Etow keeps the pedal down in run to Monterey City title

Sean Etow bookended his week at the Monterey City Amateur with rounds in the red. It was more than enough to earn Etow the trophy. In fact, the Aptos, Calif., resident won the city crown by four shots.

Etow’s opening nine foreshadowed what might be coming at Del Monte Golf Course. Etow, a former college golfer at the Academy of Art in his native San Francisco, had three birdies in his opening four holes. He made two more at Nos. 8 and 9 to turn in 31. A back-nine 38 closed out an opening 69 that gave him a one-shot first-round lead that he spent the next two days expanding on.

Subsequent rounds of 74-70 left Etow at 3 under, and four shots ahead of runner-up Kent Kao, who just completed his redshirt junior season on the St. Mary’s College roster.

Already this year, Etow has finished T-13 at the NCGA Mid-Amateur and advanced to the second round of the San Francisco City Championship. He had top-10 finishes in two other city championship last year – Irvine and San Diego.

Behind Kao, Robert Funk was third at 2 over after consistent rounds of 72-72-74 for the week. Ben Soicher was fourth another shot behind that and Lucas Carper rounded out the top 5 at 4 over.