The word “revenge” never came from Sandy Vaughan’s mouth, but he had not forgotten the way he lost at the Seattle Amateur last year to Puyallup’s Ben Nelson – in the final round, and by one stroke.
This year, the O’Dea product and Western Washington University senior-to-be etched his name on his city’s championship trophy.
Vaughan fired a 2-under-par 70 in the final round at West Seattle Golf Course to win the 78th Seattle Amateur on Tuesday afternoon.
His three-round total of 3-under 212 edged overnight co-leader Mark Strickland (75) by two strokes, and the trio of Jed Dalton (74), David Fonua (73) and Blake Snyder (73) by three shots.
Enumclaw’s Tyler Salsbury (77), who went into the final round tied with Strickland, settled for a tied-for-sixth showing at 216.
Vaughan, who plays out of Seattle’s Glen Acres Golf & Country Club, has been playing in his annual city championship since he was in high school, and registered his best finish in 2011 as the runner-up to Nelson.
On Tuesday, his key moment came on a clutch up-and-down at the 14th hole for par, then he drove the downhill 315-yard, par-4 17th hole, and two-putted for birdie to seal the victory.
“I knew I was in the hunt,” said Vaughan, whose last win came at the 2010 North Bellingham Amateur. “It is hard to win – there are a lot of people here trying to do that. But this one is big.”
Nelson (75) finished tied for 16th in defense of his title at 218.
Williams, Hossler headline Sahalee Players: Chris Williams, an Idaho product who stars at the University of Washington, has a chance to do something starting today that nobody has in the history of the Sahalee Players Championship.
Repeat.
Williams will be in the featured group in the first two days with teenager Beau Hossler, who tied for 29th at the U.S. Open last month. He also was the leader at this event after the first round last year.
That group goes off at 3 p.m. today at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish.
Williams is coming off a busy stretch of golf, winning the Washington State Men’s Amateur last month, then representing the United States in the Palmer Cup last weekend.
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