DeChambeau, Pereira and McNealy to team up at Pacific Coast Amateur Championship

DeChambeau, Pereira and McNealy to team up at Pacific Coast Amateur Championship

July 23, 2015

Billy Casper had to take on the ‘Big Three’ of Jack Nicklaus. Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.

At next week’s annual Pacific Coast Amateur Championship, the field will have to contend with the NCGA’s version of the ‘Big Three.’

During the Morse Cup competition portion of the championship, which takes the best two out of three scores from each team over the first two rounds, the NCGA will be represented by the trio of Bryson DeChambeau, Maverick McNealy and Corey Pereira.

DeChambeau, a senior at Southern Methodist University and the No.9 ranked amateur on the planet, has been on a tear in recent months.

The Clovis native’s run started with a final round 1-under 71 that led to an individual title at the NCAA Championship at The Concession Golf Club in Florida. With his victory, DeChambeau became the first SMU player to ever win a national title.

Following his victory there, the former Junior Tour of Northern California Player of the Year (2011) finished T-45 at the PGA Tour FedEx St. Jude Classic after receiving a sponsor’s exemption. DeChambeau also competed in his first U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, missing the cut by only four strokes.

Pereira, a junior at University of Washington, has also had a hot hand. Earlier this month, he’d capture the 22nd Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) held at Sahalee Country Club in Washington. He’d never trail in the championship, winning by six strokes.

At last year’s Pacific Coast Amateur, Pereira turned the championship into a one-man show. He’d card a final round 67 for a four-day total of 19-under 261, beating the field by eight strokes.

McNealy, meanwhile, will enter the championship as the No.2 ranked amateur in the world.

The Stanford junior’s great season includes recently playing with the big boys at the PGA Tour Greenbrier Classic and Barbasol Championship. In both events, he’d make the cut.

From April to May, there was arguably no one better than McNealy. The Portola Valley native fired a bogey-free, 9-under 61 at the Pac-12 Championship to earn medalist honors and help Stanford capture their second straight conference title. The 61 not only set a course record at championship host Palouse Ridge (in Pullman, Wash.) but also matched Stanford’s 18-hole scoring record, previously achieved by Tiger Woods in 1996 and Cameron Wilson in 2012.

With a total score of 18-under 262, McNealy also set a record for the lowest 72-hole score in the Pac-12 Championship.

At the NCAA Regionals in May, McNealy remained red-hot. He’d win the Chapel Hill Regional with a score of 9-under 207, his sixth victory of the season, most among NCAA Division I players. The win also tied Patrick Rodgers for the second-most victories in a season at Stanford, two off of Woods’ record.

Thanks to his spring run, McNealy, who led the nation with a 68.70 scoring average, was named the winner of the 2015 Haskins Award, which goes to college golf’s top player. He’s the second straight Cardinal to win the award, following Rodgers.

Past winners of the award include Ben Crenshaw, Phil Mickelson and Woods.

The Pacific Coast Amateur Championship will run Tuesday through Friday at par-72 Eugene Country Club in Oregon.

 

–Jerry Stewart