Jaden Dumdumaya is the third golfer to win back-to-back Pacific Coast Amateur titles.
Pacific Coast Amateur
In a week filled with record-breaking scores at Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore, California, Jaden Dumdumaya claimed his second consecutive Pacific Coast Amateur Championship victory on Friday. The rising junior at USC and 2026 Big Ten golfer of the year shot 12-under (63-71-65-69) in the Elite Amateur Golf Series event to finish two strokes ahead of fellow Trojan Deitrek Gill.
Dumdumaya became only the fourth multiple winner in the tournament’s 59 editions and the third to win it back-to-back (after Mike Davis in 1969-70 and Billy Mayfair in 1987-88).
“Last year winning it for the first time was something memorable,” Dumdumaya said. “It was my first huge amateur win. Last year I had my dad on the bag and this year I had my brother and best friend on the bag. My life has changed a lot in the last year. When I won last year I was ranked 1,000 on WAGR and this year I was 75.”
The championship got off to a blazing start on Tuesday, as five players shot a 7-under 63 to set the Poppy Ridge course record: Dumdumaya, Sihao Cong, Matthew Robles, Thayer Plewe and Colin Prater. There was only one bogey made among the five, and Dumdumaya was bogey-free with seven birdies.
Strong winds during the second round made scoring more difficult, and none of the five record-breakers were at the top of the leaderboard at the end of the day. That distinction went to Aidan Lee, whose 5-under 65 gave him the lead at 8-under.
In fact, all five first-round leaders shot over par. Dumdumaya appeared to be in a good spot as he was 2-under for his round through 15, but a triple bogey on the par-4 16th hole dropped him back to 6-under for the tournament.
Tamer winds in the third round meant a return to low scoring, and another record-breaking performance. Reese Knox, who hadn’t shot under par in either of his first two rounds, broke the freshly-set Poppy Ridge scoring record with an 8-under 62, which propelled him to 7-under for the tournament. Knox made one bogey and was 7-under through his first 10 holes.
Still, Knox was four strokes behind 54-hole leader Dumdumaya. After an even-par front nine, the defending champion caught fire on the back and birdied his last three holes to shoot 65.
In the final round, Dumdumaya never lost the lead. He birdied the first two holes, and, despite making bogey on No. 5 (his first bogey since the third hole in the third round), he bounced back with a birdie on No. 7.
Jacob Goode briefly cut Dumdumaya’s lead to one stroke by going 3-under in seven holes, but he dropped out of contention with a double bogey on 13 and a bogey on 14.
Dumdumaya also double bogeyed the 13th hole but closed with five pars to clinch victory.
RESULTS
In the 99th Ladies National Golf Association Amateur Championship, the fifth and final event in the women’s Elite Amateur Golf Series, Scarlett Schremmer went wire-to-wire to win not only the championship but the Women’s Elite Amateur Cup.
The U.S. National Team member shot 7-under par (67-70-69) at Harrison Lake Country Club in Columbus, Indiana, and finished one stroke ahead of Alicia Bellendir on Thursday. Schremmer was the only player in the field to shoot under par all three days.
However, it was far from a walk in the park. From a six-shot lead on the final day through nine holes to a one-shot lead with two to play, Schremmer ultimately clinched the LNGA Amateur title with a birdie on the 18th hole.
“At the end of the day golf is so hard, winning is so hard,” Schremmer said. “I know that every time I get in that position I get a little bit better somehow or some way. But I just stayed strong and tried to focus on every shot and just go through my process.”
After a first round 4-under 67 with five birdies and one bogey, Schremmer held the joint lead with Sara Im. Three players were two shots behind them: Isabella Goyette, Ana Murcia and Honorine Nobuta Ferry, who made one of two holes-in-one during the round on No. 8, with Eden Lohrbach scoring the other.
Schremmer made four birdies and three bogeys in her second round to get to 5-under for the tournament. She was one of only four players to shoot under par on Wednesday, and two of the other three went on to play with Schremmer in the final group on Thursday: Goyette and Bellendir, two shots back at 3-under.
After the final round’s first nine, it looked like Schremmer would cruise to victory. Goyette, despite birdieing the first two holes, dropped out of contention by going double bogey, bogey, bogey in the next three. Bellendir dropped a shot with a bogey on the second hole.
Schremmer, meanwhile, made birdie on the first hole and then four in a row from Nos. 4 through 7. At the turn, she was at 10-under, six shots clear of Bellendir.
But then Schremmer started leaking oil. She followed up a double bogey on the 10th hole with a bogey on the par-5 11th to drop to 7-under. Bellendir, who made birdie on 11, was suddenly only two shots back.
After Bellendir bogeyed 14 and Schremmer birdied 15, Schremmer held a four-shot cushion. But the par-4 16th hole almost proved disastrous. Schremmer made her second double bogey of the nine and Bellendir made birdie, a three-shot swing. With two holes to play, the lead was one.
And it remained that way going into the par-5 18th. From 80 yards out, Schremmer hit her third shot to 4 feet. While Bellendir got up and down from a greenside bunker for birdie, Schremmer buried her short putt to clinch the title.
Everett Munez
