Pacific Coast champion Chris Williams is medalist at Western Amateur

2010 champ Andrew Putnam also qualifies for match play

GLENVILLE, IL (August 4, 2011) -- Reigning Pacific Coast Amateur champion Chris Williams continued his red-hot play as he earned medalist honors today in the stroke-play portion of the 109th Western Amateur at North Shore CC in Glenville, Ill. (outside of Chicago).

The 21-year-old Williams of Moscow, Idaho, a rising junior at the University of Washington, fired rounds of 66-66-70-66 — 268, 14 under par on the par-71 North Shore layout. He finished three shots ahead of incoming Stanford freshman Patrick Rodgers of Avon, Ind., winner of last week’s Porter Cup, who closed with consecutive rounds of 65 in today’s 36-hole round; Rodgers finished with 68-73-65-65 — 271, 11 under par.

Williams — who also won the Sahalee Players Championship three weeks ago and played in this year’s U.S. Open — closed with back-to-back 66s to win the Pacific Coast Amateur at Martis Camp Club near Lake Tahoe last week. He has now posted five 66s in his last six rounds. In his final round at the Western, he had five birdies, an eagle 3 on the seventh hole, and two bogies.

For Rodgers, this was the second consecutive week in which he has rallied from far off the pace in the final round (he came from seven shots back to win the Porter Cup last week to win in a playoff). In his final round today, he had a bogey 4 on No. 3 and a double-bogey 6 on No. 4, but rebounded with seven birdies and an eagle 3, also on the seventh hole, for his 6-under-par 65.

Williams and Rodgers led 16 golfers who will advance to match play beginning tomorrow with two rounds. The semifinals and finals are scheduled for Saturday. Counting Rodgers, half of the match-play field is from the Pacific Coast region. Among those who qualified for match play are:

Andrew Putnam of University Place, Wash., the 2010 Pacific Coast Amateur champion
Derek Ernst of Clovis, who finished tied for fourth in the Pacific Coast Amateur and was runner-up in the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship last month at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort
Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos, Calif. and UCLA, who survived a two-man playoff to win the final spot in match play. Cantlay maintains his magical summer: he was low amateur in the U.S. Open, shot a 60 at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Champion, also made the cut in the Tour’s AT&T and RBC Canadian Open, and won the Southern California Golf Association Amateur Championship.
Alex Kang of Thousand Oaks, Calif. (San Diego State)
Jeffrey Kang of Los Angeles (USC)
Gregor Main of Danville, Calif. (UCLA)
Andrew Yun of Chandler, Ariz. (Stanford).

In addition to the prestigious Western Amateur title, several players are battling for the final six spots on the U.S. Walker Cup team, which will compete against a team from Great Britain & Ireland Sept. 10 and 11 at Royal Aberdeen GC in Scotland.

Two of the players who were named to the team earlier this week — Cantlay and reigning U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uhlein — reached the “Sweet 16” today (Cantlay will face Williams in a first-round match tomorrow morning). Another Walker Cup participant, Russell Henley, missed the playoff by one shot (the fourth member, Harris English, didn’t compete in the Western).

Williams, Rodgers and two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion Jordan Spieth have been mentioned prominently in recent weeks as potential Walker Cuppers this year. Putnam was among 20 golfers who were invited to “preseason” Walker Cup get-together in January. How they all do in match play may go a long way to determining the balance of the U.S. team.

As many as four more U.S. team members are expected to be named following the conclusion of the Western Amateur; the final two spots will likely not be determined until after the U.S. Amateur Championship August 22-28 at Erin Hills CC in Wisconsin.

For scores and details, click HERE.

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Pacific Coast champion Chris Williams is medalist at Western Amateur

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