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Recent UCLA graduate and 2018 U.S. Amateur finalist Devon Bling survived a five-man, five-hole playoff to win the Pacific Coast Amateur Championship on Friday at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington.
Bling (above) started the final round – one which had a loaded field of top amateur players – with a three-shot lead after firing a 9-under 62 in the third round. However, a final round 73 left him at 12-under 272 where four other well-known amateur players were waiting: recent Northeast Amateur winner Dylan Menante, his Pepperdine teammate Joe Highsmith, Maridoe Amateur champ Sam Choi and Texas A&M’s Walker Lee. Choi (No. 14), Menante (No. 18) and Highsmith (No. 36) all came into the week highly ranked.
In an upset of sorts, Bling shook off a mostly poor day and emerged as the winner. He birdied the 18th hole in regulation – so did Menante and Lee – just to reach the playoff, which turned into a war of attrition where mistakes lost the tournament more than birdies won it. Lee was eliminated after the first extra hole, while Menante and Choi excused themselves after the third hole.
With just Bling and Highsmith remaining, Bling’s steady play won out on the fifth playoff hole.
“It feels incredible to come out on top,” Bling said. “I fought all the way to the end and I’m super happy to be able to come out on top. The course was playing harder, but nothing fell in. Today was just one of those days where nothing would go in, but that’s just golf.”
Bling made the cut in the 2019 Masters but has since fallen off his previous pace, starting the week at No. 97 in the world. He won the Lamkin Grips SD Classic in his last semester at UCLA but has struggled with inconsistency.
Former winners of the Pacific Coast Am include Will Zalatoris, Billy Mayfair, Aaron Wise, Doug Ghim and Curt Byrum.
Nick Dunlap, a 17-year-old from Huntsville, Alabama, defeated Cohen Trolio, 3 and 2, in the 36-hole final match to claim the 73rd U.S. Junior Amateur on Saturday at The Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Dunlap is the first player from Alabama to win the prestigious event and now has an invitation to next year’s U.S. Open, as well as the next two U.S. Amateurs. The 2021 U.S. Amateur is in two weeks at Oakmont Country Club.
A rising high school senior, Dunlap has been a force on the junior circuit this summer – he won the AJGA Polo Junior Golf Classic, was a runner-up in the Junior PGA Championship and earned medalist honors in a U.S. Amateur qualifier. He also shot 62 in a Monday qualifier to gain entry into the Korn Ferry Tour’s Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation.
The outstanding play continued into the Junior Amateur. Reaching the finale based on his impressive length and equally masterful short game, Dunlap flipped a tight match when he made a 12-foot par putt on the 26th hole to avoid falling 2 down and then proceeded to win three consecutive holes. Consecutive three-putt bogeys spelled doom for Trolio, who enjoyed another magical run in the Sandhills – the incoming freshman at LSU previously made the semifinals of the 2019 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst.
Dunlap came into the week at No. 787 in the world due to a schedule of mostly junior events, but this victory could point to the start of a successful amateur career.
“My heart is still beating 100 times fast,” Dunlap told the USGA after his round. “This is unbelievable. In junior golf, this is the big one, and to have my name on it, I can’t even put it into words.”
Ben Reichert shot 11-under 269 to finish two strokes clear of Canadian Garrett Rank, winning the 62nd Porter Cup Invitational on Saturday at Lewiston Country Club in Niagara Falls, New York.
The native of East Amherst, New York, just 30 minutes away from the tournament site, is the first local player to win the Porter Cup since Buffalo’s Ward Wettlaufer in 1965. Reichert, a former University of Alabama-Birmingham standout, had been in a rough patch with his game, falling from No. 333 in the world to No. 709 before his remarkable performance at the Porter Cup.
Reichert opened with a 64 on Thursday to take the lead and held it all the way until the end. Waking up with a one-stroke lead over Chris Francoeur and Herman Sekne before Saturday’s final round, Reichert made few mistakes. He had three birdies and one bogey in his round – he only had three bogeys for the tournament – and mostly kept his distance from the chasing pack.
That being said, there were a few nervous moments down the stretch. Reichert narrowly avoided out-of-bounds on the 17th hole and then appeared to be going OB on the par-3 18th when his tee ball hit a spectator and stayed in play.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Reichert said after winning. “I owe somebody a drink there on 18. A couple of good breaks coming in, but I’ll take them.”
Marissa Wenzler, a 20-year-old from Dayton, Ohio, defeated Maddison Hinson-Tolchard in 20 holes to win the 121st playing of the Women’s Western Amateur on Saturday at Park Ridge (Illinois) Country Club.
The junior at the University of Kentucky was the medalist in the event’s stroke play portion before running through the 32-player bracket with wins over Mikayla Bardwell, Kan Bunnabodee, Jennifer Cleary and Hinson-Bolchard.
The final match was the hardest. Wenzler was 3 up through four holes and 2 up through 15, but Hinson-Tolchard, an Oklahoma State sophomore, made an impressive rally that included a 20-foot birdie putt conversion on No. 17.
The players tied the first extra hole with bogeys and then both faced short par putts on the second playoff hole. Wenzler made her 4-footer and Hinson-Tolchard lipped out in a devastating finish.
“We both were so nervous on the last several holes,” Wenzler said. “But if you’re not, you’re not doing it right. That’s why I play golf, to be in those situations and overcome them.”
Wenzler joins past champions Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, Nancy Lopez, Cristie Kerr, Brittany Lang, Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn.
Staff and Wire Reports