Saturday, Jun. 27, 2009

WSU junior edges Wa-Hi junior for state am

By the Herald staff

PULLMAN -- Austin Hurt capped his remarkable comeback at the 83rd Wash-ington State Amateur by firing a course-record, 7-under 65 in the final round at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman to win by one stroke over a pair of golfers, including Walla Walla senior-to-be Drew Reinland.

Hurt, who just finished his junior season at WSU, shot 81 on the first day and was in danger of missing the cut, but he followed with a pair of 69s to stay in the tournament.

He chipped in for eagle on the par-5 ninth to get to 1-under, and he made three more birdies on the back nine to finish at 4-under 284.

Reinland started the day one stroke behind leader Derek Berg and shot a 2-over 74 to finish at 3-under 285, tied with Berg -- who finished second for the second straight year.

"I'm pretty proud, and surprised, with how I played (this week)," said Reinland, who won the CBBN 4A district title and tied for eighth at state last month.

Reinland, who just turned 18, never could get untracked in a final round that saw only five of the 63 golfers break par. After answering a bogey on No. 1 with a birdie on the second hole, he suffered back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 6 (a 250-yard par-3) and 7 (a 489-yard par-4).

He came back with a birdie on the par-4 eighth, but one final bogey on the 11th and missed birdie putts on 15, 16 and 18 -- including a 20-footer on the final hole that just missed on the low side -- sealed his fate.

"Today was by far the toughest the course had played," said Rein-land, who will play in next week's Seattle Amateur. "It was playing as long as it could, the pins were as tough as could be, and the wind was blowing."

Two other area golfers posted top-10 finishes. Alex Moore, a Hanford graduate who now plays for Oregon State, finished tied for sixth at even-par 288 after a 72, and Hurt's classmate at WSU, Kennewick's Kevin Tucker, shot 73-289 to finish eighth.

Washington State Amateur

Palouse Ridge Golf Club, Pullman

Yardage: 7,274; Par: 72

Final round

Austin Hurt, Bainbridge Island 81-69-69-65 -- 284

Drew Reinland, College Place 73-68-70-74 -- 285

Derek Berg, Kenmore 71-67-72-75 -- 285

Tyler Matthews, Redmond 75-70-70-71 -- 286

Jens Bracht, Seattle 76-69-73-69 -- 287

Alex Moore, Richland 72-70-74-72 -- 288

David Fern, Spokane 69-70-76-73 -- 288

Kevin Tucker, Kennewick 72-68-73-76 -- 289

Matt Rawitzer, Bellingham 74-72-70-74 -- 290

Also

Cameron Whittle, Moses Lake 72-75-75-76 -- 298

Brandon Black, Kennewick 74-73-73-78 -- 298

Derek Cheney, Richland 75-75-70-80 -- 300

Ryan Dahl, Richland 74-72-81-85 -- 312

Scott Kim, Richland 70-80-83-81 -- 314

Gordon Corder, Moses Lake 72-79-81-86 -- 318