Pacific Coast Amateur: Jose Islas and Jack Buchanan share round one lead

Jose Islas of Mexico and Jack Buchanan of Australia both shot rounds of 5-under 65 to grab a share of the lead after the opening round of the 56th Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, hosted this week at Capilano Golf and Country Club in West Vancouver, B.C.

Islas started the day on fire, carding five birdies en route to a 5-under front-nine. He leveled off on the back with three birdies against three bogeys to finish the day with a 65.

No stranger to success on the big stage, Islas won the Mexican National Amateur earlier this summer and earned an invitation to the 2023 U.S. Amateur. He played one year of college golf at the University of Oregon before leaving the program after the 2022 season.

Buchanan's round of 65 today included five birdies against zero bogies, making him one of just three players to go bogey-free on the day.

One of seven Australians in the field this week, Buchanan has participated in four Elite Amateur Series events so far this year. He made it to the second round of match play at the North and South Amateur.

In the Morse Cup competition, three teams are tied atop the leaderboard at 5-under par: the Arizona Golf Association, the Oregon Golf Association, and the Wyoming State Golf Association.

The Morse Cup team competition takes place concurrently during the first two days of the championship. There are 15 member Pacific Rim golf associations that comprise the Pacific Coast Golf Association, and each golf association selects three players to represent them in this team competition.

The two top scores from each team in rounds one and two will count for the Morse Cup portion of the event.

NOTABLE

19-year-old Cooper Jones of Highland, Utah, opened with a 4-under 66 and sits one shot back. He’ll be an incoming freshman on the BYU men’s golf team in the fall.

Kazuma Kobori of Christchurch, New Zealand, opened with a 4-under 66. He sits one shot off the lead.

Nolan Thoroughgood of Victoria, B.C., shot a 2-under 68 and sits three shots back. His first-round score was the lowest among the 11 native Canadians in the field.

Zach Place of Roselle, Ill., hit a hole-in-one on the 166-yard 11th hole using a pitching wedge. This was his first career hole-in-one.

The 436-yard par-4 10th hole played as the toughest hole in round one. The hole saw just four birdies against 29 bogies or worse. Hole number five, a 521-yard par 5, played as the easiest hole in round one, yielding six eagles and a whopping 42 birdies.