOHN REGER’S column appears on Thursdays.