State Amateur Golf : Pro Caddy Beats USC Sophomore

Casey Boyns achieved a long-time dream at the Pebble Beach Golf Links Friday, winning the California Golf Assn. State Amateur championship with a 3-and-1 victory over David Stockton in the scheduled 36-hole final.

Boyns, a 33-year-old professional caddy from Pacific Grove, has been playing in the State Amateur for the past 16 years and never before had gotten past the second round of match play.

He came from behind on the second nine of the morning round to take a 3-up lead at lunchtime, then held off a challenge by Stockton, a 20-year-old sophomore from USC.

Boyns held 5-up leads twice in the afternoon, but Stockton stayed close. The son of two-time PGA champion Dave Stockton won the 14th and 15th holes in the afternoon round to cut Boyns’ advantage to 2 up.

On the 209-yard 17th hole, Stockton pulled his tee shot into the ocean, and Boyns drilled his three-iron shot to the green. He lagged up within 1 1/2 feet of the hole and tapped in for a par three to close out the match.

“I hope my caddy fees go up after this,” said Boyns, who works about 25 days a month at Pebble Beach, packing bags. “I’m going to take a couple of days off, but I’ll go back to packing bags Monday.

“I played a good back nine in the morning and front nine in the afternoon. The putt on the 13th hole really made my day.”

Boyns halved the 13th hole with Stockton by sinking a curling 27-foot putt for a bogey 5.

“That putt had a 10-foot break,” he said. “If I’d had two putts for a tie, I would have made a different putt. But I needed a one-putt to get a halve, so I had to go for it. That’s the first long putt over 10 feet I made in the whole tournament.”