Memorial Amateur: McDermott rides hot putter to victory

In his second event back since the COVID-19 pandemic, Granite Bay, California native Dylan McDermott came away with a win at the 2020 Memorial Amateur Championship. McDermott’s putter began the 54-hole event relatively warm and progressively got hotter and hotter as the week went on. “My putting was some of the best it’s ever been,” McDermott told AmateurGolf.com “When I started making putts, I started really thinking about going and trying to win it.” With quarantine hindering the golf season, McDermott has been lucky enough to keep his game sharp at his home course. As places around California were shutting down to stop the curve, McDermott found solace at Granite Bay Golf Club. As he tuned his swing and game for when tournament play resumed, one thing that could not be practiced was dealing with nerves. Following rounds of 66 and 68, McDermott held a two-shot lead at 10-under-par. With 18 holes left, McDermott began to feel the pressure. “For the first-nine, it definitely did [feel like match play],” McDermott said. “After that first-nine, Evan [Peterson] kind of fell off a bit.” After seeing David Laskin making a late charge, McDermott kept his head in the game just enough to post a final-round 72 to clear the charging Laskin by two strokes and the rest of the field by at least three. As the summer begins to die down, the summer season is just heating up for McDermott. He heads out to his future home course in Boulder, Colorado for a tournament next week before heading out to Ohio for an AJGA event. Following that, McDermott will head back home to play in the California Amateur. The class of 2021 golfer is verbally committed to play at the University of Colorado.