Memorial Amateur champ Alex Lee, decked out in red, white, and blue
photo courtesy John Schmidt

Lee, a Fresno State sophomore from Sacramento, started the day 2-shots behind leader Cameron Champ (also from Sacramento), after consecutive rounds of 69 allowed him to reach 6-under through 36-holes. He made up those shots in the first 15 holes, leaving the Lee and Champ tied going into number 16, a par 5.

Champ's drive found a fairway bunker on his second shot, while Lee hit a 3-wood from 235-yards that careened perfectly off the side of a bunker, leaving him 20 feet from the pin on the apron.

Champ's bunker shot failed to find the green and he took double bogey on the hole, while Lee's birdie (after leaving his eagle try just an inch short) forced a three shot swing, which is how things ended up.

Finishing behind Champ in third at 5-under for the tournament was Daniel Connolly of San Francisco. Connolly, the 2015 San Francisco City champion, plays for SMU. After starting with a 73 on Saturday, he posted 69 Sunday and matched that score Monday. Other than the winner Lee, only Connolly and Bradley Reeves (who finished T6 at 2-under) posted final round scores in the 60s.

Rounding out the top-5 were the two first round co-leaders, Josh McCollum (Upland) and David Laskin (Elk Grove). The pair tied for fourth at 4-under 212 and their opening round scores of 66 remained the low rounds of the tournament.