Ryan Burnett holds first-round lead at 55th Pacific Coast Amateur
Championship Links:
NEWS FROM ROUND ONE
Portland, Ore. – Ryan Burnett of Chapel Hill, N.C. fired a 5-under par 66 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the 55th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, hosted this week at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Ore.
Burnett, who just finished his senior season as a member of the University of North Carolina men’s golf team, began the day even after his first nine holes with one birdie and one bogey. On the back nine, he caught fire shooting a bogey-free 5-under par with five birdies.
Burnett is no stranger to success, he was named a GCAA honorable mention All-American this past season and finished T2 in the NCAA Championship in May.
Four players sit just one back of Burnett after the first round; Max Herendeen of Bellevue, Wash., Brady McKinlay of Lacombe, Alberta, William Paysse of Temple, Tex. and Jiri Zuska of Klado, Czech Republic.
In the Morse Cup competition, the team from the Northern California Golf Association, comprised of Ryan Burnett, Sam Sommerhauser of Lincoln, Calif. and Brian Stark of Kingsburg, Calif., sits on top of the leaderboard at 7-under par. The team from the Idaho Golf Association sits five shots back in second place.
The Morse Cup team competition takes place concurrently during the first two days of the championship. 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
- Christaan Maas of Pretoria, South Africa, the highest ranked player in the field (WAGR No. 21), opened with a 1-over 72. He sits six shots off the lead.
- Caleb Surratt of Knoxville, Tenn., the leader after week four in the Elite Amateur Cup points race, shot a 1-over 72 in the opening round.
- 48-year-old Chris Kamin of Phoenix, Ariz., the oldest player field, opened with an even-par 71 and sits five shots back.
- 19 players sit under-par after round one. 30 players sit within five shots of the lead.
- The 460-yard par-4 seventh hole played as the toughest hole in round one. The hole saw just four birdies with an average score of 4.51.
UP NEXT
Round two gets underway tomorrow (Wednesday) morning July 20th at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. Tee times begin at 7:30 a.m. local time.
About Columbia Edgewater Country Club
Opened in July 1925 along the banks of the Columbia River that separates the states of Oregon and Washington, Columbia Edgewater Country Club was designed by Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame architect Arthur Vernon Macan, who designed many of the Northwest’s premier courses. During its 97-year history, Columbia Edgewater has been the site of numerous championships and events, including the PGA TOUR’s Portland Open, the LPGA Tour’s Safeway Classic and Portland Classic, U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying and the Oregon Amateur. More information about the club can be found at www.cecc.com.
About the Pacific Coast Golf Association
The Pacific Coast Amateur Championship is one of the oldest and most prestigious amateur golf championships in North America. The first tournament was held on the links of San Francisco Golf Club at The Presidio in 1901. After being played until 1911, the Pacific Coast Amateur then ceased to exist, only to be reconstituted at Seattle Golf Club in 1967. Today, 15 member Pacific Rim golf associations comprise the Pacific Coast Golf Association.
About the Elite Amateur Golf Series
Launched in 2022 to challenge “The Best of the Best” in amateur golf, the Elite Amateur Golf Series (EAGS) aligns the top amateur championships in a collective competition, the Elite Amateur Cup. In addition to hosting the best players, Elite Amateur Cup events are contested at renowned venues and have the longest history of identifying the next great champions of the game. EAGS events hold a proven track record of conducting the most challenging competitive tests, making the championships among the majors of amateur golf. The seven founding championships that comprise the series have a distinguished history hosting the top talent and competitive play in amateur golf. These championships are the Sunnehanna Amateur, Northeast Amateur, North & South Amateur, Trans-Mississippi Amateur, Southern Amateur, Pacific Coast Amateur and the Western Amateur. For more information visit eliteamateurgolfseries.org.