Dylan Menante climbs to the top after two rounds at 54th Pacific Coast Amateur
Championship Links:
News from Round Two
Dylan Menante of La Costa, Calif. carded a second round 7-under par 64 to take a two-shot lead after two rounds at the 54th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, hosted this week at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.
Entering the day three shots off the lead and playing in the first group of the day, Menante carded three birdies in the first four holes to put himself right back in the mix. He finished the day with eight birdies against a single bogey.
“My putting got hot today, so that was really nice,” said Menante, “this course forces you to hit a lot of different shots, and I hit it really well today.”
Menante is the No. 18 ranked amateur in the world (WAGR) and recently won the Northeast Amateur. He is a member of the Pepperdine Men’s Golf team who won the 2021 NCAA D1 Championship.
First round leader Gavin Cohen of Phoenix, Ariz. followed up yesterday’s round of 66 with a 2-under 69 today. He enters the third round two shots back and in a tie for second place with Brad Reeves of Woodbridge, Calif.
In the Morse Cup competition, the trio from the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) captured their first team title since 2017. The team comprised of Bo Jin of Encinitas, Calif., Joey Vrzich of La Jolla, Calif. and Devon Bling of Ridgecrest, Calif. finished at 9-under par after two rounds.
The teams from the Northern California Golf Association (NCGA), Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA) and Washington Golf (WA Golf) all finished in a tie for second at 8-under par.
The Morse Cup team competition takes place concurrently during the first two days of the 72-hole Pacific Coast Amateur. There are 15 member Pacific Rim golf associations that comprise the Pacific Coast Golf Association, and each golf association selects three players to represent them in this team competition. Two of the top three scores from each team in rounds one and two will count for the Morse Cup portion of the event.
Notable:
- Dylan Menante and Sam Choi of Anaheim, both tied for the low score of the day with a 7-under 64. Both players were in the first group off in today’s second round.
- Five players from Washington shot under-par in round two; RJ Manke of Lakewood, Ian Siebers of Bellevue, Joe Highsmith of Lakewood, John Sand of Hoquiam and Sean Kato of Redmond.
- 39 players out of the 84-player field sit at even par or better after two rounds.
- The 200-yard par-3 ninth hole played as the toughest hole in round two. The hole saw just seven birdies and had a scoring average of 3.28.
Up next
Round three gets underway tomorrow (Thursday) morning July 22 at Chambers Bay. Tee times begin at 7:30 a.m. local time.