Cole Imig shoots blazing 66 for Magnolia victory

Cole Imig, from the University of Alabama-Birmingham, found his groove in the final round of the Magnolia Amateur to leap from ninth place to the top of the leaderboard with a 66 to claim the title.

It took an opening nine of 31, including a stretch of six holes where he shot 5-under par to help Imig climb the leaderboard.

Imig wasn't the only one to go low and make a run at the trophy. Runner-up Nickolas Martinez from Cypress, Texas shot a bogey-free 67 and finished at 7-under par - one shot behind Imig. Martinez's low scores came later in the round. He made one birdie on the front nine and four more on the back to put some pressure on Imig down the stretch.

Both Martinez and Imig started the day in ninth place, three shots behind Drew Wilson and Thongpipat Rattanayanon. Wilson shot a 5-over par 40 on the front nine and couldn't recover from the slow start. He finished with a 75 to finish 2 over for the tournament.

Rattanayanon was in the hunt down the stretch. He made the turn at 6-under par, which placed him one shot behind Imig. A birdie on the 10th hole got the back nine off on the right foot for Rattanayanon, but he couldn't make any more birdies, and after five straight pars, he bogeyed the 16th hole and fell off the pace.

Finishing in a tie for second place with Martinez was Jay Mendell from LSU. He carded rounds of 69-67-70. A bogey on the par-5 13th proved pivotal, leaving him one shot off Imig's winning score.

The Magnolia also has a two-man team event. College teammates have their scores combined over the three rounds. Imig and his UAB teammate Price Brown won the team event, as Brown, also a rising sophomore, finished at 4-under par, giving the duo a score of 12-under par.

Imig just finished his freshman year at UAB and enjoyed a successful junior amateur career. The Magnolia is sure to give him confidence heading into the rest of the summer and his sophomore year.