Photos by Marty James
By MARTY JAMES martyjames.sports@gmail.com
AMERICAN CANYON – It was cold and windy and some areas of the course were wet and soft from the recent rains.
Nick DeBellis wasn't thinking about the weather or the conditions at Chardonnay Golf Club & Vineyards on Monday.
DeBellis, wearing a short-sleeve golf shirt and golf shorts, was thinking about going low in a tri-match for the Napa Valley College men's golf team. He wasn't thinking about making pars. He was thinking about making birdies.
"I think today I had a different maturity level where I was like, I'm thinking about my score, but in a way, to go lower. Not worried about going above. Not worried about making a mistake," said DeBellis, a sophomore for the Storm. "I was just trying to keep it going. And when you're feeling good, you're feeling good, and that definitely helps to go lower."
DeBellis got on a roll, with four birdies on his back nine, and fired a 3-under-par 69, leading Napa Valley to a team win in an early-season match. It was a personal-low score for DeBellis at Chardonay, a par-72, 6,568-yard layout.
"He's been grinding on his game and putting in the time, and it showed today," said Storm coach Bob Freschi. "He's actually been playing really well, just hasn't seen the results. He rolled the putts in today. The ability to go under par in a competition is pretty remarkable.
"I'm happy for him and our team."
Lift, clean and place was in effect due to the conditions.
"I didn't think about my score in a way of nervousness or anything like that," said DeBellis. "Even standing on the (No.) 18 tee, I was not nervous. I was like, we're going to go make a birdie. Like this hole is easy. Like, let's go make a birdie. And that that mindset helps a lot."
Napa Valley won with a 376-team score. Taking second place was Sierra College-Rocklin with a 388-team score. Finishing third was Modesto Junior College with a 410-team score.
Napa Valley is in the North Division of the Big 8 Conference, with Sierra, Modesto and San Joaquin Delta College-Stockton. The South Division has Reedley College, Fresno City College, Taft College and San Jose City College.
"We're very solid. We're deep," said Freschi. "We just have to have the ability to play these courses that some of our players have never played at and shoot a respectable score to give ourselves a chance to win.
"So far, we've had the consistency in every match. Our first match at Woodbridge (Golf & Country Club, in San Joaquin County) didn't go our way. But other than that, we've been playing really consistent golf, and that's what we want. It's the ability to eliminate those big numbers."
DeBellis was in red numbers on Monday, as he shot 1-over 37 on the front nine and 4-under 32 on the back nine. DeBellis, named to the All-Big 8 Conference team last year, missed only two fairways.
He birdied the par-4, 439-yard sixth hole. He hit driver and 9-iron from 150 yards to four feet. He made the birdie putt.
His next birdie came on the par-5, 510-yard 10th hole. He hit driver, followed by a 4-iron from 220 yards. He chipped on to two feet from the pin and made the birdie putt.
He birdied the par-3, 171-yard 12th hole, hitting a 6-iron and making the birdie putt from 15 feet.
He birdied the very next hole, the par-4, 390-yard 13th hole, as he hit driver and then a lob wedge from 70 yards to two feet. He made the birdie putt.
He also birdied the par-5, 462-yard 18th hole. He hit driver, followed by a 7-iron from 179 yards. He chipped on to one foot from the pin and made the birdie putt.
"The ball is going straight today," said DeBellis. "I had a lot of confidence. I started the day off really well. I was trying to stay aggressive all day, just trying to make as many birdies as possible. And that's something that's changed in my game, like not trying to worry about making bogeys, but trying to make more birdies. And so that was one thing that I definitely focused on coming down the stretch today. I put really close wedges in. Being confident and being aggressive at the same time."
DeBellis and two other players, Lawrence Pepito and Tyler Momono, return from last year's team. The Storm won the Big 8 Conference's North Division championship, finished fourth at the California Community College Athletic Association-Northern California Regional Championships, and placed fourth at the CCCAA State Championships.
"In these conditions, with this wind, you've got to rely on getting up and down with your wedges. And that's what I did really well today. I was pretty dialed with the wedges," said DeBellis. "You've got to take advantage of those holes that are downwind. You're just trying to make pars on some difficult into the wind holes. I just made a lot of pars.
"This type of round today gives me a lot of confidence, to do it in a tournament. It's not qualifying. It's not practice. It's playing with other schools and doing it. It gives me a lot of confidence to know when we come out here in conference, when it matters the most, that I can go low."
DeBellis' previous low round at Chardonnay – the Storm's home course – was 73. He plans to save the scorecard.
"We focus a lot on our approach shots and our wedge game in practice and competition. I was glad to see it pay off for Nick," said Freschi. "Good pin placements today on the greens. (DeBellis) said he had some good open looks.
"He's also getting stronger. He's developing physically. He's hitting the ball farther. So, for him, it was getting dialed in with his approach shots, and his wedges were on point today. He works on his game. He loves playing."
DeBellis took a break from golf after NVC's fall program, which included qualifying rounds. He went to the gym and did a lot of weight lifting, looking to get stronger. About three weeks before the NVC season started, he was working with his swing coach, Brandon Gazdar, of East Bay Golf Lab in Walnut Creek.
"I've been working on my swing a lot, trying to get that extra power with the driver," he said. "And that really did it for me today in that wind. You've got to keep the ball lower."
Napa Valley got 1-over-par 73's from Ben Wilhite and Pepito, an 80 from Stephen Nefsky, an 81 from Momono and an 82 from Max Taylor.
Also, playing for the Storm in the tri-match was Miguel Chavez, Dominic Taverrite and Nick Conti.
Taylor redshirted last year. He played on the Storm's 2023 team that took third place at the Northern California Regional and was fourth at the state championships.
"I'm proud of Max today. He's been working on his game," said Freschi.
Wilhite had the shot of the day, holing out from 30 yards with a wedge for an eagle-3 on the 18th hole.
"That's a very hard pitch from over there. I just picked out a spot, did my best to hit it. I happened to hit one perfect and it caught the side of the hole and went in," said Wilhite, who was on the right side of the green.
Wilhite also birdied the 10th hole, reaching the green with a 3-wood from 245 yards and two-putting from 35 feet.
He birdied the 13th hole, making an 18-foot putt.
He made a 12-foot putt to save par on No. 16.
"I'm definitely having a great time out here. I love playing with the guys. It's nice to play on the team," said Wilhite, a four-time All-Monticello Empire League selection at Vacaville High School.
NVC plays in the Big 8 Conference's second tournament of the season on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at The Ridge Golf Course in Auburn at 12 p.m.
NVC will host the Big 8 Conference's third tournament of the season on Monday, Feb. 24 at Silverado Resort at 12 p.m.
* Marty James is a freelance writer who makes his home in Napa. He retired on June 4, 2019 after spending 40 years as a sports writer, sports editor and executive sports editor for the Napa Valley Register, a daily newspaper in Napa County. He is a 1979 graduate of Sacramento State and a member of the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association. He was inducted into the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame in 2016, the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019, and the Napa High School Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022.