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Jul 21, 2021

Gavin Cohen grabs first-round lead at 54th Pacific Coast Amateur

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Gavin Cohen
Gavin Cohen

News from Round One

Gavin Cohen of Phoenix, Ariz. fired a 5-under par 66 to take the lead after the first round of the 54th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, hosted this week at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

Cohen, a rising senior on the Loyola Marymount University men’s golf team, carded six birdies in his opening round against just one bogey.

“I kept the ball in the fairway and gave myself a lot of birdie looks,” said Cohen, “I just need to keep doing that the rest of the way and it should be a pretty good week.”

Three players sit just one shot back of Cohen and are well within striking distance after the opening round, Brad Reeves of Woodbridge, Calif., Jackson Lake of Clovis, Calif. and Aidric Jose Chan of the Phillippines.

In the Morse Cup competition, the teams from Washington Golf and the Pacific Northwest Golf Association sit in a tie for first at 2-under par. The team from the Northern California Golf Association sits one-shot back at 1-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:

  • Sam Bennett of Madisonville, Tex., the highest ranked player in the field (WAGR No. 6), opened with a 3-under par 68 and sits T5.
  • Three players on the reigning national champion Pepperdine Men’s Golf Team sit within six of the lead; Joe Highsmith of Lakewood, Wash., Dylan Menante of La Costa, Calif., and Joey Vrzich of La Jolla, Calif.
  • 28 players sit at even-par or better after round one.
  • The 501-yard par-4 first hole played as the toughest hole in round one, the hole saw just four birdies and had a scoring average of 4.63.
  • Three players from Washington finished under-par in round one; Joe Highsmith of Lakewood, Ian Siebers of Bellevue and RJ Manke of Lakewood.

Up next

Round two gets underway tomorrow (Wednesday) morning July 21 at Chambers Bay. Tee times begin at 7:30am local time.