Baron Szeto wins Alameda Commuters

With three seasoned veterans hot on his heels, it was 17-year old Baron Szeto who emerged victorious at the Alameda Commuters, a 36-hole stroke play event which wrapped up Sunday at Corica Park’s South Course in Alameda. Szeto began his final round on Sunday with three straight birdies en route to a five-under par 67 to finish 6-under 138 for the tournament, good for a one stroke victory over Domingo Jojola (70-69) and Weston Payne (69-70). Joseph Yagmourian of Sunnyvale, who held the first-round lead after carding a 69 on Saturday, finished two shots back at 4-under 140. Szeto, a senior at Campolindo High School in Moraga who will play collegiately at Cal Poly SLO, began the day two strokes off the lead but quickly moved into first place with birdies on each of his three holes. He made the turn at 3-under 33 and picked up three late birdies on the back nine on holes 14, 15 and 17 to offset his only bogey of the day, which came on the par-3 16th. Jojola, a 34-year-old lefty from Carmichael, Calif. who was a finalist in the 2020 San Francisco City Championship and past champion of the Sonoma and Vallejo County Amateurs, had four birdies and just one bogey on his Sunday card while Payne, a former Cal player who won the Silicon Valley Amateur in January, closed with a 2-under 70. Yagmourian’s title hopes were dashed after he made a double bogey on the par-3 16th hole. Though not as tournament tested on the men’s circuit as his three closest pursuers, Szeto is hardly an unknown among Northern California’s top amateur players. He was named the 2019-20 Junior Tour of Northern California Player of the Year, an award previously won by current U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and former No. 1 world-ranked amateur Justin Suh. Szeto won the Fall Series VIII Championship and also earned two runner-up finishes (Holiday Series III and Summer Series I Championships), a third-place finish at the Fall Series II Championship and placed fourth in the season-ending Tour Championship. The Alameda Commuters was first held in July of 1928 and is considered one of Northern California’s most prestigious amateur events. The first winner of the event, J. Charles Jordan, was awarded a keg of nails for his victory.