Finigan Tilly wins Grapevine Amateur by a whopping 11 strokes

Finigan Tilly won the Grapevine Amateur at Silverado in wire-to-wire fashion, picking up the first in the Saguaro Amateur series of amateur tournaments. The Saguaro events -- held during collegiate breaks -- are primarily fielded by top collegiate golfers. Tilly, who plays for Cal, enjoyed a 5-shot lead heading info today's final round. Today he briefly showed signs that there may have been some nerves on the first tee -- he took bogeys on the first two holes. What happened after that was that Tilly settled down and played flawless golf. Recording four birdies against no bogeys he shot 70 on the day to finish the tournament at 7-under and win the title by 11 strokes over Clay Seeber of Newport Beach, Calif. ROUND 2 RECAP There haven't been many low scores fired at the PGA Tour hosting Silverado Golf Club in Napa, California. So when Finigan Tilly followed up his first round of 2-under 70 with a 3-under 69, he created the kind of separation that can produce wire-to-wire victories. The Cal Berkeley golfer recorded just one bogey, early in the round at No. 3. It was the last bogey he would make, as he birdied Nos. 7, 9, 10 and 14 to get to 3-under on the day and 5-under on the tournament with one round to play. Four bogeys put Clay Seeber as many as 7 shots back before he birdied the last two holes to give himself the chance for a comeback on Thursday. The way Tilly is playing it won't be easy. ROUND 1 RECAP Finigan Tilly, of nearby San Carlos and a member of the Cal golf team, is leading through 18 holes at the inaugural Grapevine Amateur, being held at Silverado Golf Resort. Tilly shot a 2-under70 and leads by one shot over Clay Seeber (Newport Beach, CA) and Beng Keat Lim of Surprise, AZ. Dallas Hankamer (Temple, TX) sits another shot back at even-par 72. Silverado -- the current host of the PGA Tour’s Safeway Open -- showed its teeth today as players battled early morning frost delays. But perfect weather conditions soon prevailed and all players were able to complete their rounds. The Grapevine Amateur is a world-ranked amateur event and the first stop in the 2020-21 Troon Saguaro Amateur Series.