ARIZONA NEWS


San Diego State junior Samiere earns Southwestern Amateur crown


P.J. Samiere of Kailua, Hawaii, shot a final-round, 3-under-par 67 to capture the 101st Southwestern Amateur Golf Tournament in June at the Desert Mountain Club’s Cochise Course in Scottsdale. Samiere posted a 13-under 267 total to win by three shots. Samiere, a junior at San


Diego State, entered the final round one shot behind third-round leader Nick Heinen of Edmond, Okla. Samiere birdied the first hole and had a four-shot lead over the field when he recorded consecutive birdies at the 10th and 11th holes. Heinen, a redshirt


sophomore at Oklahoma State, got off to a shaky start with


a bogey and double-bogey in his first four holes and finished in fourth place at eight-under par 272. Braden Bailey (68) of Groves, Texas, and Derek Bayley (68) of Rathdrum, Idaho, tied for second at 10-under 270. “I played really solid


golf the entire week,” Samiere said. “To shoot four rounds under 70 on Geronimo and Cochise is a great accomplishment. This win is certainly my highest achievement in the game of golf which I have been playing since my dad got me started at the age of six.” The field of 69 players


played under clear skies, hot temperatures approaching 105, and swirling gusty


P.J. Samiere won the 101st Southwestern Amateur.


winds. Nineteen of the 69 players who made the cut shot par or better for the 72-hole event. David Snyder, a native of McAllen, Texas, who spends part of the year in Scottsdale, tied for fifth at 4-under, while Matthew McCarty and David Ricciardelli, both of Scottsdale, tied for 14th at even-par 280. With the win, Samiere


joins some illustrious past Southwestern Amateur


AMATEUR


champions, including PGA Tour stars Mark O’Meara (1980), Corey Pavin (1981), Tom Pernice Jr. (1982), Ryan Palmer (2002) and Nick Watney (2002). Now in its 101st year, the


Southwestern Amateur has been played at a variety of sites throughout Arizona, California, Texas, Nevada and New Mexico on an annual basis with the exception of a three-year hiatus from 1943- 45 because of World War II. On four occasions the event has been played in Mexico. For the past four years,


the Southwestern Amateur has been played at the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale on one of Desert Mountain’s six Jack Nicklaus-designed signature golf courses. n


www.azgolf.org


FALL 2016 | AZ GOLF Insider | 29


COURTESY SOUTHWESTERN AMATEUR


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