Top amateur golf moments of 2018, No. 18: Round of the year
Olympic Club's Lake Course (Photo illustration)
At AmateurGolf.com, we admit to loving the amateur sector of this game for the stories, the depth of the players, the remarkable courses, the history of the tournaments and the sheer love of the game displayed by amateur golfers. As 2018 comes to a close, we’ve gathered the year’s best stories for a countdown to the end of the season. Be sure to come back each day to relive the moments that made amateur golf great this year.
Click here to see the whole list as it is revealed
To post a low score in a competitive national amateur event – a score low enough to make tournament history – is one thing. To post a score on a five-time U.S. Open venue like Olympic Club that goes down as the competitive course record is something entirely different.
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Isaiah Salinda
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Both statements applied to
Isaiah Salinda’s third-round 62 at
Olympic Club’s Lake Course during July’s
Pacific Coast Amateur. The Stanford senior had nine birdies and a bogey in his 9-under effort. He lipped out an eagle putt on No. 17, settling instead for birdie. It was one of five consecutive birdies to end the round.
“It’s cool to be part of the history at this course. It feels like every good player that’s ever lived almost has played this course,” Salinda
said that afternoon as he shot into the lead and opened the door for a one-stroke victory.
Salinda was a junior member at Olympic Club and had former Stanford teammate Bradley Knox as his caddie during the Pacific Coast Amateur.
We have no qualms about calling Salinda’s record round the round of the year. It was also his career low by four shots, and may stand as the round of his life. He had posted 4-under 66 at Pasatiempo Golf Club the previous spring during the Western Intercollegiate.
“I just got hot with the putter,” Salinda said of his 62.
Whatever happened that day, it opened the door to more good golf. Salinda followed that performance by making match play at the Western Intercollegiate (only 16 players get on the bracket), playing his way to the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach, then logging two top-10 finishes in fall college events (one of which coming at the Nike Golf Collegiate, one of the fall’s toughest fields).
Truly, 2018 was a breakthrough year for the South San Francisco native. The U.S. Amateur was his first USGA start.
“Just a lot of hard work and things are just coming together at the right time, all parts of my game,” Salinda said at Pebble Beach. “I think mentally, too – I’m mentally as strong as I’ve ever been just on the course, managing my game the right way.”
ABOUT THE Pacific Coast Amateur
Although its present history only dates from
1967, the Pacific Coast
Amateur Championship's roots make it one of
the
oldest amateur
golf championships in American history. The first
tournament was
held on the links of San Francisco Golf Club at
The
Presidio, April 24-
27, 1901. Championships were held annually
through 1911, all being
conducted in California except for the 1909
championship, which was
held at Seattle Golf Club in Washington. The
Pacific Coast Amateur
then ceased to exist, only to be reconstituted at
Seattle Golf Club on
August 10-12, 1967 with the Pacific Northwest,
Northern California,
Southern California, Oregon and Arizona golf
associations
participating.
Today, 15 member Pacific Rim golf
associations comprise
the Pacific Coast Golf Association. Players can
be
invited to this 72-
hole stroke play event by their Pacific Coast G.A.
member golf
association, or as an individual.
View Complete Tournament Information