Cummins finishes off four-shot Pacific Coast Am victory

Ultimately, no one could catch Quade Cummins. The Weatherford, Okla., native was too perfect for too long. He had a single, late-round bogey on Friday at the Pacific Coast Amateur, but not even that could derail him. Cummins, who plays for the University of Oklahoma, had rounds of 67-66-65-66 at the Championship Course at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M., to win one of the major amateur titles of the summer.

Cummins entered the day with a comfortable three-shot lead, but didn’t let his foot off the gas. The Oklahoman carded three birdies against no bogeys on the front nine but was matched by playing competitor Blake Windred of Australia, who remained three shots back and the only player still within striking distance.

After the turn, it was all Cummins.

“I had a three shot lead after nine,” said Cummins, “then I went birdie, par, birdie, and it kind of separated me a little bit.”

The hot start on the back all but sealed the deal as Windred made double bogey on the 10th and fell six shots off the pace.

Things never got closer than four shots coming down the stretch as Cummins played steady to maintain the lead.

“I’ve never really been in a zone like that,” said Cummins, “I was just hitting to 20 feet and I was able to roll some in this week. This is definitely one of my better putting weeks. Golf’s funny, last week I felt like I was playing the same and I finished around 40th, but just having some putts fall can change everything.”

Blake Windred finished second at 16 under for the championship.

Rounding out the top five were Matthew McCarty of Scottsdale, Ariz. at 13-under and Sam Choi of Anaheim, Calif. and Riley Casey of Abilene, Texas, who finished at 11 under.