Jonson on roll at PNW Men’s Amateur
The times that Bainbridge Island’s Carl Jonson shows up on the leaderboards of the best amateur tournaments in the Northwest, he makes a pretty big splash.
Take this week, for example. The UNLV golfer shot a course-record 8-under-par 63 at Wine Valley Golf Club to earn co-medalist honors and the No. 1 seed for match play at the 111th Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship in Walla Walla.
After two very contrasting rounds Thursday, Jonson emerged as the man to beat.
Jonson survived a morning grinder before pulling out a 1-up victory over Brush Prairie’s Gaston De La Torre, then led the entire way for a 2-and-1 triumph in the round of 16 over Canadian Riley Fleming.
He will play Seattle’s Blake Snyder in today’s quarterfinals starting at 7:30 a.m.
“I felt like I was in good form coming in,” Jonson said. “I shot 69 (in the final round of the Sahalee Players Championship) … so I have gotten my stride since then.”
De La Torre birdied four of the first five holes to grab a 4-up advantage. After that, Jonson did not lose a hole, and slowly whittled down the deficit.
After he tied it with a bogey at No. 15, he rolled in a 20-foot putt over a ridge for birdie at the 17th hole to take his first lead. And on the finishing hole, he made a testy 21/2-footer to win the match.
“The morning was a grind … so you have to be patient and realize you have to have faith things will go your way,” Jonson said. “It turned out how I planned.”
Against Fleming, he birdied the first two holes for a 2-up lead, and never trailed.
Meanwhile, Olympia’s Jarred Bossio won his round-of-16 encounter against co-medalist Tanner Higham in 19 holes to advance to the quarterfinals.
Bossio won the 18th hole with a 5-foot putt for birdie to extend the match, then advanced by making another birdie on the first extra hole – this time on a downhill 10-footer.
Earlier in the day, Higham eliminated another Olympia golfer – Kento Ogimi – 5 and 3. Bossio was a blistering 9 under for 13 holes in a 6-and-5 over Portland’s Eric Grimberg in his morning match.
PAN, WILLIAMS OUT
University of Washington golfer Cheng-Tsung Pan was eliminated in the round of 32 of the U.S. Amateur Public Links by Long Beach State’s Xander Schauffele, 1-up.
The match at Soldier Hollow Golf Course in Midway, Utah, was all square when Schauffele birdied the 15th hole to take a 1-up lead – and never relinquished it.
Alex Williams, an ex-UW assistant coach who upset UW star Chris Williams in the opening round of match play, lost a 6-and-5 decision to UCLA junior Anton Arboleda.
