Matt Bettencourt continues his run of dominance, winning the San Joaquin Valley in his first try. 

by Adam BradyMatt

Sometimes you have to turn to another source for expression, and Scott Carlyle provided that during the final round of the NCGA San Joaquin Valley Championship in late July at Riverbend GC. Carlyle was in the hunt for the title and playing a group ahead of Bettencourt, who had jumped into the top spot after a front­ nine 33. While waiting to tee off on the par-3 12th, Carlyle looked a hole back to see Bettencourt hit a long-iron sec­ond shot 25 feet from the hole on the 539-yard par-5 12th. It was the type of shot Carlyle and the rest of his fellow NorCal tournament competitors have seen from Bettencourt many times in the last two years, and Carlyle respond­ed in mock annoyance. 

"Will he turn pro already?" Carlyle said with a roll of the eyes. "How many of these things can he win?" 

Carlyle and the others can take comfort in the fact that Bettencourt will likely turn professional in October if he succeeds at PGA Tour Qualifying. Before he does, he has a few more ama­teur championships to win, and the Valley became yet another of those titles at the conclusion of that final round.

Bettencourt essentially made it look simple in the final round, after overtak­ing first-round leader Jonathan Echols (who had shot 67) with some early birdies. Then, after putting the neces­sary space between him and his talented pursuers, he played safe and smart golf the rest of the way. 

It's a method that has served Bettencourt well in an NCGA tournament career that now includes four major victories, that 2001 NCGA Player of the Year trophy and, after the Valley win, a strong shot at winning the honor again. This championship came in his  first appearance in the tournament, and he has also won the NCGA's Sacramento Valley Championship the only two times he's played in it.

In the final round, Bettencourt was able to outplay the two fellow competitors in his group, Echols and JJ Jakovac, both of which have been among the hottest players in Northern California.  The two did, however, pull to within a shot of Bettencourt soon after he missed a two-footer for par on the 14th, as he later said, "I really don't know what happened on that putt." 

It dropped him to 8-under-par for the tournament, while Jakovac and Echols both lurked at 7-under. Jakovac got there with a birdie on the short par­4, where Bettencourt missed one of several makeable birdie putts over the final six holes. Echols got within one thanks to a methodical up-and-down birdie on the par-5 15th. Ironically, Echols did it using a driver Bettencourt had lent him at the previous month's State Amateur, where Echols rolled to a runner-up finish. But Echols was quick to point out that he wasn't "borrowing" Bettencourt's driver anymore. "It's mine now," Echols said with a smile. 

But the driver loan was where Bettencourt's generosity ended, as he never let either player them get any closer than a shot back. Instead, he played cautiously aggressive golf, thanks to several pinpoint long irons off the tee that set up several chances at birdie. 

"I have so much confidence in my long irons," Bettencourt said. "I hit them as far as anybody and it's a huge advantage." Another advantage was the approximately 20 times the Modesto native had previously played Riverbend, not to mention the services of his cad­die, frequent four-ball partner and Riverbend member Jon DeChambeau. 

"That helped so much," Betten­court said of DeChambeau's help. "He knows these greens as well as anybody." 

That showed on the 18th, where Bettencourt provided some drama by missing the green to the right, while Jakovac had a 12-foot birdie putt from the fringe. Bettencourt's pitch from the bad lie could only get as far as the area in the fringe near Jakovac's ball, but with DeChambeau's help on the read, he calmly nailed the par putt. Jakovac, despite seeing the line from Betten­court's putt, lipped out for the tie. 

"Halfway there I thought it was in," Jakovac said. "He made a great putt.  He's the best player in the NCGA I've ever played with." 

Jakovac got second place alone when Echols made bogey on the last. Bettencourt was quick to praise the play of both players, and all three were chat­ty and friendly during the entire final round. 

"Hats off to J on and J.J.," Betten­court said, while posing with yet anoth­er championship trophy. "They played great golf and really stuck it to me."