Jacob Rohde of Everett, Wash. and Jacob Koppenberg of Bellingham, Wash. each shot even-par 71 to earn co-medalist honors in leading the field of 70 players who competed today in U.S. Mid-Amateur sectional qualifying at the par-71 Tumble Creek Club in Cle Elum, Wash.
Both Rohde and Koppenberg birdied their final two holes of the round to break free from the field.
The other two players to advance from this qualifier are Mark Strickland of Everett, who shot 2-over 73, and Reid Hatley of Hayden Lake, Idaho who shot 3-over 74 and survived a two-man playoff to claim the final spot.
These four players will now advance to play in the 2018 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, which will be held Sept. 22-27 at Charlotte (N.C.) Country Club, with the stroke-play co-host venue being Carolina Golf Club, also located in Charlotte.
Sean Fallows of Edmonds, Wash. is the first alternate from this qualifier, and Daniel Campbell of Bellingham is second alternate.
Click here for complete hole-by-hole scoring of this qualifier.
For Rohde, this is the fourth consecutive year he has qualified for the U.S. Mid-Amateur, and the fourth year in a row he has earned co-medalist honors. Rohde, 40, attended the Golf Academy of America in Phoenix, then worked as a PGA club professional from 1998-2007 before going to school, graduating in 2011 from Washington State University with a degree in landscape architecture and horticultural science. Regaining his amateur status, he has since won the 2016 Riverbend Amateur and 2018 Snohomish County Amateur.
Earlier this summer, Koppenberg earned medalist honors in qualifying for the 2018 U.S. Amateur, the fourth U.S. Amateur he has qualified for. He played collegiately at Western Washington University in Bellingham, where he was the 2008 and 2009 GNAC Player of the Year and a two-time All-American. In 23 tournaments with WWU, Koppenberg recorded four wins and still holds the school record with a 71.40 career scoring average. He is now a volunteer assistant coach for the school’s men’s golf team, helping them to back-to-back GNAC championships in 2016 and 2017. In July, he made it to quarterfinals of the PNGA Men’s Amateur.
Strickland played golf at Western Washington University, graduating in 2014. He was medalist at the 2014 U.S. Amateur qualifier, also held at Tumble Creek, and was medalist at a 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball qualifier.
Hatley has been named the WSGA Mid-Amateur Player of the Year the past three years (2015, 2016, 2017). He was medalist at a 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur sectional qualifier, eventually making it to the round of 32 in the championship proper; and medalist at a 2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur sectional qualifier. He won the 2016 WSGA Men’s Mid-Amateur, and was the medalist at a 2017 U.S. Amateur sectional qualifier. Earlier this year, he tied for sixth in the Mexican Amateur, made it to the quarterfinals of the PNGA Men’s Amateur, and was a member of the three-man WSGA team that won the Morse Cup competition of the 2018 Pacific Coast Amateur, held last month at The Olympic Club in San Francisco.
The U.S. Mid-Amateur is open to amateur golfers with a Handicap Index not exceeding 3.4 and who turn 25 years old as of September 22, 2018.
The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) is the local representative of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and conducted this qualifier for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship.
Founded in 1922, the WSGA is a 501c4 non-profit, amateur golf association governed by men and women volunteers. Serving nearly 70,000 individual members at more than 550 member golf clubs and 270 golf courses throughout the state of Washington and Northern Idaho, the WSGA works to continually expand the game of golf to people of all backgrounds.
The WSGA also serves as a statewide representative of the USGA and works closely with a number of allied associations within the golf industry for the betterment of the game.
