As former college roommates, Chaz Aurilia and Sam Sommerhauser certainly knew each other’s golf games as well as living habits and other peccadilloes from such a close association.
At the Pacific Coast Amateur, dorm life mixed with golf life once again, for old times’ sake.
Aurilia saved par from a greenside collection area on the first playoff hole at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, to edge his former University of Arizona teammate for the title on Friday. Both had rallied in spectacular fashion in the final round to find themselves atop the leaderboard after 72 holes at 12-under-par 272.
“It feels good,” said Aurilia, a Scottsdale resident who transferred to Southern Methodist as a graduate student last year after three years at Arizona. “I’ve been playing really well lately.”
No better than on Friday, when he shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 to erase a four-stroke deficit and find himself tied with a familiar face, Sommerhauser, of Lincoln, California, who birdied his final four holes for a 65.
Upon returning to the tee at the par-4 first hole, Aurilia and Sommerhauser drove into the fairway, from where both of their approaches rolled off the green and into collection areas. Aurilia pitched to 5 feet, and when Sommerhauser failed to save par, Aurilia rolled in the putt for victory.
“I made a lot of really nice par saves,” said Aurilia, who entered the tournament at No. 272 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, “and inside of 150 [yards] was kind of my bread and butter this week.”
Wheaton Ennis of Litchfield Park, Arizona, finished third as the only competitor to post four rounds under par, shooting 69-70-65-70 for a 10-under 274. Ennis, who won the Arizona Amateur title last month, will be a freshman at Texas A&M.
Connor Jones, a Westminster, Colorado, resident who recently played at Colorado State, finished fourth at 9-under. Simon Hovdal, a Texas Tech commit from Sweden, held the third-round lead after opening with a tournament-low 64, but faded into a tie for fifth with Scotland’s Niall Shiels Donegan, a Northwestern sophomore, at 8-under.
The Pacific Coast Amateur, which features a long list of future PGA Tour winners as champions, is the sixth event of the seven-tournament Elite Amateur Golf Series, which concludes with this week’s Western Amateur.
RESULTS
Steve Harmon