UW recruit wins State Am by 5 strokes

MOSES LAKE -- Richard Lee of Covington followed up his course-record round of a day ago with a 1-over 73 on Friday to win the 82nd Washington State Men's Amateur by five shots over a trio of golfers at The Links at Moses Pointe.

Lee, the NWAACC medalist for Bellevue CC last month who will attend the University of Washington in the fall, shot a 10-under 62 on Thursday to grab a five-shot lead.

He survived a triple-bogey 6 on the par-3 third hole, birdieing three of the first four holes on the back nine to retake control. He finished with a four-round total of 13-under 275.

"My whole approach to start the round was to play steady golf and make them come to me," Lee said. "But that's not what happened. I could have fallen apart after that start, but I really started to grind it out."

Defending champion Joel Dahmen of Clarkston shot a final-round 67 to vault in the three-way tie for second and 8-under 280 with 36-hole leader Jarin Todd of Woodinville (73) and Derek Berg of Duvall (69).

Three Mid-Columbia golfers posted top-10 finishes, including a pair of former Herald All-Area MVPs.

Alex Moore, the 2007 honoree for Hanford who recently completed his freshman year at Oregon State, shot a final-round 68 to finish in red figures at 1-under 287, tied for eighth with 2006 honoree Kevin Tucker of Kennewick (72), who now plays for WSU.

Moses Lake's Cameron Whittle shot a final-round 70 and tied for 10th at 2-over 290.