Bay Area's Wu Trails Eckroat by Three at Pac Coast Am

SAN FRANCISCO, California (July 25, 2018) — Following up a very impressive 6-under-par opening round, Austin Eckroat played the Olympic Club’s Lake Course at 4 under this afternoon for a 36-hole total of 10-under and a three shot lead heading into the third round of play.

“Just played solid all day,” said the Cowboy golfer. “I really didn’t make any mistakes. I just kind of kept things rolling from yesterday.”

Related: Eckroat Leads Pacific Coast Amateur by One

Eckroat carded four birdies in his round on Wednesday, the final of which would come on the extremely long and treacherous par-5 16th hole.

“I had about 285 to the flag from the left side of the fairway and theres a big tree that's kind of in the way, and I just hit the best three wood of my life and hit it over the tree to the middle of the green about 20 feet away and two putted.”



His playing partner Will Gordon is keeping himself in the mix today as well. Gordon had a hole-in-one yesterday that helped him finish at 4 under par. Today, Gordon was able to build on his fortune, making five birdies and only two bogeys to finish the day at 6 under par for the tournament.

Bay Area natives showed why having some experience here at Olympic can be beneficial. San Jose’s Shintaro Ban and South San Francisco’s Isaiah Salinda both posted rounds of 67, which after shooting 71s yesterday puts them at 4 under par and within reach of the title with two rounds left to play.

“It definitely helps that I’m from the Bay Area and have played here several times before,” said Ban, who played his collegiate golf at UNLV and will likely turn professional in the coming months. “I’ve played a few tournaments out here to so I have a good taste for it.”

Playing in Wednesday’s final pairing, Brandon Wu, a teammate of Salinda’s at Stanford, was able to get himself into a solo second place heading into round three.

“I feel good,” Wu said. “I felt like I played really solid the first few days so I’m just going to try to keep that up.”

Solid is an understatement from Wu, who aside for making his very first bogey of the event on the 18th hole on Wednesday, has played pristine golf. His best of four second-round birdies came on the 489-yard par-4 sixth hole when he drained a 60-footer from off the green after hitting his approach from a tough spot in one of the courses often penal fairway bunkers. The Stanford rising senior hopes to continue his stretch of high quality golf heading into the final two rounds.

Eric Ansett, Raid Hatley, Joe Highsmith

MORSE CUP: The Washington State Golf Association is taking home the Morse Cup for the first time since 2009. Eric Ansett, Joe Highsmith and Reid Hatley managed a team total of 4-under-par (138-142=280) for the event, beating the NCGA team of Shintaro Ban, Justin Suh and Bobby Bucey by one stroke (142-139=281).

Alberta Golf finished two shots back at 2-under (137-145=282) with the defending champion SCGA team taking a lone fourth place finish (140-144=284).