The final day of the 109th Southwestern Amateur saw a shootout on the men’s division and a runaway on the women’s division, as new champions were crowned at the Outlaw Course at Desert Mountain.
Play concluded under sunny skies with temperatures rising from 86°F in the morning to 103°F by early afternoon. Winds around 9 mph with higher gusts added to the challenge, but scoring continued to be good as the ball traveled far in the heat and the putts rolled true.
Women’s Division: Leigh Chien from Irvine, California, won with a total score of -14. Chien, who will be attending Stanford in the fall, shot 67 in the third round and 66 in the final round, not recording a single bogey in the last two days. “It feels amazing to win. I haven’t won in a while so being back in the winner’s circle feels great,” said Chien.
This marks the first year the Women’s Championship was part of the Women’s Elite Amateur Golf Series, and Chien will rise toward the top of the standings with three events remaining in the series.
Yu-Chu Chen from Allen, Texas, representing Taiwan; Kendall Turner from Chesapeake, Virginia, who plays for James Madison; and Cindy Hsu from Taiwan, a junior at the University of Texas, tied for second at -8. Both Chen and Turner shot a 67 today with seven birdies against two bogeys. Kaylyn Noh from Rocklin, California, who plays for the University of California, made a hole-in-one on the 6th hole and finished T9 at -5.
In all, an impressive 20 players broke par for 72 holes.
Men’s Division: Kristoffer Kuvaas started the day five shots back with many players ahead of him, but he birdied an amazing 8 of his last 11 holes to finish with the tournament low round of 63, taking the clubhouse lead at -12. Johnny Walker matched -12 by playing five under in his last 10 holes, leading to a playoff, which Kuvaas won on the second extra hole.
Kuvaas, from Houston, Texas, represents Norway and plays for Pepperdine University. “I had a nice round today so it feels good to get some validation,” said Kuvaas. “My time at Pepperdine has been huge. I’ve learned so much playing my first year of college golf.”
Walker, from Chandler, Arizona, who is going into his last year at the University of Arizona, settled for second. Jacob Goode from San Francisco, California and Hunter Swanson from Denver, Colorado finished one stroke back at -11.
Second-round co-leader Brandon Robison from Centerville, Utah, and Carlos Astiazaran from Tucson, Arizona, also finished dougle-digits under par, two shots back at -10. In all, we saw great play all week, as 32 players broke par for 72 holes.
