Dobson's course record 62 leads AGC Silicon Valley Amateur

January 8, 2022 | by Conner Penfold of AmateurGolf.com

Sean-Karl Dobson (photo by Conner Penfold)

Stanford commit lights up Baylands Golf Course in Palo Alto and opens up a five-stroke lead on the field

Sean-Karl Dobson eagled the first hole at Baylands Golf Links to set the tone for Saturday’s opening round of the Amateurgolf.com Silicon Valley Amateur.

The competitive course record, posted 364 days ago by eventual champion Weston Payne at the tournament’s inaugural event, was in dire jeopardy.

“I had a pretty tough season last year,” said Dobson, a senior at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas. “I took from Thanksgiving to now off just to reset and refresh. I got the competitive drive to come back out here and it’s rewarding to know that I did the right thing.”

Dobson punished the par-5s, birdieing the remaining four on the course following the introductory eagle. And just like Payne’s round almost exactly one year ago, Dobson’s near-perfect day featured no bogeys. But the Stanford commit admits he left a few extra red numbers out there.

“The longest putt I made all day was four feet, so I was just sticking it,” Dobson said. “I had three putts from eight feet lip out.”

So it was fitting, then, that his record-sealing putt on 18, after navigating a tricky greenside bunker, lipped in on the left edge to confirm the 10-under 62.

Dobson’s playing partner and fellow high school class of 2022 graduate Cameron Keith chipped in for eagle at 18 to jump into solo second place at 5-under. Keith, a commit to Dartmouth University who plays for De La Salle High School in Concord, birdied his first three holes of the day but fell quickly back to even through seven.

The closing eagle means he’ll play again with Dobson in Sunday’s final round, leapfrogging over a half dozen players tied for third at 4-under.

One of those six is mid-amateur leader Nate Jetter who birdied six of his last seven to post 68. He leads Rob McLaren and Matthew Lehman by four.

In the Senior Division, Michael Staskus also went bogey-free but didn’t circle nearly as many numbers on his scorecard. The 2021 Christmas Classic Senior winner birdied one and 18 to bookend his opening round nicely. Tony Ralph is alone in second at 2-under 70 followed by a trio of 71s – Richard Maxwell, Greg Langford, and Daniel O’Connor.

Michael Wishart leads the Super Seniors by one at 75 over Tom Pera.

Results: AGC Silicon Valley Amateur

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Sean-Karl Dobson	Austin, TX	150	62-72=134
2	Cameron Keith	Alamo, CA	100	67-68=135
3	Beau Forest	Redding, CA	50	69-68=137
4	Mitchell Hoey	Alamo, CA	50	68-70=138
5	Nate Jetter	Pleasanton, CA	50	68-72=140

View full results for AGC Silicon Valley Amateur

About the AGC Silicon Valley Amateur

Dobson's course record 62 leads AGC Silicon Valley Amateur

2026 TOURNAMENT PORTALThe Silicon Valley Amateur is now a 54-hole, limited-field WAGR points event! The field will consist of 64 scratch players and 18 invited scratch seniors. After 36 holes are contested (one round on Monday, one on Tuesday), the f...